Introduction
Every year in the United States, close to three billion tons of hazardous material (HAZMAT) is shipped, with trucks transporting a considerable amount of this cargo in highways. This figure excludes the shipments made by international oceangoing tankers as well as piping. This amounts to approximately 800,000 ship cargo of hazardous materials being transported through roads and highways (Boyd, 1993). The high proportion of unsafe materials carried comprise of flammable liquids, mainly gasoline. However, there are other significant categories of dangerous materials shipped and transported on U.S. highways. Hazmat classifies the cargo transportations of hazardous substances into nine categories, including explosives (class 1), gases (class 2), flammable liquid (class 3), spontaneously compatible, flammable solid, and dangerous when wet (class 4), organic peroxide, oxidizers (class 5), poison (class 6), radioactive (class 7), corrosive (class 8), and miscellaneous hazardous material (class 9).
Due to the danger associated with the road transportation of these hazardous materials, there are serious legal implications that usually arise when spills occur, especially if fatalities and serious injuries are reported. Ideally, one of the leading legal consequences that often happen is associated with the issue of strict liability. The 1975 Hazardous Material Transportation Act (HMTA) is the first U.S. federal law controlling the transportation of these harmful materials (National Research Board et al., 2005). Its main aim is to safeguard against the threats to property, life, as well as the environment that are associated with the moving of hazardous material not only in interstate and intrastate but also across foreign territories under the authorization of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Infringement of these HMTA rules can often result in criminal and civil penalties, especially if injuries and deaths are reported. The only exception is when HMTA issues a special permit under the prudence of the Secretary of Transportation. Despite several cases of deaths and injuries occurring annually due to spills and resulting fires, a majority of people are seemingly unaware of legal implications and issues associated with these processes. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the legal issues that usually arise when transported hazardous materials cause injuries and fatalities in case of spillages and fires (Shaver, 1998).
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- Discussion
As mentioned above, several issues often occur when the rules set by the Hazardous Material Transportation Act are breached, especially during the transportation of corrosive, explosive, and flammable hazardous material in intrastate or interstate. Ideally, the courts often consider the liability issues when such incidences reach the corridors of law, a process that is meant to identify whether the transporter followed all the precautionary measures or whether the victim was wrong. The penalties are often handed based on whether the key provisions were observed or not during the transportation of the hazardous material. The following sections discuss the critical requirements of the HMTA and the penalties usually handed to the transporters.
Key Provisions of HMTA
All the provisions that stipulate the standards applied in handling hazardous material are documented in §5106, which states that the Secretary can lay down conditions for handling HAZMAT, including the frequency of inspections, minimum number of workers, minimum levels of qualifications and training for personnel, specifications for the use of facilities and equipment, a system of controlling safety procedures, as well equipment for warning of, detection, and regulation of threats posed hazardous material. Under the HTMA law, every company or individual transporting hazardous material must label contents appropriately, provide danger signs, train its personnel, and observe all other safety measures. Also, besides requiring that each material transported is placarded and packaged appropriately based on its hazard class, the Act requires transporters to offer security and emergency response plans. It is also important to note that the packaging material must meet specific criteria before being allowed to preserve hazardous materials to ensure the transportation process survives the environmental changes and physical stress. These are just some of the few issues that are often considered when legal procedures are filed against transportation companies in case of accidents, spills, fires, deaths, or damage to property and environment (National Research Board et al., 2005).
Penalties
Before passing the liability verdict, judges are usually tasked with identifying whether the provisions of the HTMA (some of which are mentioned above) were followed strictly or some of them were breached. In case the transportation firms are found guilty or liable for the crimes committed, there are two types of penalties that can be handed out as described below.
Civil Punishment
The civil penalty is stipulated under section §5123 of the HTMA and states that an individual is legally responsible for a public punishment of approximately $75,000 for each desecration or violation of the ‘order, regulation, and approval or special permit’ of the crime committed knowingly. However, a separate infringement is taken into consideration for each day the breach continues. This is for an individual who transports or orders the moving of hazardous material. According to the Act, a person acts “knowingly” when he/she is aware of the facts and details about the violation or when the individual “acting in the situation” shows rational logic and care.
However, under the order of the Transportation Secretary, it is possible for the offender to get a higher penalty of up to $175,000, mainly if the infringement resulted in the loss of life, severe disease, or injury to any citizen. Also, this penalty can extend to instances related to significant damage to property. Based on the Act, violations that result from training actions are issued below $450. However, it is essential to note that the Secretary must consider several things when determining the exact amount of civil penalties, including the degree, gravity, circumstances, and nature of the crime. Other factors to be considered include the capacity of the offender to pay, the history of previous offenses, the guilt of the criminal, as well as the impact of the actions on the capability to continue operating.
Criminal Punishment
Besides civil penalties, culpable individuals are also subjected to criminal sentences when they are guilty of breaching sections §5123 as well as §5104 of the HTMA. Under the §5123, an offender is guilty of criminal prosecution if he/she deliberately or knowingly interferes with the packages or labels that are used to transport hazardous material securely, or recklessly breaches the ‘approval, order, regulation, or special order.’ The individual is often liable to serve a jail term of five years or below. A violation that results in the discharge of hazardous material that causes bodily harm, injury, and death can attract a maximum jail punishment of up to 10 years. On the other hand, section §5104 of the Act relates to destruction, removal, alteration, or tampering a placard, label, marking, or description on legal documents (including certificates) provided by the regulations Act. It can as well entail unlawful tampering of a packaging, aircraft, container, rail freight car, the material of a package, or any vessel used in the transportation of hazardous material (Cornell Law School, n.d.).
- Conclusion
From the discussion above, it can be deduced that the several legal issues occur when the spillage of dangerous materials cause injuries and fatalities during their course of transportation of hazardous materials. Most of these issues are related to liability or guilt of the offender, processes measured based on the violation of the critical provisions of the Hazardous Material Transportation Act. Punishment of offenders is classified into two: civil and criminal. Civil penalties are punishments placed under the discretion of the Secretary, and an individual can get a sentence of roughly $75,000 for each desecration or violation of the ‘order, regulation, and approval or special permit' of the crime committed knowingly . Courts issue criminal penalties based on offenses under sections §5123 as well as §5104 of the HTMA. For example, a violation that results in the discharge of hazardous material that causes bodily harm, injury, and death can attract a maximum jail punishment of up to 10 years.
References
Boyd, D. A. (1993). Transportation of Hazardous Materials . Norwell, Massachusetts: Kluwer Academic Publisher.
Cornell Law School. (n.d.). 49 U.S. Code.§ 5117: Special permits and exclusions. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/5117
Hazmat School. (n.d.). A brief overview of the hazardous materials shipping industry From cargo classifications to DOT Hazmat certification. Retrieved from https://www.hazmatschool.com/blog/a-brief-overview-of-the-hazardous-materials-shipping-industry-from-cargo-classifications-to-dot-hazmat-certification/
National Research Board, et al. (2005). Cooperative research for hazardous materials transportation: Defining the need, converging on solutions. Transportation Research Board.
Shaver, K. D. (1998). Criteria for highway routing of hazardous materials. Transportation Research Board.
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