Everyday Hazmat User’s Training Guide
Introduction (continued)
Environmental Recordkeeping
Environmental recordkeeping is an important part of the USDA Forest Service’s overall environmental management system and is required by a variety of Federal and State environmental regulations. The suggestions summarized below are designed to identify important U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and USDA Forest Service forms, and to institute a process to collect critical information.
Environmental recordkeeping is not complete without some overall guidance on how to maintain these records, where, and for how long. The following suggestions are for an overall environmental recordkeeping system.
A USDA Forest Service unit’s environmental records should be located where they are most convenient for all workers, but accessible whenever there may be a regulatory inspection or management review. Using a file cabinet, establish a series of hanging folders for major areas (EPA identification number and correspondence, hazardous waste manifests, recycling records, training records). Be sure that someone can access these files if the primary recordkeeping custodian is not around.
While most Federal regulations require maintaining environmental records for 5 years, it would be best to maintain environmental records indefinitely.
Throughout this guide, we refer to specific USDA Forest Service checklists and forms. USDA Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management employees can find these forms at the Everyday Hazmat Web page on the USDA Forest Service Technology and Development Program’s Web site: /eng/t-d.php?link=everyday_hazmat. The forms are in the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. You can download the forms and print them from your computer. The forms are in the appendix that begins on page 105.
Hazard Identification
Products come in all types of containers and are formulated with a wide range of chemicals. Through the combination of chemical ingredients and resulting physical properties, these products take on their own unique combination of hazards to the user. Manufacturers and distributors of these products are required by law to inform all users of these hazards. The NFPA has devised a simple graphic means of communicating this information known as the hazard identification symbol.
As prescribed by the OSHA HazCom standard, original product labels are not to be removed or defaced. If they do become unreadable or come off, you must put a new label on the container identifying the product’s hazards or dangers. One way to do so is to use a hazard identification label containing the proper information. The information required for you to complete an accurate hazard identification label can be found in the product’s MSDS.
Hazard Identification Symbol
Click on image for larger descriptive view
Product Shipment Identification Numbers
Many products have a unique identification number that must be posted on tanks and vehicles carrying more than 119 gallons of flammable or combustible liquids or more than 1,001 pounds of hazardous materials. Identification numbers are not required on consumer quantities of materials or limited quantity materials. Usually you will see identification numbers on a rectangular orange panel (6.3 inches high and 15.7 inches wide, with a 0.6-inch black outer border); sometimes you will see identification numbers imprinted across the center of a primary hazard placard. The letters UN in identification numbers are associated with proper shipping names considered appropriate for international and domestic transportation. The letters NA are associated with proper shipping names recognized only for international transportation to and from Canada.
You will see identification numbers on tanks and vehicles that may deliver or pick up products from your facility. If you have a portable tank mounted on a vehicle that may be transporting fuel, you should consider using the rectangular orange panel with the correct identification number, or the primary hazard placard with the proper identification number; this identification number must go on opposite sides of the tank if the tank is smaller than 1,000 gallons, and on all sides if the tank is 1,000 gallons or larger. In later sections of this guide, we have associated the proper identification number with various product names.
Identification Number—This is the identification number
for gasoline using
the rectangular
orange-panel sign.
E-mail: 