Hazardous Materials Regulations and the Hazardous Materials Table
What the endorsement covers
The Illinois CDL HazMat endorsement test draws on 49 CFR Parts 100–185 as summarized in the CDL manual. Illinois uses the 30-question HazMat test, and you must answer at least 24 correctly (80 percent). Expect questions on the nine hazard classes (1 explosives, 2 gases, 3 flammable and combustible liquids, 4 flammable solids, 5 oxidizers and organic peroxides, 6 toxic and infectious substances, 7 radioactive, 8 corrosives, 9 miscellaneous), on who is responsible for what, and on reading the Hazardous Materials Table (49 CFR 172.101).
Responsibilities and the table
The shipper classifies, names, packages, marks, labels and placards the shipment and prepares the shipping paper. The carrier must refuse a shipment that is misdescribed, leaking, or improperly placarded. Every hazmat employee needs general awareness, function-specific, safety, and security awareness training, repeated at least every three years, with records kept by the employer. PHMSA registration is required for carriers of certain high-hazard materials.
The HMT gives, for each entry, the proper shipping name, hazard class or division, subsidiary hazard, ID number (UN or NA), packing group (I is the greatest danger, III the least), label codes, packaging authorizations and quantity limits. A '+' before a name fixes it: you must use that exact name. The symbols A, W, I and G flag entries also regulated by air, water or international rules.
Worked example
A shipping paper reads 'Gasoline, 3, UN1203, PG II.' Gasoline is the proper shipping name; 3 is the class (flammable liquid); UN1203 is the ID number; PG II is the packing group. Gasoline is a Table 2 material, so placarding depends on the 1,001-pound rule covered in the next section.
Traps
Do not invent names such as 'regular gas'; do not put the ID number ahead of the name on the paper; do not treat PG III as more dangerous than PG I; and remember that a subsidiary hazard (for example 5.1 on nitric acid) still drives labeling, segregation and emergency response.