Legislating Responsibility 20 August 2014 Posted in Blog
Over the last few months, there have unfortunately been some accidents involving Class 8 over-the-road trucks and passenger vehicles. While in most of these incidents the investigations are on-going, often the initial reports suggest the drivers were “legal” within FMCSA Hours of Service regulations. In one case, however, a criminal complaint against the driver charges that he had not slept for 24 hours prior to the accident.
In one particular broadcast, CBS News reported that the driver had been charged with vehicular homicide. The charges stemmed from his alleged sleepless 24 hours prior to the accident. CBS transportation correspondent, Jeff Pegues, tied that particular accident to a senate committee vote earlier that week to modify last July’s HOS regulations changes and closed with a note that the company’s conduct and experience in the past did not generally raise any red flags. Of course, the implied perspective is the easing of the regulation led to the accident and a general atmosphere of decreasing safety on our roads.
The question all of us associated with the trucking industry ask the media is: How do you legislate what an employee does off duty? Regardless of the senate committee vote to modify last July’s HOS regulation changes–there have been no changes and none are scheduled. Yet, this accident still occurred, and IF this driver had not slept for the 24 hours prior to the accident as alleged, what could regulations or the employer have done about it? How could they have known this?
In the end, perhaps the only answer is that the individual must bear sole responsibility for their personal “off duty” actions that may result in harm of others when “on duty.” That said, we won’t be surprised if the company is somehow responsible if the sleep deprivation charge is true and proven to be a contributing factor.
Think about your operation and how you manage your drivers. Can you know if one of your drivers hasn’t slept in the last 10 hours before showing up for a fully planned 14 hour shift? Can you know if that driver has performed duty in another non trucking-related job that could be considered “on duty”? One of the few things you can do is to understand what constitutes “on duty” time and “off duty.” The following guidelines apply:
ON DUTY TIME
- All driving time.
- All time spent doing paid work for anyone even if not a motor carrier. Any job, full or part time, can fall into this category and includes retail and restaurant work.
- Unless you are in the sleeper berth or relieved of responsibilities normally associated with work, all time spent at a shipper or consignee or carrier facility is considered “on duty.”
- All time inspecting or servicing your truck, including fueling it and washing it.
- Unless you are in the sleeper berth, all time in the truck is considered “on duty.”
- All time loading, unloading, supervising, or attending your truck; or handling paperwork for shipments.
- All time spent providing a breath, saliva, hair or urine sample for drug/alcohol testing, including travel to and from the collection site.
- All time spent doing any other work for a motor carrier, including giving or receiving training and driving a company car.
- Includes all time you are working for a motor carrier – paid or not – and all time y0u are doing paid work for anyone else.
OFF DUTY TIME
By understanding the definition of on duty time, you will get a good idea of what is considered off duty time. In order for time to be considered off duty, you must be relieved of all responsibility for performing work and be free to pursue activities of your own choosing.
