Opinion: New Thinking for Hazmat Security
I>President
ommercial Vehicle Safety Alliance
The fateful events of Sept. 11 redefined responsibilities for the law enforcement community, including those of us in truck and bus safety enforcement. Although we have always worked every day to make our highways safe, we must now take on the added task of ensuring security on our highways and try to prevent planned destructive acts. This requires new thinking and new approaches. Since those of us in law enforcement are not security experts, we will have to work closely with those who are.
The question, however, is not simply whether to conduct a Level I or a Level III inspection when it comes to hazmat transportation security. It involves much more. How do we begin? I suggest we start the same way we did more than 20 years ago when CVSA was organized and began developing the North American inspection standards and procedures.
First, we need to identify the parties that are involved, including the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Research and Special Programs Administration, the state and provincial governments represented by CVSA, as well as carriers, shippers and receivers, and bring them all to the table.
Once the parties convene, what should the agenda be? First, let’s recognize that the safety risks of hazardous materials transportation are well known. Security risks are not. Next, I suggest we identify specific steps, such as the following:
* Take a closer look at new and unusual orders and new customers.
* Consider new ways to track the shipment en route.
* Look closely at new entrants into the industry.
* Develop new licensing procedures for hazardous materials drivers.
* Consider establishing a hot line to notify authorities to ensure the proper response in questionable situations.
Whatever practices are used to handle these circumstances, they must be “uniform,” and the personnel implementing them must be “uniformly” trained. Does this sound familiar? It’s the institutional framework of CVSA that has served well for more than two decades. The responsibility for convening the involved parties, developing the standards and practices and implementing them must be shared. No one group, in either government or industry, has all of the answers.
As we begin such a task, we should be careful not to “re-invent the wheel” or duplicate technologies and practices already in use. We should try to develop approaches that have a multiplicity of purposes. For example, as we consider ways to tighten licensing procedures for hazmat drivers, we should apply them, to the extent possible, to the entire commercial driver licensing program. The CDL program is badly in need of reform, not only with respect to testing drivers, but also in sharing information about driver records with all parties who need the information.
When we talk about procedures for new carriers that would haul hazmats, aren’t we really talking about procedures that should apply to all new industry entrants? Aren’t we also talking about applying the same procedures to Mexican carriers that seek to do business in the U.S.? I believe we are. In 1999, when the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act was being debated, CVSA supported a safety review, or case study, of each new entrant. This is the same safety review we advocated for Mexican carriers when we presented our plan to the Congress this past summer.
The same applies to the use of technology. Whether we’re talking about bar codes or biometric identifiers for the driver, scanning cargo on the truck, an electronic freight bill or tracking the truck en route, it’s not new technology. To one degree or another, all of this technology is being used by government agencies, such as the Customs Service or the Immigration and Naturalizaton Service, and by industry itself.
We need to borrow, share and coordinate these technologies. We need to develop an overall strategy that will help us in our immediate efforts to make hazardous materials transportation more secure and ensure better safety and security at border crossings, in the U.S. and throughout North America. Let me assure you that CVSA will adhere to principles that will protect proprietary business information on a need-to-know basis.
As a roadside inspector, the backbone of the motor carrier safety enforcement throughout North America, I call upon everyone who will play a role in this new effort — not only the 10,000 CVSA certified inspectors, but all program managers and safety partners, including industry — to come together to make our highways safe and secure — every day!
The writer is a lieutenant in the Massachusetts State Police, and is serving a term as president of CVSA, which is represents trucking safety inspectors at the state, provincial and federal level in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
This story appeared in the Nov. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
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