Programs for Ensuring the Safe Transportation of Hazardous Materials Need Improvement

Highlights

GAO evaluated the Department of Transportation's (DOT) efforts to promote the safe transportation of hazardous materials and the emergency response mechanisms available to react to hazardous material disaster situations. DOT is responsible for ensuring the safety of the public from the inherent risks associated with transporting hazardous materials.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should require the Director of the Materials Transportation Bureau (MTB) and the modal administrators to develop risk profiles of hazardous materials carriers and shippers.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should require the Director, MTB, to assign specific responsibility within MTB for evaluating risks associated with transporting hazardous materials.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to improve the completeness and accuracy of the hazardous materials incident reporting system by clarifying instructions and criteria for developing damage estimates.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to improve the completeness and accuracy of the hazardous materials incident reporting system by better educating the industry on reporting requirements and current reporting deficiences.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to require that hazardous materials incident reports be submitted by all firms and for all areas subject to the regulation under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to improve the completeness and accuracy of the hazardous materials incidient reporting system by clarifying what costs should be included in the estimate of damages resulting from hazardous materials incidents.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the modal administrators and the Director, MTB, to work with the states to develop and implement comprehensive plans to expand state roles in enforcement of hazardous materials regulations.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to improve the completeness and accuracy of the hazardous materials incident reporting system by extending the current 15 day limit for submitting incident reports to allow more time to prepare accurate reports.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to improve the completeness and accuracy of the hazardous materials incident reporting system by requiring that revised incident reports be submitted should data originally reported change significantly.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Director, MTB, should coordinate the DOT registration program with other federal agency programs having information on the hazardous materials transportation industry and gain access to that information which would be useful in developing a registration program.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should require the Director, MTB, to develop a plan to work with State and local officials in highly populated areas to study routes used to transport hazardous materials, as a basis for determining the risks associated with such routes and the desirability of altering these routes.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the modal administrators and the Director, MTB, to develop systems for giving priority to inspecting companies presenting the greatest public risk while transporting hazardous materials.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the modal administrators and the Director, MTB, to coordinate the formulation of uniform guidelines which can be used by field inspectors to determine when violations will be developed into enforcement cases.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the modal administrators and the Director, MTB, to adopt a systematic means of recording all violations found during inspections and analyze this information to assist in planning inspection activities and measuring program effectiveness.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to develop a comprehensive list of available hazardous materials training courses and information and educational materials to be distributed through appropriate channels to emergency response organizations.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to improve the completeness and accuracy of the hazardous materials incident reporting system by using other data sources, such as those noted above, to better ensure that all incidents are being reported as required and that, where not, appropriate enforcement actions are taken.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should emphasize to the MTB Director that the annual report on the DOT hazardous materials transportation program should accurately and completely indicate the extent of the problems associated with transporting hazardous materials and the level of effort DOT is expending on its hazardous materials program.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation, in cooperation with the Chairman of the Council of Environmental Quality, should establish provisions in the National Contingency Plan to provide for increased roles of city and county government organizations and industry associations by inviting representatives of these groups to participate as full members of the Regional Response Teams.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Council on Environmental Quality	The Secretary of Transportation, in cooperation with the Chairman of the Council of Environmental Quality, should establish provisions in the National Contingency Plan to provide for increased roles of city and county government organizations and industry associations by inviting representatives of these groups to participate as full members of the Regional Response Teams.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to improve the completeness and accuracy of the hazardous materials incident reporting system by following up on significant cases in which: (1) the reports do not contain required information; (2) other information in the report indicates the possiblity of inaccurate data; or (3) other data sources indicate significant discrepancies from data reported.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should emphasize to the MTB Director that the annual report on the DOT hazardous materials transportation program as required by law, should be provided to the President and the Congress by May 1 of each year for the preceding calendar year, and that it provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of enforcement activities and the degree of voluntary compliance with applicable regulations.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should take appropriate steps to implement an awareness program to assure maximum benefits from the revised labeling and placarding identification system.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to periodically update the list of hazardous materials information in the DOT bimonthly Hazardous Materials Newsletter, and assure that adequate distribution of the newsletter is made to emergency response organizations.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, MTB, to develop a method to assure that adequate distribution is made of lists of available hazardous materials training courses and information and educational materials. Consideration should be given to developing a comprehensive mailing list of emergency response organizations, particularily volunteer fire departments, or seeking the assistance of the major fire service organizations to distribute the information through their periodic publications.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.
Department of Transportation	The Secretary of Transportation should require the Director, MTB, to establish a registration program to identify and develop risk profiles of all hazardous materials carriers, shippers, and container manufacturers, as authorized by section 106(b) of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.	Closed GAO has no information on the actions taken in response to this recommendation.

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Natural Resources and Environment

Disaster relief aidEmergency responseEnvironmental monitoringFederal aid to localitiesHazardous materials emergency responseHazardous substancesOil pollutionPesticide regulationPollution controlProgram evaluationRadiation exposure hazardsTransportation safety