Guiding Your HazMat Security Plan

The Guide to Developing an Effective Security Plan for the Highway Transportation of Hazardous Materials, created by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), is intended to serve as a tool that motor carriers transporting hazardous materials can use in developing a security plan as required by the U.S. Department of Transportation in their HM-232 rulemaking (http://hazmat.dot.gov/68fr-4509.pdf). It is designed to provide motor carriers with sufficient background to understand the nature of the threats against hazardous materials transportation; the means to identify the vulnerabilities to those threats; and an approach to address the vulnerabilities.

The first step in developing a security plan is conducting a security assessment. The Guide establishes a framework for reviewing a company’s hazardous materials operations and identifying relevant threats and vulnerabilities. The Guide also offers an approach for prioritizing those threats and vulnerabilities.

The discussion of the security plan introduces a recommended approach for determining appropriate security measures for addressing identified threats and vulnerabilities that help to eliminate unnecessary security-related expenses. Consideration of varying threat levels (such as those indicated by the Homeland Security Advisory System) and a method for prioritizing potential security measures is also discussed.

The Guide covers the required security training and security plan administration. Administration includes the distribution, maintenance, verification and validation of the full security plan as well as how to best incorporate the insights and support that are available from industry partners, local community organizations, and law enforcement agencies.

For a copy of the Guide to Developing an Effective Security Plan for the Highway Transportation of Hazardous Materials, contact the Colorado LTAP office, or you can download it at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safetyprogs/hm/Security_Plan_Guide.pdf.