The books someone will ask you for
Fill-in safety manuals for how this yard actually runs. Insurer, DOT, OSHA, fire marshal, and AHJ ask for different books. One intake. Call 610-228-0887.
P&P and the DOT hazmat security plan are already delivered as client books. Every other row is a fill-in template we write from intake. We do not stamp “sold” on a book that is not written yet.
Ask for the intake form Or call 610-228-0887.
How intake works
- Fill one form — About an hour. Locations, fleet, who inspects you.
- We write the books around this yard — Fill-in template plus your blanks. If one state fact is missing, we call. We do not invent it.
- You keep the print-ready files — No long-term lock-in. Month-to-month is the default.
No site visit claimed. If a state fact is missing, we call. We do not invent it.
The ten books, in the order they matter
Policies & Procedures and the DOT Hazmat Security Plan come first — they carry the most legal weight and the most immediate consequence. Fire Safety Analysis and the two add-on services sit at the bottom because they apply to fewer operators, not because they matter less to the ones who need them.
1. Policies & Procedures Safety Manual
The rulebook your crew signs off on — built around your yard, not a generic binder.
OSHA and your insurance carrier ask the same question after an incident: where's your written safety program? A verbal policy doesn't count. This manual covers your drivers, your yard, your bobtail loading, and your emergency response — written to your company's own procedures, not someone else's boilerplate. On January 1, 2027, the federal pipeline safety rules (49 CFR Part 192) move covered systems onto the 2024 edition of NFPA 58 — if your P&P still cites the old code, it's already out of date. Skip this and you find out the gap during an audit, a lawsuit, or an insurance renewal — never a good time. This is a template and a starting point, not legal advice.
2. DOT Hazmat Security Plan
Federal law says you need one in writing. We build it around your trucks and yard.
Haul more than 3,000 liters — about 792 gallons — of propane in bulk, and you're a hazmat carrier under 49 CFR 172.800, required to have a written security plan under Subpart I (§172.802) covering your people, your access risk, and your routes. New DOT paperwork rules (HM-268) took effect September 3, 2026, and most dealers' plans don't reflect them yet. Without a current plan, an inspection can turn into a finding, and an incident can turn into a lawsuit with no paper trail showing you took it seriously. Template and starting point, not legal advice.
3. SDS Binder & Written HazCom Program
The safety-data-sheet binder OSHA expects your crew to find in seconds.
OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200) requires an SDS on file for every hazardous chemical on site — propane included — plus employee training on what's in it. An inspector who can't find your SDS binder, or a driver who can't explain the label, is a citation waiting to happen. We build the binder and the written program together so the paperwork and the training match. Template and starting point, not legal advice.
4. Emergency Action Plan
What your crew does in the first sixty seconds of a leak, fire, or evacuation — in writing.
OSHA's Emergency Action Plan standard (29 CFR 1910.38) requires most workplaces to keep a written plan for fires, leaks, and evacuations, reviewed with every employee. At 2am nobody has time to work out who calls 911, who shuts the valve, and where the crew meets outside. A written, practiced plan is the difference between a bad ten minutes and a tragedy — and it's the first document an inspector or adjuster asks for afterward. Template and starting point, not legal advice.
5. Bobtail / Cargo-Tank Operations Manual
Loading, hauling, and unloading rules your drivers actually follow, cited to the code.
Your bobtail is a cargo tank under DOT rules (49 CFR 178.337), and your drivers' pre-trip checks, loading steps, and DVIR paperwork (49 CFR 396.11, 396.13) are federally regulated — not just company habit. A driver who skips a step because it was never written down is your liability, not just his mistake. This manual puts the loading, route, and unloading procedure on paper so every driver runs the same playbook. Template and starting point, not legal advice.
6. Bulk Plant / Storage Procedures
Site rules for your plant or fill yard — access, transfer, emergency response, on paper.
A bulk plant or cylinder-fill yard falls under OSHA's LP-gas storage rule (29 CFR 1910.110) and NFPA 58's storage chapters, and both expect a written procedure — not tribal knowledge held by your longest-tenured employee. This manual covers who gets site access, how transfers happen, and what your crew does when something goes wrong. When that employee retires, the plant's safety record shouldn't retire with him. Template and starting point, not legal advice.
7. Operations & Maintenance Manual
The maintenance and inspection schedule that keeps your equipment — and your record — clean.
NFPA 58 expects a documented operating and maintenance program for your containers, piping, and equipment: inspection intervals, who's responsible, what gets logged. Missing maintenance records don't just risk equipment failure — it's the first thing a state inspector or your carrier's loss-control rep asks to see. This manual gives your team a real schedule to run and a record to produce when asked. Template and starting point, not legal advice.
8. Fire Safety Analysis
Required over 4,000 gallons — your local fire authority reviews it, not us.
NFPA 58 §6.30 requires a Fire Safety Analysis before you install a container system with more than 4,000 gallons of aggregate water capacity, and your local fire authority reviews it before you can move forward. It's not paperwork for its own sake — it shows your fire department how your plant behaves in an incident and what protection is built in. Skip it and a bulk-plant expansion can stall at the permit desk. We build the analysis; your local AHJ still does the review. Template and starting point, not legal advice.
9. NFPA 58-2024 Reconciliation
Already have manuals? We line them up to the new code before January 1, 2027.
On January 1, 2027, the federal pipeline safety rules (49 CFR Part 192) move covered systems to the 2024 edition of NFPA 58 — every citation in your P&P, O&M, FSA, and security plan built off an older edition needs a check. This service reconciles what you already have instead of starting over. Cheaper than finding out at inspection time that your paperwork cites a retired code.
10. Insurance Renewal Kit
The documentation packet your agent wants 6-8 months before renewal — ready to hand over.
Insurance agents are on record (LP Gas magazine, Sept. 11, 2026) telling propane dealers to start their renewal file six to eight months out — and the first thing they ask for is your written safety program. If your last renewal meant scrambling for old paperwork the week before the deadline, this kit organizes your safety manuals, inspection records, and training documentation the way an underwriter actually reads them.
Other compliance paperwork we cover
Not part of the core ten, but the same intake covers these when you need them.
| Book | Who asks / cite |
|---|---|
| Driver training + CETP records | Certificates ≠ the 172.704 file. |
| Cylinder requalification | 49 CFR 180.205 / .209. |
| Customer tank / leak check | Leak-check before restore. |
| Cathodic protection | Underground / mounded records. |
| Odorization | Sniff-test / stain-tube file. |
| Incident reporting | 171.15 / .16; company close-out. |
| Duty-to-warn program | Written program. Mailing is a different URL. |
| Training matrix | Who / what / interval / drawer. |
Mailing the public piece is a different page: duty-to-warn mailing. The written program is /duty-to-warn-program/.
Straight answers
Which books does a propane shop actually need?
The ones someone will ask for. Insurer, license office, and big commercial accounts ask for Policies & Procedures. A DOT investigator asks for the hazmat security plan and the training dates if you fill from a cargo tank over the bulk threshold in 49 CFR 172.800(b)(3) (more than 3,000 L / 792 gal in one packaging). OSHA asks for the written HazCom program and, when 29 CFR 1910.38 applies, an emergency action plan. A bulk plant owes its own O&M. Fire safety analysis is a plant document when NFPA 58 as adopted requires it.
Are these custom books or templates?
Fill-in master templates. You complete one intake. We write the book around this shop's answers and leave blanks you still own (state-adopted NFPA 58 edition, names, equipment). Not a cover swap on a generic binder.
Is CETP enough?
No. CETP or PEP certificates are training. They are not the written plan and they are not the 49 CFR 172.704 record.
Is your Fire Safety Analysis the PERC manual?
No. We sell our own NFPA 58 instrument (2020 §6.29 / 2024 §6.30 elements). We do not reprint PERC publication 9100-SA-20.
How does intake work?
One form, about an hour. Call 610-228-0887 or use the intake link. We do not publish prices on this site.
One form. About an hour.
Ask for the intake form Or call 610-228-0887.
Propane Safety Pro · Digital Software Services, LLC · 112 Holby Lane, Pottstown, PA 19465