Report from the Road: CVSA Workshop 2023

TVC Pro-Driver is an Associate Member of the CVSA. As such, I attended the CVSA Workshop in Memphis, Tennessee, in late April. The CVSA Workshop is designed to help government officials, enforcement and industry continue to advance commercial motor vehicle safety. Colleagues from across North America meet to effect meaningful changes to the overall culture of transportation safety.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is a non-profit association of local, state, provincial, territorial, and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials and industry representatives from the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Alliance aims to prevent commercial motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities and believes that collaboration between government and industry improves road safety and saves lives.

Committees meet to discuss and vote on proposed action items. The items could result in a change of the Out of Service Criteria or the issuance or change of an Operational Policy. The items passed in committee are forwarded to the CVSA Board of Directors for a final vote.

Some of the approved items from the CVSA Workshop 2023 are included below.

• A. U.S. driver’s hazardous material endorsement requires a TSA/HM determination to be completed every five years. A driver is to be declared Out of Service if the determination has expired and the driver is transporting hazardous materials.
• HOS violations should have specific and detailed information regarding the HOS violation as defined in the pick-list (as defined in the Roadside Inspection Documentation Comparison Matrix). In addition to the default language, the inspector shall provide additional information detailing the specific violation.
• Various changes on how to document brake system violations in Operational Policy 15.
• Several cargo securement issues were addressed, including Intermodal Containers and Fracking Sandboxes.

In addition to the committee meeting, CVSA Programs and campaigns are reviewed. These programs included:

• North American Cargo Securement Harmonization
• Human Trafficking Prevention
• North American Fatigue Management Program
• International Roadcheck
• Operation Airbrake
• Operation Safe Driver
• NAIC – North American Inspectors Championship

As active members of the industry, TVC Pro-Driver will continue to stay on top of trucking topics that may impact your company and drivers. If you have questions about any of the topics mentioned, you can email me at swilhelms@prodriver.com.

By Steve Wilhelms, TVC Pro-Driver Director of Safety and Compliance