CHEMTREC Launches Online Hazmat Training

CHEMTREC Launches Online Hazmat Training

Hazardous materials safety training is both best practice and legally required. Fortunately, these hazmat training courses can now be completed in the convenience of an online platform through CHEMTREC, the world’s leading emergency response call center for shippers of hazardous materials.

Since 1971, CHEMTREC has been the definitive resource and solutions provider for hazardous materials and dangerous goods response. Whether it’s a pesticide exposure, paint spill or lithium battery malfunction, our emergency call center has been the first step of hazmat emergency response.

But knowing that preparation is the difference between emergency response and GREAT emergency response, CHEMTREC now offers online hazmat training to ensure frontline employees have the most updated information on proper hazardous materials handling and shipping.

If your company ships or is planning to ship hazardous materials, you may be responsible for taking up-to-date hazmat training required by the U.S. Department of Transportation. CHEMTREC’s online hazmat training courses can help keep your company safe and compliant. These fully interactive courses, offered in an easy-to-use online platform, allow you to proceed at your own pace, stopping and resuming at any time. The online courses cover:

• Hazardous materials and dangerous goods training for employees who handle hazmat
• Proper packaging methods to reduce liability and damages
• How to properly ship hazardous material packages
• How to reduce shipping costs through U.S. DOT exceptions

Courses Offered

CHEMTREC currently offers three online hazmat training courses: General Awareness, Safety and Security; 49 CFR; and Shipping Lithium Batteries.

General Awareness, Safety and Security

The U.S. Department of Transportation requires the general awareness training specified in 49 CFR Part 172.704 be taken every three years if you handle dangerous goods. This course meets the U.S. DOT requirements and will cover an introduction to hazardous materials and dangerous goods, training requirements and why training is important. It will also cover which agencies set the requirements and the publications which state their requirements. You will learn the transportation chain, including shipper and operator responsibilities as well as dangerous goods classifications. The course takes approximately 90 minutes to complete and will also give you an overview of how to mark and label packages correctly and how to correctly document hazmat shipments. This course is a prerequisite to 49 CFR. You must take this course or an equivalent course before taking the 49 CFR Training course.

Note that the General Awareness, Safety and Security course is an overview of the regulations, and is NOT for qualification or certification. This course is NOT for personnel who are responsible for acceptance checklists and regulatory review to determine compliance for a given shipment. Employees responsible for determining if packages comply with relevant regulations and employees responsible for certifying shipments (by signing a dangerous goods declaration or Hazmat Bill of Lading) will require additional training as specified by their employer.

49 CFR

If your company ships hazardous materials in the United States, you must comply with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Code of Federal Regulations Title 49 CFR. The 49 CFR requires that employees involved in shipping hazardous materials within the United States receive training (49 CFR, Subpart H, Section 172.704). CHEMTREC’s 49 CFR course topics include; the structure of the regulations, hazard identification, packaging, shipping papers,  hazard communication, mode specific requirements, security awareness and emergency response information. This course will show you how to pack, mark and label items as well as how to prepare shipping papers according to 49 CFR. The course typically takes 2-2.5 hours to complete and provides safety and security awareness and emergency response guidance.

Note that users must complete the Hazmat General, Safety and Security Awareness Training course (or equivalent) before taking 49 CFR Training, and that users must have a copy of the most current 49 CFR to complete this course.

Shipping Lithium Batteries

If you are involved in the shipping of lithium ion batteries in the US, the U.S. Department of Transportation requires the training specified in 49 CFR Part 172, Subpart H. This course will give you an overview of what hazardous materials are and the nine classes of hazardous materials regulations. You will also learn what lithium batteries are and why they are potentially hazardous. The Shipping Lithium Batteries course generally takes about 2-2.5 hours to complete and gives an overview of packaging and package selection (both UN Packaging and non-UN packaging types) as well as marking, labeling and documentation requirements. You will additionally learn safety, emergency response and security awareness and the shipper's responsibilities in the transportation process. The course is divided into three sections and covers both excepted and fully regulated lithium batteries. 

Hazmat regulations exist to keep workers and the public safe

Because of the dangers hazardous materials pose, proper education and training are imperative to maintaining that level of safety. Few people thrive in a learning environment that involves sitting through drawn-out, all-day instructional sessions, but thankfully technology means online hazmat training is now an option for employees required to maintain compliance with hazmat training regulations. CHEMTREC’s convenient, self-paced learning environment makes it easy for you, your business and your employees to ensure both safety and regulatory compliance.