DOT Hazmat Employee Training
DOT hazmat employee training program for a warehouse that offers hazardous materials for transportation, covering who counts as a hazmat employee, the five required training components of general awareness, function-specific, safety, security awareness, and in-depth security training, the 90 day new employee window with direct supervision until training is complete, the three year recurrent cycle, testing, and the training record with its required contents and retention period.
- Audience
- Every employee who prepares, packages, marks, labels, loads, unloads, or segregates hazardous materials shipments or completes or signs hazmat shipping papers, their supervisors, and the hazmat training program owner
- Review cycle
- annual
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-17
- Revision
- 1
What is in the procedure
7 sections. Regulatory language is fixed and passes through verbatim. Sections marked customized get rewritten around your facility, your equipment, and your job titles.
- 01
Purpose
FixedThis procedure establishes the DOT hazmat employee training program required by 49 CFR part 172 subpart H for a facility that offers hazardous materials for transportation.
- 02
Scope
CustomizedThis procedure applies to every hazmat employee at the facility.
- 03
Responsibilities
CustomizedThe training program owner maintains the hazmat employee roster and training matrix, schedules initial and recurrent training, selects the training source, administers or arranges testing, keeps the training records...
- 04
Procedure: The Five Required Training Components
CustomizedEvery hazmat employee receives the components below, matched to their function.
- 05
Procedure: New Employees, the 90 Day Window, Recurrent Training, and Testing
Customized1. Before a new hire or a transferred employee performs any hazmat function, the supervisor adds them to the hazmat employee roster and the program owner assigns the required training.
- 06
Procedure: Training Records
Customized1. A training record is created for each hazmat employee when initial training is completed and updated at each recurrent cycle.
- 07
References
Fixed49 CFR 171.2 General requirements for offering hazardous materials for transportation.
Regulatory references
DOT Hazmat Employee Training: 49 CFR 172.700
Every SOP generated from this template cites the paragraphs below, with a plain-language summary of what each one requires. Citations are informational and are not legal advice.
| Standard | Title | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| 49 CFR 172.700 | Hazmat training: purpose and scope of the training subpart | This subpart prescribes requirements for training hazmat employees. Training means a systematic program that ensures a hazmat employee has familiarity with the general provisions of the hazardous materials regulations, is able to recognize and identify hazardous materials, has knowledge of the specific requirements applicable to the functions the employee performs, and has knowledge of emergency response information, self-protection measures, and accident prevention methods and procedures. Additional training requirements for the individual modes of transportation are prescribed in parts 174, 175, 176, and 177. |
| 49 CFR 172.702 | Hazmat training: applicability and responsibility for training and testing | Each hazmat employer must ensure that each of its hazmat employees is trained in accordance with the requirements prescribed in this subpart, and a hazmat employee may not perform a covered function unless the employee has received instruction in the applicable requirements. It is the duty of each hazmat employer to comply with the applicable requirements of the subchapter and to thoroughly instruct each hazmat employee in relation to those requirements. Training may be provided by the hazmat employer or by other public or private sources, and the employer must ensure that each of its hazmat employees is tested by appropriate means on the training subjects covered in 172.704. |
| 49 CFR 172.704 | Hazmat training: required components, timing, recurrent cycle, and records | Each hazmat employee must receive general awareness and familiarization training providing familiarity with the requirements of the subchapter and enabling the employee to recognize and identify hazardous materials, function-specific training on the requirements applicable to the functions the employee performs, safety training covering emergency response procedures, measures to protect the employee from workplace hazards, and methods and procedures for avoiding accidents, security awareness training on transportation security risks and how to recognize and respond to possible threats, and, for hazmat employees of employers required to have a security plan, in-depth security training on the plan and its implementation, including breach response procedures. New hazmat employees must receive security awareness training within 90 days after employment. A new hazmat employee, or an employee who changes job functions, may perform hazmat functions before completing training provided the employee does so under the direct supervision of a properly trained and knowledgeable hazmat employee and the training is completed within 90 days after employment or the change in job function. Recurrent training is required at least once every three years. The employer must create and retain a training record for as long as the employee is employed as a hazmat employee and for 90 days thereafter, containing the employee's name, the completion date of the most recent training, a description or the location of the training materials, information identifying the person who provided the training, and certification that the employee has been trained and tested. |
| 49 CFR 171.2 | Hazardous materials regulations: general compliance requirements for offerors | Each person who performs a function covered by the hazardous materials regulations must perform that function in accordance with those regulations. A person who offers a hazardous material for transportation must ensure the material is properly classed, described, packaged, marked, labeled, and in condition for shipment, and must maintain that condition until the carrier takes possession. The section also prohibits misrepresenting that a packaging meets a specification without the required manufacturing and testing, falsifying specification markings such as DOT or UN designations, and altering or tampering with labels, placards, or hazmat documentation. |
Compliance checklist
What an inspector looks for
Every employee who performs a hazmat function is identified on the hazmat employee roster and has been instructed in the requirements applicable to that function before performing it unsupervised
49 CFR 172.702
Each hazmat employee has received general awareness, function-specific, safety, and security awareness training matched to their actual duties
49 CFR 172.704
In-depth security training is delivered to hazmat employees wherever a subpart I security plan is required, and the security plan determination is documented and reviewed
49 CFR 172.704
New hazmat employees and employees with changed job functions complete all required training within 90 days and work only under direct supervision of a trained hazmat employee until then
49 CFR 172.704
Each hazmat employee is tested by appropriate means on the training subjects, and test results are recorded
49 CFR 172.702
Recurrent training is completed at least once every three years for every hazmat employee, with no lapsed completion dates on the roster
49 CFR 172.704
A training record exists for each hazmat employee containing the employee's name, most recent completion date, training materials description or location, trainer identification, and certification of training and testing, and is retained through employment plus 90 days
49 CFR 172.704
Hazardous materials are offered for transportation only when properly classed, described, packaged, marked, labeled, and in condition for shipment
49 CFR 171.2
DOT hazmat training and OSHA HazCom training are tracked as separate requirements, and completing one is never recorded as satisfying the other
Waitlist
Generate this SOP for your facility
At launch you answer the facility questionnaire once and this template comes back with your equipment, your titles, and your sign-off sheet attached.
This page is informational and is not legal advice. Have a qualified safety professional review any procedure before it goes into service at your facility.