DOT Safety Regulation Update Fast-Fax™
Foley Services Your Single Source for DOT Compliance
Week of September 13, 2010

The industry is abuzz with news about Part 40 changes, safe trucker parking, EOBR rule revisions, distracted driving and, of course, CSA2010.

It’s been a busy week in the world of DOT safety regulation news. In this week’s issue, we are highlighting a few of the top stories and looking forward to a few big changes on the horizon.

Distracted Driving Summit

This week the DOT announced the agenda for its second national Distracted Driving Summit. The day-long event will be held on September 21 in Washington, D.C. and broadcast live over the internet at www.distraction.gov. Those who are unable to attend have been invited to submit questions in advance by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by the close of business on September 20. “Distracted Driving as an Occupational Safety Issue,” scheduled for 9:25 a.m., appears to be the most interesting presentation on the agenda.

Safe Truck Parking Drive

On Wednesday, an industry association staged a national call in day to show support for two “Jason’s Law” bills. The bills — HR2156 and S971 — would allocate $120 million over the next six years for safety improvements to rest areas and truck stops across the country.

The drive may be over, but it is not too late to show your support for “Jason’s Law.” To participate, simply call the U.S. Capital switchboard at 202-224-3121 and give the operator your home zip code. He or she will then connect you with your representatives.

FMCSA Amends April EOBR Rule

FMCSA made two technical corrections and made changes to performance standards in its April 2010 Electronic Onboard Recorders for Hours of Service final rule. After reviewing petitions for reconsideration from EOBR manufactures, FMCSA has eliminated the specific operating temperature range and replaced the requirement for a USB Type B connector with the requirement for a Type A connector. The agency also said it is considering if it must undertake a separate rulemaking to establish fault code thresholds.

FMCSA began mandating the use of EOBRs on June 10, 2010 for motor carriers who have more than a 10% error rate on their hours-of-service documentation. The regulations governing the technical specifications go into effect on June 4, 2012.

Part 40 Changes, Effective Oct. 1

This week we’ve been busy putting together a mailing for our DOT drug and alcohol testing clients. We want to make sure everyone is up-to-speed with the changes that go into effect on October 1, 2010. The changes include a revised 5-panel drug test designed to remove more drug-using employees from safety-sensitive jobs as well as new qualification requirements for Medical Review Officers. (See Fast-Fax issue #650 for details). The bottom line is that clients using a standard Foley Services’ policy do not need to make any revisions at this time. Those with custom policies that include specific cut-off levels will need to revise and reissue their policies or issue an addendum.

We are also encouraging clients to educate their DOT-regulated supervisors and employees about the DOT’s new 5-Panel drug test. To aid in this effort, we have developed an informational flyer that employers can distribute to employees or post on break room walls. (To request a copy of the flyer, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .) We have also updated our “DOT Supervisor Training for Reasonable-Suspicion Drug and Alcohol Testing” webinar. The two-hour session now includes information about Ecstasy, including the signs and symptoms of abuse. Registration information is available at foleyservices.webex.com.

On the Horizon

The regulatory deck is stacked with several highly anticipated final rules, proposals and procedural changes expected in the coming weeks and months. Here are a few worth paying attention to:

• Hours of Service. New proposal expected in November 2010.
• The National Launch of Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA2010). FMCSA says the new system will be rolled out nationally in fall/winter 2010. Preview data is already available to carriers at csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov.
• Safety Fitness Determination. Proposed rule slated for release in February 2011.
• National Database on CMV Drug and Alcohol Testing. The database they’ve been talking about for years is getting closer to reality.

Keep reading Fast-Fax for updates on these important issues and anything else the DOT and FMCSA are working on.

Editor: Donald E. Lewis, President • 1-800-253-5506 • www.FoleyServices.com • Vol. 110, No. 654 • © Foley Services, Inc. 2010

DOT Safety Regulation Update Fast-Fax™
Foley Services Your Single Source for DOT Compliance
Week of September 6, 2010

Information collection activities ranging from training certificates to hazmat safety permits may be changed following FMCSA’s requests.

Thursday’s Federal Register contained several requests by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to make changes to current information collection activities. Ranging from Training Certificates to Hazmat Safety Permits, the information collection activites undertaken by FMCSA cover a wide variety of topics. The public is encouraged to submit comments on these requests.

Training Certification for Drivers of Longer Combination Vehicles

FMCSA requested Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval to revise an Information Collection Request (ICR) entitled, Training Certification for Drivers of Longer Combination Vehicles. This ICR was deemed necessary because the training certificates drivers are required to present to prospective employers serve as proof the drivers have successfully completed the training to operate Longer Combination Vehicles (LCVs) safely.

Motor carriers are required to maintain a copy of the training certification in each LCV driver’s qualification file. This file may be reviewed by Federal or State enforcement officials. This ICR was revised because of an anticipated increase in the number of LCV drivers submitting training certificates to employers. This has resulted in FMCSA having to alter the estimated information collection burden for this training task.

Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program

FMCSA requested approval to revise an ICR entitled Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program. The information FMCSA requires consists of grant application preparation, quarterly reports and electronic data documenting the results of driver/vehicle inspections performed by the States. This ICR is being revised due to an increase in the estimated number of State inspections that will be performed annually resulting in change to the estimated burden to perform this activity.

Hazardous Materials Safety Permits

FMCSA requested approval to revise an existing ICR entitled Hazardous Materials Safety Permits, due to an increase in the estimated number of annual trips in which permitted hazardous materials are transported. This ICR requires companies holding permits to develop a communications plan that allows for the systematic tracking of the hazmat shipment.

A record of these communications, including the time of the call and location of the shipment must be kept by either the driver (for example, if it were recorded in the log book) or by the company. These records must be kept, either physically or electronically, for at least six months at the company’s principal place of business or readily available to the employees at the company’s principal place of business. This ICR was revised because of an increase in the estimated number of annual trips in which permitted hazmats is transported resulting in change to the total information collection burden for maintaining a daily communication record.

Accident Recordkeeping Requirements

Finally, FMCSA announced its plan to request that the OMB approve revision of the Information Collection (IC) entitled Accident Recordkeeping Requirements because FMCSA has obtained more accurate data upon which to base calculation of the paperwork burden of this IC.

Submitting Comments
You can submit comments via the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov .
Fax: 1-202-493-2251
Mail/Courier:
Docket Management Facility,
U.S. Department of Transportation,
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
Washington, DC
20590-0001

Editor: Donald E. Lewis, President • 1-800-253-5506 • www.FoleyServices.com • Vol. 110, No. 653 • © Foley Services, Inc. 2010

Michael Brock is hitting the open road in search of job security.

After two decades working construction jobs, he is tired of being laid off when times get tough. He enrolled at the C1 Truck Driving School in Benbrook and plans to become a long-distance driver.

"Construction is not stable enough for me," Brock, 43, said last week during a class. "Driving a truck is a stable industry. As long as you keep your report clean, you've got a job."

Americans as a whole may be struggling to find work after a long recession, but there are jobs aplenty in the cab of an 18-wheeler. Trucking companies are reporting a shortage of drivers nationwide, which could delay shipments and ultimately raise the price of goods.

"During the recession, companies had to cut the work force, so now that freight volumes are picking back up they don't have the work force to accommodate the demand," said Brandon Borgna, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations in Arlington, Va. "A lot of drivers are older. There isn't that younger generation stepping in."

Read more at Star-Telegram

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2010

Covenant Transport honored its fleet during the American Trucking Associations’ National Driver Appreciation Week by providing lunch and homemade goodies to all the drivers at Covenant terminals nationwide Tuesday, September 21st. The theme of the celebration at Covenant was Snow White and the Seven Basics of CSA2010.

“Professional truck drivers deliver our nation’s essential freight safely everyday,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “As a result of this commitment, our nation’s highways are the safest they have ever been and our grocery shelves are stocked. We as a nation owe a great deal to the truck drivers out on our nation’s roads everyday.”

Photo caption: Front row (left to right): Michael Smith (Safety Dir.), Robert Graham, Kim Perry (Admin.), Marilyn Smith (Compliance), Jack Beeman and Michael Miskell. Back row: Tony Viney, Tim Clark (Operations Dir.), Doug Cook (VP Safety) and Jim Lyon (VP Operations).

Covenant Transportation Group, Inc. is the holding company for several transportation providers that offer premium transportation services for customers throughout the United States. The consolidated group includes operations from Covenant Transport and Covenant Transport Solutions of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Southern Refrigerated Transport of Texarkana, Arkansas; and Star Transportation of Nashville, Tennessee. The group operates one of the ten largest fleets in North America as measured by revenue. The Company's Class A common stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "CVTI".

For further information, please contact:
Michael W. Smith
Director of Safety
Covenant Transport
Phone: 800-721-5202 x3501
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2010

Pictured above, Michael Smith Safety Director on the left and Doug Cook VP of Safety on the right.

By Dale Yurong
abclocal.go.com

FRESNO, California (KFSN) -- Some worry a trucker shortage may delay the delivery of products around the country and raise the price of some items.

Despite the tight economy, the American Trucking Association says the industry is still short of long-haul drivers.

Big rigs on Highway 99 help transport many of your favorite foods, products and machinery. Moving freight up and down the state isn't a problem for trucking companies. But cross-country jobs are harder to fill.

Jose Sandoval is a truck driving instructor for Proteus. The program trains farm workers like Marco Garcia and helps them find work once they finish their training. Sandoval said, "A lot of them are over the road. We've been placing a lot of them local also, especially right now with the season, tomatoes and stuff like that. A lot of Ag work."

Sandoval says long haul jobs offer more opportunity. But the drivers he trains all want to stay local because they don't want to spend weeks away from their families. He explained, "Actually I tell them if they go on the road it's a better chance for them for experience and they come back after six months to a year, they're going to have a lot of doors open for local work."

Trucking company owner Jim Ganduglia said the trucker shortage does not apply to California. A line of idle rigs shows how many of his drivers are waiting for work. Ganduglia said, "They're not sitting there because I like to see green and yellow paint parked against my fence. It's because the economy stinks."

Ganduglia ships freight around the state. Everything from Ag fertilizer to chemicals. He said, "We've got customers where they were shipping 10 loads a day are now shipping maybe five. Most often none. It goes from feast to famine from one day to the next."

Ganduglia says he recently had to lay off four drivers -- A first since Jim's father started the company back in 1939.

Week of August 23, 2010

Over the next few months, as implementation gets closer, Fast-Fax will explore various aspects of CSA2010 to help you prepare. This week: The BASICs.

The Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) are seven categories within the Safety Measurement System — each looking at drivers and carriers separately — that focus on an individual area of safety compliance. Those areas are:

These BASICs are actually each a series of equations to weight the severity of a violation and the time since it occurred. In addition the equations all take into account the size of the motor carrier or the level of exposure to FMCSA enforcement that the carrier or driver has had.

Percentiles

So what does a BASIC get you? Essentially, the BASICs are calculated to create a percentile. This is a score, based on a specific equation for each BASIC which ranks a driver or motor carrier with its peers. As a rule of thumb, the lower the percentile, the better a carrier or driver does. Once a percentile crosses a certain threshold, (see the table above), FMCSA is alerted that there are compliance problems. FMCSA will take action based on the percentile. This action can include everything from letters of intervention to temporary or even permanent out-of-service orders.

Normalization

In an effort to create a fair measure of a carrier, FMCSA has introduced a number of processes that will affect the equations used to calculate BASIC measures. FMCSA calls this process ‘normalization’. This is designed to echo the differences in exposure to enforcement between different carriers and drivers.

For example, the Driver Fatigue and Driver Fitness BASICs are ‘normalized’ by the number of driver inspections but the Vehicle Maintenance and Loading and Cargo Securement BASICs are ‘normalized’ by the number of vehicle inspections.

Weighted Measures

The BASICs are judging the carrier on the number and severity of violations that the carrier or driver has committed. In order to judge a carrier or driver fairly, FMCSA weights these violations by severity and time. For example, a minor log book violation would be judged much less harshly than driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Time weighting rewards efforts by a motor carrier to improve safety. A violation that occurred in the past is weighted less harshly than one that occurred more recently.

Power Units and VMT

In some BASICs, FMCSA looks at the size of motor carrier’s operation. In these cases, FMCSA takes an average of the number of power units based on the number of power units currently owned, the number owned 6 months ago and the number owned 18 months ago. FMCSA also takes the number of Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) into account compared to the average number of power units.

The average number of power units and the calculation of VMT becomes important later in the SMS process as a carrier is judged in relation to its peers.

Data Sufficiency

In circumstances where a carrier could face potential intervention because of a poor BASIC measurement, FMCSA employs what it calls ‘data sufficiency standards’ to ensure that there is enough reliable information to make a reasonable determination that intervention is necessary.

Editor: Donald E. Lewis, President • 1-800-253-5506 • www.FoleyServices.com • Vol. 110, No. 651 • © Foley Services, Inc. 2010

Final Rule introduces testing for ecstasy and mandatory initial testing for heroin, and lowers the cut-off levels for cocaine and amphetamines.

Week of August 16, 2010

At the end of last week — as Issue No. 649 of Fast-Fax was being put to bed — the Department of Transportation (DOT) released a highly anticipated Final Rule explaining the changes to its drug and alcohol testing program. There’s some good news for Fast-Fax readers with competent drug and alcohol testing program providers: the changes primarily impact procedures at the program management, laboratory and Medical Review Officer (MRO) level. If you’re a client of Foley Services, you have nothing to worry about. We are already working hard to ensure that all of the new procedures will be in place by October 1, 2010 — the effective date of the new rule.

This current round of Part 40 changes was designed to bring the DOT’s drug and alcohol testing requirements in line with recent Department of Health and Human Services’ changes to the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. The DOT followed the HHS’s lead with one notable exception: All DOT initial and confirmatory testing must be completed at a full-service laboratory.The revised Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs allow for initial testing at an Instrumental Initial Test Facilities (IITFs) as long as a full-service laboratory is used for confirmatory testing.

The following changes — all effective October 1, 2010 — apply to both the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs and the DOT’s Part 40:

• Adding MDMA, commonly referred to as ecstasy, to the list of amphetamines to be tested for;
• Looking for common MDMA variants during confirmatory testing;
• Conducting initial testing for 6-Acetymorphines, a common derivative of Heroin; and
• Lowering the initial and confirmatory cut-off levels for amphetamines and cocaine.

The DOT also revised several Part 40 definitions to mirror the definitions in HHS’ Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs.

Testing for Ecstasy

As part of the rule, MDMA and its variants MDA and MDEA are now included in the amphetamine panel. Employers and supervisors interested in learning more about the effects of ecstasy and common signs and symptoms of abuse are encouraged to attend our next “DOT Supervisor Training for Reasonable-Suspicion Drug and Alcohol Testing” on September 9. For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit FoleyServices.webex.com.

It’s interesting to note that some commenters were calling for the DOT to require testing for prescription medications and other synthetic opiates in addition to or instead of MDMA. The DOT said that abuse of such substances, though a concern, was a separate issue. The department then reminded DOT-regulated employers about a valuable tool in their safety arsenal — non-DOT testing.

Lower Cut-Off Levels

Lower cut-off levels for cocaine and amphetamines will translate into more positive test results. A positive side benefit for the transportation industry and the general public is that safety will increase as substance abusers are removed from the road. In fact, one report shows a 40% increase in screening and a 30% increase in confirmation rates for amphetamines. Cocaine positives are also expected to spike. We encourage you to share this information with your drivers during informal conversations and training sessions. The lower detection levels may help deter a driver from using a banned substance in the first place.

MRO Certification

In the Final Rule, the DOT also revised its training and certification requirements for Medical Review Officers (MROs). MROs now need to be re-qualified — including passing an examination by an MRO training organization — every five years. The DOT did, however, eliminate the requirement of 12 hours of continuing education every three years.

Questions?

If you have questions about the DOT’s new drug and alcohol testing program requirements, please contact a Foley Services’ compliance specialist at 1-800-253-5506, ext. 708.

Editor: Donald E. Lewis, President • 1-800-253-5506 • www.FoleyServices.com • Vol. 110, No. 650 • © Foley Services, Inc. 2010

• SafeStat will be replaced by the CSMS. It will be available to the public, including shippers and insurance companies.
• FMCSA/States will prioritize enforcement using the CSMS.
• FMCSA will begin to issue warning letters to carriers with deficient BASICs.
• Roadside inspectors will use the CSMS results to identify carriers for inspection.

Winter 2010
Safety fitness determination notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) is scheduled to be released.

2011
Enforcement staff will be trained, and new interventions will be implemented state-by-state.

Reviewing Your Data Now

While CSA2010 is not active yet, motor carriers will soon be able to experience what life will be like under the new system. Starting August 16, motor carriers will be able to log into the CSA2010 website (csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov) and view how CSA2010 is evaluating their compliance.

Some information is already available; many motor carriers have already logged into the site to view the list of violations that FMCSA has gathered for their DOT number.

On August 16, FMCSA will also add the BASIC scores and percentiles to the information already available so that motor carriers will have a complete picture of their compliance.

CSA2010 Website Troubleshooting

Since the first day that the CSA2010 website has been available, we have found that many users have been having issues using it. We’ve created the following troubleshooting guide to help you through the most common issues encountered.

How Do I Log In? — To log in to the site it requires BOTH your DOT number and your DOT number PIN.
What Is My DOT Number PIN? — You should have been issued your PIN when you registered your MCS150. If you don’t know it or cannot remember it you can request a new one via safer.fmcsa.dot.gov. Be sure to request a U.S. DOT Number PIN, NOT a Docket Number PIN. You can also call 1-800-832-5660 for assistance.
The Site Is Claiming I Have Violations That I Have Never Received. — Don’t panic! One of the reasons for this preview of the CSA2010 data is so that FMCSA could remove all spurious violations from its records before the system goes online. To correct a violation you can use the ‘dataqs’ site. This is the same site that is currently being used for the same purpose under the SafeStat system. Simply go to dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov and follow the instructions on screen. Note that there are also several prominently placed links to the dataqs site within the CSA2010 site.

Upcoming Changes

FMCSA has announced a number of changes to the CSA2010 compliance Safety Measurement System (SMS). Although, these changes were not officially published before Fast-Fax went to print, we have heard from several reliable sources about what those changes may entail. It seems that several of the BASICs have been given all-new equations and percentile calculations. We have also heard that the violation weight tables have undergone a substantial rewrite.

We will bring you more details about these changes and the changes to the DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing Program (see the Transportation Ticker sidebar) as soon as they are available.