Over five days this summer, commercial motor vehicle inspectors in Canada and the U.S. conducted 4,629 inspections of commercial motor vehicles transporting hazardous materials/dangerous goods (HM/DG) as part of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) unannounced HM/DG inspection and enforcement initiative.
During this year’s HM/DG Road Blitz, which was June 9-13, inspectors affixed 831 CVSA decals to inspected vehicles. A CVSA decal is placed on a vehicle or vehicle combination after an inspection to indicate there were no critical vehicle or specification cargo tank violations on those vehicles.
Conversely, inspectors discovered 1,169 HM/DG violations, of which 598 (51%) were out-of-service violations. Vehicles with HM/DG out-of-service violations, or any other out-of-service violations, were restricted from further travel until those violations were addressed.
The transportation of HM/DG demands rigorous training and heightened compliance requirements. For motor carriers and drivers, safely transporting HM/DG is imperative to the safety of the driver, the public and the environment. For inspectors, inspecting vehicles transporting HM/DG is a complex and detailed process that involves safely looking for leaking materials or unsecured HM/DG cargo, and verifying shipping papers, placarding, marking, labeling, packaging and loading compliance.
Forty-five jurisdictions participated in this year’s unannounced HM/DG Road Blitz – 10 Canadian provinces and 35 U.S. states. Enforcement personnel inspected 1,469 non-bulk packages/small means of containment, 2,522 bulk cargo tank packages/large means of containment and 447 other bulk packages/other large means of containment.
In the U.S., a hazardous material is a substance or material that poses an unreasonable risk to health, safety and property when transported in commerce, and has been designated as hazardous under Section 5103 of Federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Law. Motor carriers and commercial motor vehicle drivers involved in the transportation of hazardous materials are required to comply with the federal Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMRs), which govern the transportation of hazardous materials in interstate, intrastate and foreign commerce. Continue Reading»
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Original article published by CVSA