Chemicals in the Workplace
Many substances require special preparation, packaging, and training for legal transportation in commerce (49 CFR Parts 171-180), which includes local transportation between university owned facilities or offsite locations for teaching and/or research. A hazardous material is defined as "a substance or material which has been determined by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to be capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when transported in commerce." More often than not a substances' hazardous material status can found on the respective Safety Data Sheet (SDS) section 14 as identified by the manufacturer. Transportation of materials identified as hazardous materials must be transported in accordance to 49 CFR 173. Florida Institute of Technology is not a licensed transporter of hazardous materials, which also includes the transportation of hazardous waste.
Due to the Universities’ Environmental Liability Insurance, the Department of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) cannot support the movement of hazardous materials between University campuses. It is the recommendation of EH&S that departments work with vendors to have materials delivered to the campus of which the research is being conducted. Individual departments that move hazardous materials in disregard to EH&S recommendation must be prepared to pay for damages if an accident occurs and chemicals are spilled onto a public access road while transitioning between campuses.