Learning objectives

• Explain why it is important to accurately identify a hazardous material that will be shipped in commerce.

• Describe how to use the Hazardous Materials Table and its appendices to identify a hazardous material.

• Explain how to use the Hazardous Materials List, Precedence of Hazard List, and Precedence of Hazard Table to determine which hazard classification takes precedence when a material contains more than one hazard.

Course overview

When on the road, job, and everywhere in-between, identifying hazardous materials and knowing exactly how to handle them is one of the most important tasks a worker must know.

Because of the importance of identifying these hazardous materials properly, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requires all workers that handle these materials to take safety training in order to help protect themselves as well as others around them.

DOT Hazardous Materials General Awareness consists of five lessons; the goal of this library is to offer the required DOT training that will help protect lives in high risk work environments, particularly those that involve transporting hazardous materials. This lesson covers the identification of hazardous materials.