Don’t get caught short by a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) roadside inspection. In its most recent data for fiscal year (FY) 2016, DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) had performed 126,250 roadside inspections of trucks targeting compliance with hazardous materials transportation regulations. During these inspections, DOT inspectors found 26,889 violations.
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The top violation DOT inspectors have found so far in FY 2016 is that packages are not secured in the vehicle. At 2,363 violations, this mistake accounted for almost 9% of the total violations. Following at a close second, inspectors have found 2,024 instances where there was np copy of the DOT hazmat registration number in the vehicle.
Four of the top 10 violations have to do with placarding requirements. In some cases the placards were not there at all and in some cases, the placards were damaged or obscured.
Another three of the top 10 violations are related to shipping papers. For instance, did you realize that when the driver is not in the truck that the shipping papers must be in a holder that is mounted to the inside of the door on the driver’s side of the vehicle or on the driver’s seat in the vehicle?
The DOT deemed one scenario noncompliant when the carrier’s book that contained material related to the shipment was too big to fit in the door pocket of the vehicles. The carrier want to know if it was alright to place the book in a holder installed to the left of the driver’s seat, but not in the door itself. The DOT said that was fine as long as the driver was at the vehicle controls, but not when the driver is not at the vehicle controls. According to DOT, these shipping paper accessibility requirements were established to standardize shipping paper locations so emergency response personnel could better locate them during an incident.
Here’s look at the top 10 hazmat transportation violations by trucks uncovered by DOT inspectors so far this 2016 FY.
| Regulation | Violation Description | # of inspections | # of violations | % of total violations | |
| 1 | 49 CFR 177.834 | Package not secure in vehicle | 2,203 | 2,363 | 8.79% |
| 2 | 49 CFR 107.620 | No copy of U.S. DOT Hazardous Materials Registration number | 2,024 | 2,024 | 7.53% |
| 3 | 49 CFR 172.516 | Placard damaged, deteriorated, or obscured | 1,368 | 1,466 | 5.45% |
| 4 | 49 CFR 177.817 | Shipping paper accessibility | 1,406 | 1,410 | 5.24% |
| 5 | 49 CFR 172.504 | Vehicle not placarded as required | 1,318 | 1,362 | 5.07% |
| 6 | 49 CFR 177.817 | No shipping papers (carrier) | 1,342 | 1,357 | 5.05% |
| 7 | 49 CFR 172.502 | Failure to provide carrier required placards | 1,070 | 1,087 | 4.04% |
| 8 | 49 CFR 172.202 | Failure to enter basic description of hazardous materials in proper sequence | 747 | 767 | 2.85% |
| 9 | 49 CFR 177.823 | No placards/markings when required | 662 | 730 | 2.71% |
| 10 | 49 CFR 172.600 | Emergency response information not available | 714 | 718 | 2.67% |
Data Source: FMCSA Motor Carrier Management Information System
In FY 2015, DOT performed 191,261 inspections for compliance with hazardous materials regulations. The total number of hazmat violations uncovered in FY 2015 was 42,599. As so far in FY 2016, the top violation in FY 2015 was unsecured packages in vehicles. Interestingly, the violation that held the second spot in 2015 was the lack of a copy of the hazardous materials registration number.
As a matter of fact, nine of the top ten hazmat violations in FY 2015 are showing up as part of the top ten so far in FY 2016. The one that broke into the top ten for FY 2016 so far is that emergency response information is not available. But, that violation ranked 11th at the end of FY 2015.
At the end of FY 2016, we will take a look at where the hazmat violations rankings stand.
Check tomorrow’s Advisor for scenarios when DOT thinks your packages may be unsecured—the top hazmat violation so far in FY 2016.