Using Hazardous Materials Tools and Technology
Hazmat employees have a difficult task: maintaining compliance and safety standards while working with decidedly dangerous goods or hazardous materials. However, no one expects them to perform these vital tasks completely unaided. Plenty of hazardous materials training resources exist to assist hazmat employees in just about every step of the transportation process. Mastering them can not only be useful in preventing incidents and preventing violations, they are a resource for anyone involved in the shipping and handling of hazardous materials.
When we say “resources,” we refer to a vast and broad swath of hazardous materials technology and tools. Here, we want to provide just one example: ShipHazmat. This software generates compliant shipping papers and provides diagrams for marking and labeling. The Bureau of Dangerous Goods created ShipHazmat with “built-in logic programming.” That means it contains and uses the most up-to-date information on hazmat regulations to assist the employee using the software.
All this enables employees to input the requested data about the hazardous material or dangerous goods and the specifics of the package and receive the correct information for marking, labeling, and applying shipping papers to that particular package. The purpose is to reduce errors in documentation, packaging requirements and marking and labeling and, as a result, prevent incidents and fines. The Bureau also created this to make complying with hazardous materials regulations easier than ever before, at least in this part of the process.
Hazardous Materials Tools and Technology Alone are Not Enough
Resources like ShipHazmat and many others can significantly enhance a hazmat employee’s ability to fulfill their job responsibilities. While this is true, it would be unwise to believe that an employer can hand their hazmat employees these hazardous materials tools and call it a day. Even in this age of remarkable technological advancements, the greatest resource any employee can have is training.
The ShipHazmat software may be capable of generating compliant shipping papers and diagrams for marking and labeling packages. However, only trained hazmat employees can operate it – and the same goes for many tools and technologies in the field. According to Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (49 CFR), employees must undergo various types of dangerous goods training before they can be certified.
Federal and International hazmat and dangerous goods regulations prescribe these requirements for a number of reasons. Only through training can a person handling a program such as ShipHazmat will know what data goes in which field. Proper training lets a person know how to interpret the packaging diagrams for marking and labeling requirements and any other data the program provides, and interact with the user. Perhaps most importantly, only through training can a person understand the importance of making sure that everything is done properly and in compliance with the regulations.
Of course, training alone does not need to be the only resource available to hazmat employees. After all, we have these tools and technology because they enable us to do more and perform better than we could on our own. With that said, hazardous materials training empowers the user with useful knowledge that in turn allows people to use such software accurately. The training and tools should complement each other, combining to create a more compliant employee, and therefore, a safer environment and compliant process for the transportation of hazardous materials for all involved.
Receive Hazardous Materials Training Today
It should be clear by this point that training is more pivotal than any hazardous materials technology or tools in the trade. This is exactly why 49 CFR, IATA DGR, and IMDG and every other important regulatory body in the industry of hazmat transportation mandates that receiving hazardous materials training is a requirement for the job.
If you need training, whether it is initial or recurrent, Hazmat University provides online programs that fulfill the necessary requirements. We offer instruction in shipping by ground, shipping by air, shipping by vessel, and multimodal shipping. If you sign up for one of these programs today, you can start completing your training immediately.
