Incident Reporting for Spills Not in Transportation

This is in response to your letter dated December 2, 1997, regarding whether a Hazardous Materials Incident Report, DOT Form 5800.1, must be submitted to the Department for an incident which resulted in a 10 gallon spill of spent "Sulfuric acid" from a railcar being filled on FINA property by FINA personnel prior to being tendered to a rail carrier, and what is meant by the term "in transportation" under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180).

"Transportation" as defined in § 5102 of the Federal hazardous material transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5101-5127), is any movement of property by any mode, and any loading, unloading, or storage incident to the movement.

Since the railcar was on FINA company property, it is a private siding. In 49 CFR 171.8, "Private track or Private siding" is defined as track located outside of a carrier's right-of-way, yard, or terminals where the carrier does not own the rails, ties, roadbed, or right-of-way and includes track or portion of track which is devoted to the purpose of its user either by lease or written agreement, in which case the lease or written agreement is considered equivalent to ownership.

Based on the scenario presented, submission of a DOT Form 5800.1 is not required because the hazardous material released on FINA company property was not in transportation.

I hope this information is helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please contact us.