DOT HAZMAT General Awareness Training [Complete Video Kit]

DOT HAZMAT General Awareness Training is the first of the training types every hazmat employer must provide under 49 CFR 172.704. This 20-minute video kit delivers the general awareness/familiarization component required by 172.704(a)(1): it teaches every employee who loads, unloads, handles, packages, labels or ships hazardous materials to recognize and identify hazmat under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (49 CFR Parts 171 to 180) and to understand how the hazard communication system of labels, placards, markings and shipping papers works. Use it for the initial training of new hazmat employees within their first 90 days and for the recurrent training DOT requires at least once every three years.

What This DOT HAZMAT General Awareness Training Covers

The video walks employees through what the DOT defines as a hazardous material, where to find the current Hazardous Materials Regulations, why the rules exist, and how the pieces of the hazard communication system fit together. It illustrates the dangers of transporting and handling hazardous materials and shows employees how to work with those materials safely.

Employees learn the nine DOT hazard classes and the labels and placards that go with them:

• Class 1 – Explosives
• Class 2 – Gases (flammable, non-flammable, toxic)
• Class 3 – Flammable liquids
• Class 4 – Flammable solids, spontaneously combustible and dangerous-when-wet materials
• Class 5 – Oxidizers and organic peroxides
• Class 6 – Poisonous (toxic) materials and infectious substances
• Class 7 – Radioactive materials
• Class 8 – Corrosive materials
• Class 9 – Miscellaneous hazardous materials

Hazard class labels, placards, package markings, shipping papers, the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) and the basics of hazmat security awareness are all covered.

What Is in the DOT HAZMAT General Awareness Training Kit

• The full-length 20-minute training video, in English or Spanish (each language sold separately)
• Presenter’s guide for the person running the session
• Employee quiz, so you can meet the DOT requirement to test each hazmat employee by appropriate means
• Sign-in sheet for your training record
• Certificate of completion, editable (name and date) and reusable for every session

Everything in the kit can be reused as often as you need. Train the crew you have today and every new hire after them at no additional cost.

DVD, USB or Online

The kit ships the same business day on DVD or USB (orders placed before 7:00 pm Eastern). If you would rather train online, the same DOT HazMat courses are part of our online safety training subscription: $995 a year for up to 50 employees, $1,495 for 51 to 100, and $9.95 per employee beyond that, with all 250+ courses included.

DOT HAZMAT General Awareness Training Video – Full Length Preview

Is DOT HAZMAT General Awareness Training Required?

Yes. 49 CFR 172.702 makes every hazmat employer responsible for training and testing each of its hazmat employees, and 49 CFR 172.704(a) lists what that training must include. General awareness/familiarization training is the first item on the list and applies to every hazmat employee, whatever their function.

Who Counts as a Hazmat Employee?

A hazmat employee is anyone who, in the course of employment, directly affects hazardous materials transportation safety (49 CFR 171.8). In a working facility that includes:

• Employees who load, unload or handle hazardous materials
• Employees who prepare hazardous materials for transportation (packaging, marking, labeling, filling out shipping papers)
• Employees who manufacture, test, recondition, repair, modify, mark or otherwise represent packagings as qualified for hazmat
• Employees responsible for the safety of transporting hazardous materials
• Employees who operate a vehicle used to transport hazardous materials

It is the function, not the job title, that decides it. If you are working out who in your building qualifies, start with our guide to who needs DOT hazmat training.

The Five Types of DOT HAZMAT Training and Where This Kit Fits

49 CFR 172.704(a) requires five kinds of training, four of them for every hazmat employee:

1. General awareness/familiarization training, so employees can recognize and identify hazardous materials (this kit)
2. Function-specific training on the requirements that apply to the job each employee actually does
3. Safety training on emergency response information, the hazards of the materials and how to avoid accidents (our DOT HAZMAT Safety Training kit)
4. Security awareness training on the security risks of hazmat transportation and how to recognize and respond to threats, within 90 days for new employees (our DOT HAZMAT Security Awareness Training kit)
5. In-depth security training, only for employees of a company that must have a security plan under 49 CFR Part 172 Subpart I (our DOT HAZMAT In-Depth Security Training kit)

This kit is the general awareness component. It supports the 172.704(a)(1) requirement and pairs with the safety and security awareness kits, but no video can deliver the function-specific training, because that depends on what your employees do; you build that part around your own procedures. Training you already run under OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200) or HAZWOPER (29 CFR 1910.120) may be used to satisfy the DOT components it actually covers (172.704(b)).

When Training Is Due

• New hazmat employees, and employees who change hazmat job functions, must complete training within 90 days. Until then they may perform hazmat functions only under the direct supervision of a properly trained and knowledgeable hazmat employee (172.704(c)(1)).
• Recurrent training is required at least once every three years (172.704(c)(2)).
• In-depth security training is also due within 90 days whenever the security plan is revised (172.704(c)(2)).
• Training from a previous employer counts if you obtain a current record of it (172.704(c)(3)).

Testing and Training Records

Each hazmat employee must be tested by appropriate means on the subjects covered (172.702(d)); a written quiz like the one in this kit qualifies. The employer must create and keep a record for each hazmat employee that shows the employee’s name, the most recent training completion date, a description, copy or location of the training materials, the trainer’s name and address, and certification that the employee was trained and tested (172.704(d)). Keep it for as long as the person is a hazmat employee and for 90 days after, and produce it on request from DOT. The sign-in sheet and certificate in this kit give you the record.

Which DOT HAZMAT Training Video Do You Need?

• General awareness (this kit): every hazmat employee, first.
• DOT HAZMAT Safety Training: the safety component, including shipping papers, packaging, PPE and spill and fire response.
• DOT HAZMAT Security Awareness Training: the security awareness component for every hazmat employee.
• DOT HAZMAT In-Depth Security Training: only if your company must have a written security plan.
• Hazardous Materials Labels Training: a deeper look at DOT, HMIS and NFPA labeling.
• The whole set is on our DOT HAZMAT training category page.
• If your people respond to releases rather than ship materials, that is OSHA HAZWOPER, not DOT: see HAZWOPER Handling Hazardous Materials.