Violations Found on Trucks in PA

Operational and safety violations were found on 14 trash trucks examined March 19 during a surprise inspection at the American Ref-Fuel Resource Recovery facility in the City of Chester, PA, Southeast Regional Office Director Joseph A. Feola announced.

The inspection operation, the second in a week at the site, was initiated by Pennsylvania State Police. All of the violations were against the haulers. The facility was not cited.

“Some of the waste-hauling truck drivers on Pennsylvania’s roads are driving in unsafe equipment and present a hazard to the public,” Feola said. “The region has made these inspections a priority to help improve compliance with DEP’s environmental regulations and the state’s traffic safety laws. We do not intend to let up on drivers and trucking companies who refuse to meet these standards. We will continue to be as vigilant as we have been in the past.”

A similar inspection the same day at a facility in Delaware County, PA, found a total of six violations on two of the six waste-hauling vehicles inspected. The inspections were cut short because the state police were called to another assignment.

At American Ref-Fuel, five violations were for trucks that did not have proper signs, four that did not display a Waste Hauler Authorization sticker, three for having a discharged fire extinguisher, three for not having a municipal waste log, and one each for being overweight and not having a fire extinguisher.

Two of the violations at the I-95 location involved an infectious waste transportation vehicle that did not have a portable decontamination and spill containment kit, and which had accepted infectious waste with an incomplete manifest. The four other violations involved a vehicle transporting municipal waste septage that did not have a valid Waste Hauler Authorization sticker; one that did not have a proper sign; one that was leaking waste; and one that did not have valid written authorization.