Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) HAZMAT Table Inquiry

[Rick Bornhorst]

Members and Friends of AT040,

 

Below you will find a few questions from Julie Parker (OST) on various CFS HAZMAT tables.  If you are a user of these tables and/or have an interest in their construction, utility, and/or can help answer these questions please feel free contact Julie directly.  Her contact info is provided below.   

 

Thanks!

 

Rick

 

From: Parker, Julie (OST) [mailto:Julie....@dot.gov]
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2019 12:21 PM
To: David Willauer <DWil...@Camsys.com>; airan...@impactresearchinc.com
Cc: Grube, Ryan (OST) <ryan....@dot.gov>
Subject: questions about CFS HAZMAT tables

 

Hi,

 

I presented on behalf of OST-R at the TRB HAZMAT Committee about the Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) HAZMAT tables. The CFS team is currently reviewing the Hazmat tables that we typically publish with the final data release.  From the 2012 CFS, 20 Hazmat tables were published.  For all table series (Geographic, Hazmat, and Export) in 2017, we’d like to reduce the number of cells with zeroes or suppressed estimates while also reducing the amount of duplication by merging or eliminating tables.  We came across a few Hazmat tables that we were unsure on how to handle and wanted to get feedback from those in the Hazmat industry/field before making a decision.  Listed below are some questions we had.

 

1. The CFS Hazmat table series includes data on intrastate and interstate hazmat shipments by truck.  We were curious about the value of this table and if there was perhaps some type of policy implication for intrastate vs. interstate movements.
1. Also, currently this information is only shown by truck mode.  Would it be helpful to expand upon this and show other modes as well?
2. The CFS Hazmat table series includes data on temperature control status of hazmat shipments by mode and by UN number.  Is temperature control status of value to those in the industry?
3. We also show two very small tables on Toxic by Inhalation and on Packing Group (only Packing Group 1).  We’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on each table and how impactful such data is.

 

If you could shed some light on these topics it would be greatly appreciated.  Furthermore, is there a listserv for the TRB HAZMAT Committee that this could be sent to? Please let me and my colleague, Ryan Grube (cc’ed), know if more clarification is needed.

 

Thanks for your help,

Julie

 

Julie Parker

Survey Statistician

Office of Survey Programs

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Office: (202) 366-6373

Cell: (202) 734-1569

julie....@dot.gov