Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) inspectors discovered violations on 14% of vehicles transporting hazardous materials/dangerous goods (HM/DG) in Canada and the U.S. over five days this summer.

Inspectors conducted 3,929 inspections of commercial motor vehicles June 10-14 as part of the CVSA’s unannounced HM/DG inspection and enforcement initiative, according to a release.

During the HM/DG road blitz, inspectors affixed 1,009 CVSA decals, which means there were no critical vehicle or specification cargo tank violations on those vehicles. On the other hand, inspectors discovered HM/DG violations on 576 of the vehicles inspected.

Forty-five jurisdictions participated in the blitz. A total of 4,095 packages were inspected; specifically, 1,488 non-bulk packages/small means of containment, 2,218 bulk cargo tank packages/large means of containment and 389 other bulk packages/other large means of containment.

There were 116 out-of-service loading and securement violations in North America. Nineteen packages were cited for HM/DG package integrity (leaking) violations.

Canadian violations

In Canada, inspectors identified 79 transportation of dangerous goods training certificate violations. In the U.S., inspectors discovered 93 undeclared packages during the blitz.

Last year, CVSA inspectors in Canada and the U.S. inspected 7,572 commercial motor vehicles transporting HM/DG during the five-day initiative. A total of 8,395 packages were inspected, and inspectors discovered 2,578 HM/DG violations, of which 701 were HM/DG out-of-service (OOS) violations.

In Canada, 1,449 vehicles and 1,673 DG packages were inspected. Inspectors discovered 482 DG violations, of which 163 were out-of-service DG violations.

In the U.S., 6,123 vehicles and 6,722 HM packages were inspected. Inspectors identified 2,096 HM violations, of which 538 were out-of-service HM violations.