News

IME recently received a response from FMCSA Administrator John Hill regarding IME’s petition for rulemaking on the Hazardous Materials Safety Permit (HMSP).  FMCSA agreed to open a new rulemaking that would take preventability of an accident into account when determining an applicant’s crash rate.  One of IME’s concerns was that a carrier could be disqualified through no-fault of their own because preventability is not considered when determining a carrier’s crash rate.

Motor carriers hauling 25 kilograms or more of Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 materials; or a placardable amount of 1.5 materials are required to obtain a HMSP.  Motor carriers are ineligible for the HMSP if their crash rate, driver out-of-service (OOS) rate, or vehicle OOS rate is in the top 30 percent of all motor carriers.  Additionally, hazmat motor carriers are ineligible for the HMSP if their hazmat OOS rate is in the top 30 percent of hazmat carriers.

A number of other IME concerns and suggestions were denied or not addressed by FMCSA.  In particular, FMSCA did not address IME’s concern that the regulated community has no idea what standard they must meet since the top 30 percent is constantly changing.  What was considered a “safe” carrier yesterday may be consider unfit for duty today.  Even if the carrier’s “numbers” improved, they could be out-of-luck if the rest of the population’s “numbers” improved more.

IME appreciates that FMSCA decided to provide some relief to explosives carriers.  However, many concerns remain and IME will continue working with FMCSA to seek additional relief.