INDIANAPOLIS -- In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., many federal security plans were updated or created to help prevent similar destruction in the future. Among the requirements put in place by the U.S. Department of Transportation was the need for companies that transport hazardous materials, including motor fuels, to establish and maintain a security plan.
This summer, when several petroleum marketers in Indiana failed security-plan audits conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ([image-nocss] FMCSA), highlighted the need for marketers to take another look at their security plans, according to Scott Imus, executive director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association.
We had a seminar several months before [the new rules were enacted in 2003]. We provided everybody with a book, and what they needed to do was go back and customize it for their facility, essentially fill in the blanks, Imus told CSP Daily News. Unfortunately, some of those attending apparently just took the binder and put it up on the shelf without doing that. So it wasn't a custom plan for their facility. That's why they are now subject to fines.
Those fines can total $3,000 for each infraction.
Imus said this is the first time he had heard of fines being handed out and the first time he'd heard of any marketers being audited for the security plans. I haven't heard of it happening to any of my colleagues in other states. I don't know if there was a grace period before it started. I don't know if they've been looking and everybody else has been compliant, he said. It's being done as part of the typical audit; it was not done as an audit on just the security plan. It was within the normal course of inspecting motor carriers.
A spokesperson for the FMCSA told CSP Daily News it has been conducting security-plan audits since 2003, but could not offer any details. It is FMCSA's goal to ensure shippers and motor carriers achieve compliance with the regulations through the agency's compliance review program, she wrote in an e-mail.
The plans must cover not only the trucks but also their whole facility, said Imus, where the trucks are kept at night, how they're locked, how they're stored.
Click here to access FMCSA information that outlines how to develop an effective security plan.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.