I can't replicate your problem, but I tried it a little differently. First, don't use use vars. That creates package-scoped global variables which are more trouble than their worth. Just keep it simple.

#!/usr/bin/perl 

use strict;
use warnings;
use Text::CSV::Slurp;
use Data::Dumper::Concise;

my $file = '/orion-regs/SaferHtml/CradleCSV/2012_03_30/
    Doc_Sections/SAFER_Group_Trace.csv';

my $data = Text::CSV::Slurp->load( file => $file, binary => 1 );
print Dumper($data);
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