Someone in the yard printed the August 2026 PHMSA notice and asked if the security plan can go back in the drawer. The notice is real. The farmer-only exception in 49 CFR 172.800 got an update. The current eCFR lists that amendment as 91 FR 49332, dated August 4, 2026.
The exception is written for a farmer moving agricultural products for that farm. It is not written for a retail propane company filling customer tanks with a cargo-tank bobtail.
We write the books that sit in the office when that question comes up. If you run the trucks, this page is for you.
What the August notice actually changed
PHMSA published the farmer-exception amendment in the Federal Register on August 4, 2026. The eCFR copy of 49 CFR 172.800 now carries that Federal Register cite. Read the current text before you brief the owner. We do not interpret your load.
The exception names a farmer, farm operations, highway or rail, and a mileage limit measured from those operations. A retail bobtail running customer fills is a different job. If your counsel tells you the exception applies to a farm account you haul for, that is their call. It is not a reason to throw out the written plan for the rest of the fleet.
What did not go away
The current eCFR text of 49 CFR 172.800 lists who a transportation security plan applies to. That list includes a large bulk quantity of Division 2.1 material. Propane is a Division 2.1 flammable gas. The same section defines a large bulk quantity as more than 3,000 liters, which is 792 gallons, in a single packaging such as a cargo tank. A retail bobtail that holds more than that volume is on the list.
49 CFR 172.802 is the companion section that names the three pieces a written plan covers: personnel security, unauthorized access, and en-route security. Confirm the current wording. A printed binder that nobody has opened since the last manager left is not the same as a plan the people on the clock can find.
We do not haul your propane. We do not sign your plan. Your shop keeps the dated copy.
A policies book and a security plan are two files
People mix them up because both live in a binder.
A policies and procedures manual is how your shop actually runs: who fills, who inspects, who calls whom on a leak, how you keep records. It is the book a new dispatcher can read on day one.
A DOT hazmat transportation security plan is the document 49 CFR Subpart I is about. It is about the load, the people who have access to it, and the route. It is not a toolbox talk. It is not a delivery ticket.
Customer leak steps are a third file. The Propane Education & Research Council publishes smell-gas and inspection guidance for the public on propane.com. That is a customer warning. It is not the transportation security plan, and it is not your shop policies book.
You want the shop book and the security plan on paper, in language that matches the yard. If the security plan talks about a gate you tore down two summers ago, the file will not hold.
What to pull Monday morning
You do not need a new software stack to start.
1. Put the current 49 CFR 172.800 text and the August 4, 2026 Federal Register cite in the same folder as your security plan. If the folder is empty, that is the gap.
2. Hand the plan to someone who did not write it. Ask them to find the three pieces 49 CFR 172.802 names. Time how long that takes.
3. Open your policies and procedures book. Read the pages on plant access and who rides the bobtail. If the people who did the work last week wince, the book does not match the yard.
4. Write one name on the cover. If two people both think the other owns the dated look, nobody does.
If that folder takes more than a few minutes to find, you already know the work.
Get the written plan, not a reprint of the notice
Propane Safety Pro writes the fill-in DOT hazmat security plan and the policies and procedures manual from one intake form, built to how you actually run, print-ready. The security plans page is the transportation document. The policies and procedures page is the shop book. How to choose propane safety manuals walks the rest of the catalog. There is no public price on this site.
Call 610-228-0887 and ask for the written program. Or use the contact page. We sell to people who run the trucks. We do not sell to homeowners.
This page is general information for propane marketers in the United States. It is not legal advice. Confirm the current code, your state's rules, and your insurer's list before you treat any example here as your requirement. Primary text: 49 CFR 172.800 and 49 CFR 172.802 on the eCFR, including the August 4, 2026 Federal Register amendment noted there.