Railroad - Marking and Placarding of Rail Cars

In the General Awareness and Security Training course, you saw the requirements for marking and placarding packages containing hazardous materials. It is essential that you review that information under Part 172. Placards and car certificates lost in transit must be replaced at the next inspection point, and those that are not required must be removed at the next terminal. The following are some requirements for marking and labeling to remember:

• Placards must be visible from the direction it faces and not obscured by any obtrusions of the rail car.
• You must placard each side and each end with the type of placards specified in Tables 1 and 2 of §172.504.
• A placard representing the hazard class for the hazardous material must be displayed on both sides and each end, regardless of quantity.
• Do not use the "DANGEROUS" placard to placard bulk packages like cargo tanks, portable tanks, or tank cars. Instead, affix the placard specified for each hazardous material to the container.

For required placards lost in transit for Canadian shipments, see §171.12.

To learn more about Railroad HAZMAT visit our DOT Railroad HAZMAT Online Training web page.