DOT HAZMAT Endorsements

Back in March of 2019, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) which falls under the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a new entry-level driver training (ELDT) guidance. This guidance not only affects entry level drivers, but also seasoned drivers wanting to upgrade their CDL, or receive their hazardous materials (H), passenger (P), or school bus (S) endorsement for the first time.

Since many of our clients fall under the hazardous materials category, we wanted to create this checklist to hopefully make this process easier to understand.

First, you’ll need to determine if the federal requirements apply to you.

At the time this article was written, we know that if you’re in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin, you will want to contact your local DMV for your state specific requirements. We still recommend for other states that you check with your local DMV to make sure that procedures haven’t deviated from the time the research was done for this article.

For those that will follow federal procedures, here are the steps you’ll want to take:

1. Go to the TSA website to fill out an application and schedule an appointment for a background check. This will usually take a bit of time (usually 45-60 days after being fingerprinted), so you may want to consider doing this first.
2. Take training through an approved ELDT (Entry Level Drivers Training) provider who will then submit their ELDT certificate to the FMCSA registry, where the DMV can access proof to later issue your HAZMAT endorsement on your license.
3. Once both have been completed and certificate has been entered into the system, go to the DMV for the knowledge test and endorsement. If you prefer to do this before hearing back from TSA, please know that the test results are only valid for 3 months, but you cannot receive the endorsement until steps 1 and 2 have been completed.
4. Finally, you’ll need your safety certification. 49 CFR 172 and 49 CFR 177 can both be taken online with Compliance Training Online.

The regulations also state that you will also need some sort of safety training. The regulations don’t specify what type, as this would be determined by the hazards you face with your job functions and work environment. Many of our clients take the GHS Hazard Communication (Worker Right to Know) course that we offer.

While Compliance Training Online does not currently offer all of these resources to satisfy your new approved training, we are always here to help. Please contact us at any time for clarification or guidance.