When do truck and bus drivers need to log their time? In the US, drivers who are required to hold a CDL to operate a vehicle are required to log their time as described in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 395. If a CDL is required to operate a vehicle, you are required to log your time. There are several exceptions to this broad rule, which we will examine.
If the truck is not a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV), drivers need not log their time. Typically, trucks that are 10,000 lbs. GVW or under do not require a driver to hold a Commercial Drivers License (CDL). If the driver does not hold a CDL – that driver does not need to log their time. There are instances where a light duty vehicle driver is required to log his or her time, depending on the use of that vehicle.
Do you haul hazardous materials? If you have a “required quantity” of any hazardous material, you must placard that vehicle. A placarded vehicle by definition is a CMV. Therefore, any time spent operating a placarded CMV must be logged – regardless of its size or weight.
Do you transport passengers? If you transport more than 15 passengers (not for compensation) or more than 8 passengers (for compensation), that vehicle is a CMV – and the operation of that vehicle must be logged.
What about CDL drivers who are performing duties other than driving a CMV – including operating small vehicles? Any compensated work for anyone must be logged as “On Duty” by a commercial driver. Any work for a motor carrier, compensated or not, must be logged as “On Duty” by the driver.
What about local drivers? The federal rules state that a driver who operates within a 100 air mile radius of their domicile is a “short haul” driver. However, an examination of 395.1 shows that the driver is exempted only from 395.8 – filling out a log book. Short haul drivers are not exempted from the Hours of Service.
Many of our clients make local pickup and deliveries, and some of these operations fit the federal definition of a “short haul driver”. However, these short haul drivers must meet more stringent requirements if they choose to use that Short Haul exemption – and not fill out a log book.
Why is there a Short Haul exemption? It relieves the driver of making many log book entries within a short amount of time. This is a big burden for the driver, and the 15 minute increments of a paper log make this virtually impossible. With electronic logs, local driving is no more difficult to log than any other type of driving. Therefore most carriers who use electronic logs do NOT use the “Short Haul” exemption.
However, every shortcut comes with a price. Short Haul drivers must work no more than 12 hour shifts – 10 hour shifts for bus drivers. The carrier must keep accurate and detailed time records for each driver who is using this Short Haul Exemption proving that drivers are not working more than 12 hours in a shift, and have 8 hours off between shifts.
If you use electronic logs, invoking the Short Haul exemption only creates more paperwork and reduces your drivers productivity. We recommend that you let the computer do the work – and let drivers create their electronic logs.
If you are still on paper logs and choose to use the Short Haul exemption, be certain that you meet all the requirements of 395.1(e).
Some states have Hours of Service requirements that are different from Federal requirements. These may only be used if you are operating solely intrastate, and none of the freight carried by the truck has crossed a state line. For example, mail haulers and rail car unloading operations both deal with product that may have originated out of state. Both must meet Federal Hours of Service regulations.
The FMCSA’s June 2012 “guidance” did not change their exemption or their interpretations of the Hours of Service regulations as they apply to oilfield work. It is intended to clarify the regulatory exemptions for oil and gas work.
Let’s clarify the 2 components of this Oil and Gas HOS exemption:
Exemption 1 – “Waiting” Time at Well Site. Also known as “Line 5” or off duty at well site time, this allows drivers to go off duty at a well site. That “Off Duty” time in the middle of a tour of duty NOT count toward the total On Duty time for a driver’s day. Off Duty time is treated much like the sleeper berth provision. Logging “Off Duty at Well Site” (as we call it at LoadTrek) extends a driver’s work day.
Application: You can only use this Exemption if you are driving a “specially constructed” vehicle specifically made for oil or gas well servicing work. Examples are frac pumps, wireline trucks, coiled tubing units, workover rigs, etc. Pneumatics, liquid tankers (crude, water, etc) do not qualify.
Exemption 2 – 24 Hour Restart. This allows drivers to restart their cumulative workweek time after 24 consecutive hours Off Duty. This is available to all drivers who are working to service oil and gas wells. This includes the previously mentioned tankers, equipment haulers, as well as those specially constructed vehicles.
By Michael Buck, President MCB Fleet Management Consulting. Mike@MCBConsulting.com; www.MCBConsulting.com
| A few weeks ago, it was reported that two of trucking’s leading economists said the industry’s recovery is well under way and should continue for at least several years. Trucking, they said, has been outperforming the economy, and conditions in the marketplace are far better than financial commentators and politicians have said.
But those same economists also cautioned prudence in the matter of keeping costs under control and warned that a serious driver shortage is developing. They also said that while fuel prices are dropping a bit, it’s still relatively expensive and equipment prices are on the rise.
Transportation is a leading, not lagging, indicator, and economic cycles and fluctuations – positive or negative – tend to have an immediate effect. In the end, your trucking operation’s success will be predicated, not on what analysts say, pro or con, or what Wall Street does tomorrow or next week but on your own strategies for controlling variable costs, executing the plan and staying firmly on course.
Keeping variable costs in check is an extremely difficult task unless you have the proper controls in place. There are six basic ways a trucking company can cut costs – and you won’t like the first five:
- Cut staff
- Cut wages
- Cut benefits
- Cut customer services
- Cut equipment maintenance
OK, you can’t totally cut maintenance without pulling the plug on your business, but you can put it off for as long as possible.
Take heart, though, because the sixth method is both the least traumatic and the most effective:
- Improve productivity with defined processes and/or the use of technology.
Technology’s role in cost control doesn’t need lengthy explanation in the age of handheld computers. And “defined processes” simply means establishing and using systematic steps, including capturing the transportation industry’s best practices, to achieve a specific end – and then making sure everyone in the company does his or her part consistently.
A defined process can be as simple as figuring out the best way to sharpen a pencil or as complex as creating and implementing the industry’s most comprehensive preventive maintenance program.
In addition to reduced costs and improved services, the results of such a program include a work environment in which every job, companywide, is performed with ease and minimal stress. That process captures the employee buy-in needed to ensure the success of the initiative and creates a loyal and fulfilled workforce eager to ensure a long-term solution through all business cycles, regardless of economic conditions.
Done properly, these processes increase the bottom line without robbing Peter to pay Paul. For example, despite popular belief to the contrary, low maintenance cost and high asset utilization can coexist.
The unfortunate reality is that the first reaction to thin profit margins is the aforementioned method No. 5 – deferring maintenance. But that inevitably equates to more-frequent breakdowns, higher costs and disastrously poor scores on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.
Instead of overreacting and setting the company up for failure, start building a foundation that enables effective processes. Begin developing superior cost controls by using your senior leadership’s knowledge. With some quick analysis and consensus by the leadership team, the low-hanging fruit should be readily evident with a few simple questions:
- What are the high cost drivers?
- What controls or emphasis could be put in place to reduce each cost driver?
- Is the right team in place for managing this cost driver?
- What controls and metrics are in place to proactively monitor and control this cost driver?
- What are the expiration dates on the contracts or service agreements affecting this cost driver?
- Can – and should – they be negotiated prematurely?
- Do you have an experienced individual qualified to negotiate the contracts or service agreements affecting this cost driver fairly?
With the information this analysis provides, you easily can assemble a team to develop a process for gaining control of the respective cost drivers impeding your bottom line.
Here are some tips for implementing this type of initiative – and some mistakes to avoid:
- At first, go slowly to go fast. People don’t handle too much change at one time very well, good or bad. Start off by casually mentioning in passing the upcoming initiative and watching closely to determine who will rise above the throng and qualify for the leadership team.
- Decide whether those who aren’t good team players should even remain part of the organization. Are they consciously or – to give them the benefit of the doubt – subconsciously running covert actions that impede the success of the leader or the organization? Do they sense the need to remain profitable? Do they embrace the organization’s culture?
- Even if solutions are evident to senior leadership, help the team reach them by asking probing questions, no matter how long it takes.
- Have the team develop the method and metrics to monitor progress.
- Use an unbiased, unintimidating facilitator.
- If necessary, use a third party.
The most obvious result of turning to cross-functional teams is their immediate and positive effect on profitability. The underlying benefit, however, is their effect on camaraderie and morale throughout your organization as they reduce stress, improve productively and produce nonquantifiable, but beneficial, improvements to the bottom line – and to customer satisfaction.
Economies inevitably wax and wane, and when times are good, the next dip may be around the corner. But with reliable processes in place and a fully engaged workforce, you are prepared to weather any financial storm. |
Several high-profile cases involving safety and compliance have resulted in trucking companies shut down by the Feds. How do these cases affect the rest of us who run legal and clean? What can we do to enhance our image? It’s not your imagination – more trucking companies are forced to shut down by regulators than ever before.
The trucking industry wants to run safely and legally. A few people want to make a quick buck – mostly new trucking industry entrants. The FMCSA knows this. In Bellevue, WA at the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s April workshop, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro addressed this situation. She discussed the agency’s “imminent hazard” authority, used to rid the highways of high-risk drivers and carriers. “We’re making sure we’re getting the bad actors off the road, giving them a chance to rehabilitate, improve or just stay off the road altogether,” Ferro said.
So how is the FMCSA using imminent hazard authority? We’ve seen numerous examples this year.
U&D Service from Indianapolis ignored multiple warnings. Problems included log book violations, overweight violations, drivers who could not communicate to officers in English, and dispatching drivers with no CDL. This food transportation company was previously investigated for transporting products at unsafe temperatures and cross-product contamination.
Lancaster, PA – based milk hauler D.A. Landis Company has been cited for requiring and encouraging drivers to keep two sets of log books. Drivers and managers used secret codes on their hand-written logs to tell managers in which file to place specific logs. Owner Dean Landis faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The company faces up to 5 years probation and a $5.5 million fine. In addition, the company sold tainted milk to a New Jersey cheese company, since they could “make a little profit” instead of dumping the milk.
Gunthers Transport from Maryland was shut down by the FMCSA as an imminent hazard to the public. The drivers were allowed to falsify log books, their vehicles were found to be in poor condition, and their drivers were not required to perform pre-trip inspections. Their 18 vehicles were inspected 192 times in 2 years and placed out of service 58% of the time. Their drivers were inspected 245 times in 2 years, and placed out of service 16% of the time. Owner Mark Gunther has been in the news before, his previous company Gunthers Leasing was the first to be criminally charged for altering drivers log books back in 1995. Gunther spent 2 years in jail and paid a $170,000 fine for instructing drivers how to falsify logs.
Reliable Transportation Services of Pleasant Grove, UT is the second company owned by Jay Barber to be shut down in 2 years. They had numerous Hours of Service violations, no drug and alcohol program, employed drivers without CDL’s, resulting in the FMCSA calling them an “imminent hazard”.
In North Carolina, Mabe Trucking owner Roger Mabe and consultant James Brylski have pled guilty to falsifying drivers’ logs. The fines can go as high as $500,000 and probation as long as 3 years. It is especially interesting – Brylski is a former FMCSA inspector.
What can we do? Clean equipment, drivers that are trained and aware, and management attitude all help our cause. It’s more than just safety meetings. Managers’ attitudes are reflected by drivers, supervisors, and mechanics.
Stay on top of Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports – responding to every request or condition report. Even if that request or equipment report is misguided or unnecessary, let drivers know that you’re watching every inspection. This is best accomplished by using LoadTrek’s automated Driver Vehicle Inspection Report.
Nothing is more visible than equipment appearance. Most successful fleets utilize an equipment cleaning program, and most indicate that this program actually pays for itself. Fleets report that drivers take better care of equipment, mechanics spend less time on repairs, and that equipment is pulled over for roadside inspections less often. Driver appearance matters, too. Encourage your drivers to take pride in their profession and show respect for themselves and their customers.
LoadTrek allows you to monitor your trucks and drivers while they are on the road and out of sight. Many fleets have embraced a driver monitoring program for years. A comprehensive driver monitoring program includes automated Hours of Service, and driving performance measurement. The financial return on investment from a driver monitor program is well documented, and immediately recognized. Other benefits include improved driver morale, a better reputation in the enforcement community, and increased litigation protection.
The right technology, a top-down safety culture, appreciation for your good drivers, and careful attention to vehicle maintenance are good business.
