Subject: Trailways Safety Meeting RECAP (conference call) Thursday, June 26, 2014

Transcription

1 To: Trailways Safety Leaders Subject: Trailways Safety Meeting RECAP (conference call) Thursday, June 26, 2014 RECAP by: Phil Hanley, Safety Compliance Director, Trailways Transportation System (Aug. 13, 2014) The next BISC meeting will be in St. Louis MO on January 10-13, 2015 (ABA conference). I urged Trailways members to attend the Bus Industry Safety Council (BISC) as it is an excellent venue for networking, exchange of ideas, and to receive the latest industry and regulatory information. I reminded the operators to send me their latest Facilities, Terminal, and Equipment (FTE) report, better known as the Department of Defense (DoD) report. The purpose is to review the reports and track any areas that the carrier may need assistance in improving. Remember to keep your DOT number active and update your MCS-150 at the appropriate time and filing schedule (see ). The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) should send you a notification letter 30 days before your deadline. If you don t keep it current your DOT number can be deactivated. BISC OVERVIEW The most recent BISC meeting held in Linthicum, MD on June 16 and 17. The structure of the meeting was open to the entire group and there were excellent presentations by subject matter experts. The two main issues discussed were the electronic logging devices and the CDL drug and alcohol clearinghouse. I. Electronic Logging Devices: Overview of Federal Register The FMCSA announced March 28, 2014 a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) to mandate electronic logging devices. The rule s effective date and publication date in the Federal Register has not been announced. It s likely the rule will go into effect sometime in 2016/2017. The proposal says it will go into effect two years after the final rule is issued, which could happen in late 2014 or early The SNPRM follows a FMCSA rule from 2010 that mandates the use of electronic onboard recorders. That entire rule was vacated in 2011 by a federal court. FMCSA believes electronic logging devices (ELDs) will prevent 1400 to 1700 crashes and save lives.

2 The rules estimate the annualized cost of compliance for the new rule will be between $165 and $832 per vehicle. The rule consists of four parts: Components of the Rule 1. The requirement to use ELDs 2. The protection against driver harassment 3. Hardware specification for the devices and 4. The hours of service-related supporting documents drivers must continue to carry after the mandate Mandating logging devices: The mandate will apply to all divers who are currently required to keep paper records of duty status. Drivers who are required to keep records of duty status in eight or more days out of every 30 days must use an ELD. Carriers and drivers would not be required to install or use a logging device until two years after the effective date of the final rule. Carriers who used what the agency calls automatic onboard recording devices prior to the ELD mandate, have two more years on top of that to comply. Driver Harassment: The new ELD rule includes provisions to prevent driver harassment involving the devices. According to the rule, the agency says their two primary focuses relatives to driver harassment are pressures on drivers to exceed the hours of service limits and inappropriate communications that affect drivers rest periods. Proposed safeguards against harassment in the new rule include expanded drivers access to records, explicit wording about carriers harassing drivers, implementing a complaint procedure, stiffening penalties for those who do harass drivers. Edit rights for drivers, limitations on location tracking, mute functionality for the devices and preserving driver confidentially in enforcement proceedings. Hardware Specifications: The new rule requires ELDs to be integrated with the vehicles engine and to use location information. They also must be tamper-resistant. The devices will track the vehicles

3 movement but t can allow for annotations by both drivers and carriers to explain or correct record. FMCSA is developing with states software to be able to receive, analyze and display data from ELDs so that roadside officers can use the information, according to the rule. The rule also stipulates that the ELDs present a graph grid of a driver s daily duty status changes either on the units themselves or in printouts. The rule also stipulates the connectivity methods, which include Bluetooth 2.1, , USB 2.0 and more. Supporting Documents: Carriers and drivers will still be required to maintain documentation that verifies drivers hoursof-service records. Supporting documents can refer to either paper or electronic documents. Documents verifying driving time would not need to be kept, FMCSA says, but ones that verify periods of drivers on-duty not driving time. For every 24-hour period the driver is on-duty, carriers must maintain no more than 10 supporting documents from either of these categories (1) bills of lading, itineraries, schedules or other documents that show trip origin and destination, (2) dispatch records, trip records or similar documents (3) expense records (4) electronic mobile communication records sent through fleet management systems or (5) payroll records, settlement sheets or similar documents that show that what and how a driver was paid. Comments: Remember this is a SNPRM and as such is a long way to becoming a final rule and a regulation. There will be other opportunities to comment when the Notice of Proposed Rule is issued prior to the Final Rule. However, in my opinion this will happen and it would be prudent to start planning for it. A number of bus operators have gone to different systems and they have stated that it improves not only compliance but in many cases overall management of their operations. II. National Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse for Drivers The FMCSA announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on February 20, 2014 to establish a drug and alcohol clearinghouse for all national commercial drivers license holders. The clearinghouse would help improve roadway safety by making it easier to determining whether a bus driver is prohibited from operating a commercial motor vehicle for failing to comply with federal drug and alcohol regulations, including mandatory testing according to FMCSA.

4 Current federal regulations require employers to conduct mandatory pre-employment screening of a CDL driver s qualifications based upon his or her driving record. There has not been a single federal repository recording positive drug and alcohol tests by CDL holders that employers would be able to search to ensure that the driver is able to perform safety-sensitive duties. The proposed rule would create such a repository and require employers to conduct preemployment searches for all new CDL drivers and annual searches on current drivers. Under the proposed rule, FMCSA regulated bus companies, Medical Review Officers, Substance Abuse Professionals and private third party U.S. DOT drug and alcohol testing laboratories would be required to record information about a driver who: Fails a drug and/or alcohol test Refuses to submit to a drug and/alcohol test and Successfully completes a substance abuse program and is legally qualified to return to duty. Private, third-party U.S. DOT drug and alcohol testing laboratories also would be required to report summary information annually. This information would be used to help identify companies that do not have a testing program. To ensure the privacy of drivers involved, each CDL holder would need to provide his or her consent before an employer could access the clearing house. Drivers who refuse to provide this information could still be employed by the bus company but they could not occupy safety-sensitive positions, such as operating a commercial motor vehicle. National Medical Registry The National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners was discussed by Elaine Papp of the FMCSA s Medical Division. She spoke about the National Registry and the steps to become a Medical Examiner. Currently there are 29,053 Medical Examiners on the Registry. Drivers must carry their medical card for another year and make sure the Medical Examiner s number is on the card. Also, the carrier should make a note to the file that they looked up the Medical Examiner to ensure they are on the registry. Make a screen shot and save to the file. The website below provides information on the National Registry and is very user friendly. There is a FAQ section that will provide useful guidance.

5 The BISC meeting will be in St. Louis MO on January 10-13, I strongly urge all operators attend if at all possible. Report by Phil Hanley, Safety Compliance Director Trailways Transportation System 3554 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 202 Fairfax, VA Cell phil@trailways.com