Hazardous Materials require special handling and driver certification. Hazardous Materials are dangerous goods or substances that may be corrosive, flammable, explosive, toxic, biological, water reactive or gases which react under pressure. Hazardous substances are classified according to their long term health effects, while dangerous goods are classified by their immediate physical and/or chemical effects. For the past decade, government and hazardous materials industry officials estimated more than 500,000 daily shipments to characterize hazmat traffic in the U.S. and the level of risk to the transport community and general public. Because of continued growth in the hazmat sector, as well as in the overall U.S. economy, along with changes in national and global distribution practices, research has been undertaken by the US DOT to evaluate and update current hazmat traffic levels. Hazardous materials traffic levels in the U.S. now exceed 800,000 shipments per day and result in the transport of more than 3.1 billion tons of hazardous materials annually. Therefore, the increased traffic and handling of these materials require a unique set of rules and regulations to ensure the safety of the drivers and general community alike. All FSS hazmat drivers are certified and meet Federal Re-Currency CFR 49 parts 172.702 and 172.704 requirements for handling hazardous materials shipments.