Spring is in the air! And along with that comes the pleasant and incessant urge to clean closets, declutter the house, and scrub the whole thing down! Something that we may overlook, however, is that Spring is also a perfect time to do a Hazardous Materials refresh – and it doesn’t involve washing walls!
Spring Clean and Keep Current Hazmat Compliance Materials
Spring is also an ideal time to do a Hazardous Materials refresh. Many people avoid this kind of clean-up because they don’t know what they should keep and for how long. But hazmat compliance is dependent on maintaining current knowledge and current practices. Now really is an excellent time to make sure that your hazardous materials are current, relevant, and not overly burdensome for the people that need them to properly do their jobs.
Out With The Old, Hold On to the Current
Do you have a tendency to hold on to outdated materials, forms, or labels? If you are, stop immediately. Hazmat compliance materials are detail-oriented to begin with, so the simpler, clearer and less cluttered, the better. You’ll be happy you did it. Outdated materials present the danger of actually being used by someone and causing an issue. Good riddance, old subsidiary risk labels!
Which Important Documents Should You Keep?
As regulations for shipping dangerous goods increase in complexity, there’s no reason to keep information laying around that could increase your risk for non-compliance, including stopped shipments, supply chain delays, fines and more.
The industry makes sweeping changes all the time, making it all the more important to only have up-to-date regulations on hand. If your printed copies of 49 CFR, IATA DGR, or the IMDG Code are outdated, it may be time to move on to online resources. An example of an online resource is Title 49 CFR “e-CFR” which is available online, and the Government Publishing Office maintains it so that it is always up-to-date.
Compliance is dependent on maintaining current knowledge and current practices, and this is a perfect time to ensure that your hazardous materials
- regulations;
- policies;
- practices;
- employee training;
- training content;
- training records;
- packaging closure instructions;
- internal audits;
- emergency response provider product information;
- and more
are current, relevant, and not overly burdensome for the people that rely on them to properly do their job. Hazardous materials transportation compliance is detail-saturated to begin with, so the simpler you can make it, the better – and you’ll be happy that you did.
Making sure you discard old training and compliance documents is crucial, especially if you have new or inexperienced hazmat employees. Remembering all the regulations for various shipping transportation processes can be difficult. That’s part of the reason why it’s crucial to stay up-to-date on regulations.
It’s also critical that hazmat employees have access to transportation regulations at all times in case they need to refer to them. Remembering the most essential aspects of hazmat compliance becomes second nature for most employees, but that happens over time.
Stay Up-to-Date with Hazmat University
Everyone involved in the transportation of hazardous materials in commerce is required by law to be aware and comply with the appropriate regulations. Hazmat University offers several training programs for shipping and handling hazmat by air, ground, and sea. Courses include initial training for novices, recurrent training for those with more experience. Visit our selection of courses and start your training today.
Now we can take a breath of that fresh spring air, and just maybe we have inspired you to clean out those closets too! Happy Spring from the Bureau of Dangerous Goods!
