Risk management can be a somewhat ambiguous term that each person applies differently depending on the circumstances.

In broad terms, risk management is the practice of identifying and analyzing potential risks or threats and taking steps to prevent or reduce their impact. For the average motor carrier, risk management involves protecting employees, equipment, cargo, facilities, the general public, and the company’s brand from harm.

Topics addressed often include security, cargo claims, commercial motor vehicle crashes, workplace injuries and illnesses, liability, and lawsuits. In many instances, one occurrence (e.g., a high-profile crash) can affect other aspects of risk management (e.g., reputation control, recruiting, or insurance).

How do regulations fit into the picture?

In a way, federal and state regulations are risk management tools. Regulations guide motor carriers in setting up procedures to reduce the likelihood of someone being harmed or wronged. Noncompliance with a regulation is often a symptom of a potential risk. At a minimum, carriers should observe laws and regulations. However, carriers often need to integrate industry risk management best practices — above and beyond the basic regulatory requirements — to stay ahead of potential threats.

• Plans for business continuity should be prepared before an unforeseen event occurs.
• Though FMCSA regulations set minimum cargo securement standards, companies should take their policies even further to minimize cargo claims.
• Interstate carriers must have a USDOT number to allow FMCSA to monitor safety information.

Business continuity planning involves devising a plan that guards against disruption of one’s business in case of unforeseen events. A business continuity plan defines the necessary procedures that will ensure timely and orderly resumption of a business cycle through the ability to execute plans with little or no interruption to service or operations.

After a natural disaster or other catastrophic event such as a major theft or system security breach, getting back to business requires a thoroughly considered, well-executed plan. Such plans need to be drafted before a catastrophic event occurs so the business can dive into suggested best practices based on the type and degree of disaster.

Disaster recovery and business continuity include protecting a physical location and people, but they are more than that. They can extend to protecting a business’s reputation, especially following a man-made disaster (e.g., fire, hazardous materials spill, or data breach) that may have been the result of mistakes made by the motor carrier.

For more in-depth information on business continuity topics, click on the following links:

• Facility security
• Business continuity and disaster planning

Cargo claims

Cargo claims cost the motor carrier industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Any claim has a negative effect on customer service and could result in losses.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has regulations that set minimum cargo securement standards. However, to minimize cargo claims, policies and procedures that exceed the regulations should be developed covering areas such as:

• Trailer inspection and preparation,
• Loading and unloading procedures,
• Cargo inspection,
• Cargo securement,
• Cargo theft prevention,
• Driving safely,
• Driver reporting,
• Food safety and security during transportation, and
• Load documentation.

For more in-depth information on cargo claims topics, click on the following links:

• Cargo loading and securement
• Cargo liability
• Cargo security
• Defensive driving
• Food transportation

Fleet legalization and taxation

All interstate carriers are required to obtain a USDOT (U.S. Department of Transportation) number that allows FMCSA to monitor safety information from compliance reviews, crash investigations, and roadside inspections. Commercial vehicles must also be licensed according to the rules of each jurisdiction in which those vehicles operate.

Registration means getting a state base plate, a restricted plate, an International Registration Plan (IRP) apportioned plate for frequent interstate commerce, or a temporary trip permit for infrequent interstate commerce.

Fuel use taxes are paid for every mile traveled in each state. The International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) requires fuel tax credentials to collect and distribute taxes. Interstate carriers provide fuel tax reporting quarterly to their base jurisdiction based on fuel purchases.

Also, each state legislature passed regulations that set legal vehicle sizes and weights for their particular jurisdiction. The regulations cover the legal limits allowed for width, height, length, and weight of various vehicles and/or trailer configurations. These rules also address limitations for vehicles traveling on interstate or designated highways within the state and/or other state or supplemental highways.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is responsible for setting size limits that must be allowed on the National Network and weight limits for the Interstate Highway System and Defense highways.

The federal bridge formula is used for state roads that are designated as part of the National Network. While most states use the federal bridge formula for all roads in their jurisdiction, some have a separate state formula they use for other state or county roads.

Compliance and the use of best practices are essential to minimize reporting errors, fines, and the possible loss of ability to operate.

For more in-depth information on fleet legalization and taxes, click on the following links:

• Fleet taxes
• DOT marking identification
• Size and weight limits

• FMCSA requires carriers to implement a crash prevention program or safety management controls.
• Carriers can save money with a proper vehicle maintenance and inspection program.

Most vehicle crashes are preventable. A comprehensive crash prevention program or safety management controls are required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The agency does not tell carriers how they must prevent crashes.

The Safety Management Cycle is used by FMCSA during audits to examine carrier systems, safety policies and procedures, roles and responsibilities, safety and regulatory training, monitoring of unsafe behavior, and meaningful actions taken to eliminate unsafe behavior. These controls are a combination of safety best practices and regulatory compliance.

The Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) program uses seven Behavioral Analysis Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) and related violations with severity points to assess carriers for possible enforcement interventions. These interventions are intended to address carrier safety issues before crashes occur.

Carriers that want to target crash risk reduction have several options, including but not limited to:

• Verify compliance with state and federal regulations covering hours of service, driver qualification and licensing, drug and alcohol testing, and vehicle inspection and maintenance;
• Incorporate initial and ongoing training and program management in the areas of defensive driving, elimination of distracted and fatigued driving, and compliance with regulations as well as best practices to go beyond compliance;
• Invest in collision avoidance technologies such as automated emergency braking or forward collision warning, lane departure warning, or lane centering as vehicles are replaced;
• Reinforce operational policies and procedures;
• Target at-risk and high-risk drivers in need of additional training and/or disciplinary action;
  • Consider using vehicle safety technologies such as dash cams and vehicle telematics data to identify and reduce risky driving behavior and crashes.
• Investigate crashes and incidents consistently and objectively; and
• Implement crash prevention countermeasures based on root cause analyses.

Significant crash reduction is often achieved by adopting several items from the list once leadership adopts safety as a cultural value, not just a situational priority. Transformation from a culture of reacting to crashes to a proactive approach of crash avoidance requires the use of best practice in addition to compliance.

Vehicle safety

Vehicle inspection and maintenance programs are an integral part of a carrier’s safety program and can affect its FMCSA safety rating. Having an efficient, detailed, and proactive vehicle maintenance and inspection program can also save carriers money.

Compliance with the vehicle parts, maintenance, and inspection regulations in 49 CFR Parts 393 and 396, coupled with best practices in an employer’s maintenance and inspection program can help:

• Reduce driver and vehicle downtime, and the expense of road service calls;
• Develop criteria for equipment to be suitable to designated tasks;
• Equip new vehicles with vehicle safety technologies such as automated emergency braking and electronic stability control (vehicles less than 26,001 pounds);
• Increase the roadside inspection pass rate and CSA scores, and reduce the risk of FMCSA interventions; and
• Avoid fines and penalties.

Related topics include:

• Safety Management Cycle
• Compliance, Safety, Accountability for the seven BASICs and crash and violation/DataQs challenge information.
• Driver qualifications, Commercial driver’s license, and Drug and alcohol testing.
• Hours of service and Electronic logging devices
• CMV inspections and CMV parts and maintenance
• Defensive driving
• Performance management and training
• Vehicle technology
• Accident investigations

• Carriers must understand the risks inherent in their operation, how to best manage risk, and how much of the potential losses they are capable of covering.
• There is a menu of programs that can be implemented to significantly reduce risk.

Risk management begins with risk assessment. Risk assessment should lead to determining what is needed to protect the carrier from risks. It should also lead to operational changes that reduce risks through a strategy of continual risk assessment, risk avoidance, risk reduction, and risk allocation or transfer.

Risk assessment

Risk assessment is an in-depth study of the risks the carrier is exposing itself to. Common risks at carriers are vehicle accidents, cargo claims, driver injuries, theft of equipment or cargo, breach of contract claims, and non-compliance punishment (fines). Risk assessment also involves determining the level of risk, both in terms of frequency and severity (potential loss).

The two types of risk that will require immediate attention after the assessment are risks that are either recurring (greatest probability) or have the chance for the greatest loss.

When assessing risk, it is possible to quantify the level of risk. Take the expected number of occurrences, and multiply them by the anticipated loss per occurrence. This establishes the “level of risk.” The most often occurring and largest risks faced by all carriers are vehicle accident claims and litigation. To protect against these risks carriers routinely purchase insurance. While this is a form of risk management, it is actually risk allocation.

Risk allocation

Risk allocation (sometimes referred to as risk transfer, which is a similar concept) involves sharing risk with, or transferring risks to, other parties that agree to accept the risk such as insurance companies, customers, or captive groups. For many risks a carrier can allocate the full value of the potential loss to an insurance company, but this may lead to extremely high premiums.

Risk reduction

Risk reduction is the systematic reduction of risks, and the potential losses they carry, through the use of internal management controls.

Risk avoidance

Risk avoidance is a practice of structuring the operation to eliminate, or avoid, a risk. However, not all risks can be avoided or eliminated.

Some cannot be avoided because they are intangible risks, not necessarily tied to controllable events. An example of this would be damage to a carrier’s reputation.

Other risks cannot be avoided because they are inherent to the activity.

Risk acceptance

Risk acceptance is the deliberate acceptance of risk based on a determination that the company can (legally and financially) accept the risk. An extreme example of this would be a company in Wisconsin deciding to accept any risks associated with hurricanes that may damage the home terminal.

Another form of risk acceptance that is more dangerous is the accidental or unintentional acceptance of risk. This occurs when a company is not aware that it is taking a risk, or does not have the correct protections in place against loss, but believes it does.

Self retention of risk

Self retention of risk can mean two different things. First, as discussed earlier, it can be an accidental or deliberate acceptance of risk by not having insurance coverage to protect the carrier from a specific type of risk. This can be referred to as being “self-insured.” The decision to not purchase insurance for a specific risk should be based on a risk assessment and a risk/benefit assessment.

The next step is to compare the cost of insurance to the possible loss as determined in the risk assessment. At this point the company can make an informed, reasonable, decision.

A company that has the financial reserves may even provide self insurance to comply with mandatory insurance requirements. As far as motor carrier and cargo insurance, there are processes provided in the regulations for a carrier to secure authorization to operate as a self-insured motor carrier. The carrier is retaining 100 percent of the risk.

Carriers that operate as self-insured carriers will many times secure insurance against catastrophic losses (i.e. in excess of $10,000,000).

The second strategy is the self retention of a portion of a risk normally covered by insurance. An easy explanation of this type of risk retention is to equate it to the deductible on a standard insurance policy. If the carrier is willing to accept responsibility for the first $50,000 of any loss, then the carrier can negotiate a lower insurance premium. Much like the deductible on a standard auto insurance policy, the more of the risk the carrier is willing to accept, the lower the premiums become.

Preventive programs that control risk (risk reduction)

This is a list of policies and programs that are viewed as significantly lowering risk at a carrier:

• Written safety plan developed and signed by upper management.
• Recruiting practices that seek out, screen, and hire only quality applicants.
• Mandatory orientation and training for all new employees, regardless of the level of previous experience.
• Review of all new employees’ performance after 90 days of employment.
• Annual or semiannual performance reviews of all employees verifying acceptable past performance and qualifications.
• Scheduled on-going training.
• Supervisory training programs.
• Use of electronic safety systems such as, governed vehicle speed via the electronic control module, collision warning systems, roll-stability-control systems, tire- pressure-monitoring systems, blind-spot cameras, and intelligent-cruise-control systems.
• Proactive driver-behavior monitoring programs that use data from vehicle safety systems, ELDs, and dash-mounted cameras facing the driver and the road. Designed to notify the company if the driver is operating unsafely (excessive hard braking incidents, excessive average speed, etc.).
• Safe and efficient driver incentive programs which utilize data from proactive driver behavior monitoring, service data, and fuel efficiency monitoring.
• Corrective and progressive disciplinary programs for all employees, including a remedial training program that has a mechanism to measure results.
• Aggressive vehicle maintenance program to prevent vehicle failures on the road.
• Maintain and enforce safety policies and procedures that comply with and exceed any regulatory requirements.
• Accident and incident tracking mechanisms designed to detect trends to assist in prevention efforts.
• Threat and problem sharing systems that keep all employees aware of, and involved in the prevention of, hazards facing the company. Open communications and the use of safety committees can accomplish this.

• Safety programs are in place set and uphold standards as well as identify deficiencies before crashes occur.
• Train and retrain all affected employees in your standards.

Most effective motor carrier safety management programs share common fundamental elements. When combined into a cohesive system, these elements can produce a continually improving safety management program that produces consistently positive results:

• Identify safety deficiencies — Predicting your safety results begins with inspecting and analyzing your organization’s current work processes and activities. What are your greatest safety and loss prevention concerns — vehicle accidents, injuries, driver turnover, all of the above? In its simplest terms, the process of continual improvement stresses developing standard procedures for virtually every work activity, and continually improving these processes.
• Develop your safety standards — Once you have established your starting point and identified unsafe behaviors and work activities in need of correction or improvement, the next step is to determine exactly what the corrections and/or improvements should look like.

In other words, you need to develop detailed safety standards and procedures for virtually every work activity and process of the organization — everything from how you expect your drivers to get in and out of their vehicles (3-points of contact) to how your dispatchers use their computers (office ergonomics).

For most motor carrier operations, employee risk exposure can be divided into two basic categories:

1. Drivers who are exposed to both driving hazards and the potential for personal injury, and
2. Non-driving employees are generally only exposed to potential personal injury hazards.

So, as the safety professional at your organization, you need to develop standards for safe driving to prevent accidents and incidents as well as general workplace safety to prevent injuries.

• Train all employees in your standards — Once you have established a safety standard, you need to train the affected employees in the standard. You are responsible to show and teach them exactly what is expected in the way of behavior and performance. There are two components to training:

1. The actual training of employees in your new standards, and
2. Management follow-up and enforcement.

Regardless of the type and method of training, if employees are allowed to deviate from the new standards, your safety results will not improve. Continual enforcement and enthusiastic follow-up are essential ingredients toward the success of your established safety standards.

Allowing deviation from your standards will significantly impact your safety effort. Drivers, supervisors, and all employees will learn immediately that current need or crisis will rarely compromise the established safety standards. Deviation is simply not an option in most situations.

Once deviation is accepted, a new, lower standard is created and your safety standards are compromised.

• Measure, monitor, and record — Unless you implement an effective system of monitoring and measuring, you will not know if your new safety standards and training efforts are positively impacting your overall results.

In addition, all collected data must be maintained so that a historical record can be developed over time. Your recordkeeping system should provide sufficient data that can be used to target specific areas in need of improvement and employees in need of training or other corrective action.

• Reinforce, recognize, and encourage — The final element of an effective motor carrier safety management program involves the management activities of providing:
  • Constant reinforcement of your established safety standards,
  • Appropriate recognition of employees who consistently meet your safety standards, and
  • Enthusiastic support and encouragement for all employees to help them behave and perform according to your safety standards.

The purpose of developing and implementing a comprehensive safety program is to:

• Increase consistency, structure, and order to your entire operation;
• Add accountability and predictability of safety results as management tools;
• Communicate the safety goals, values, and philosophy of top management; and
• Improve overall safety results and profitability.

Your safety management program as a system We now know that a system is made up of a number of processes, with each process having its own individual desired result (output).

All motor carriers have work processes. For instance, you have a processes for recruiting, screening, hiring, and maintaining qualified drivers, maintaining your vehicles, assigning loads and other work assignments, and monitoring compliance in all of these areas.

How these processes are performed and who performs them make up your safety management controls and protect your company, it’s employees, and the motoring public.

Your accident prevention program also needs to proactively address individual drivers who demonstrate unsafe driving behavior based on telematics or video, cited for acts of unsafe driving, or are involved in accidents.

Regardless of how thorough your driver selection and screening process or comprehensive your driver training program are, you will have drivers in your fleet that are either:

1. Unwilling, or
2. Unable to drive safely — consistently over time.

How do you go about identifying these drivers? In the case of drivers unwilling to drive safely, watch for repeat unsafe driving behavior and being unwilling to accept responsibility for correcting behavior. These drivers may not be a fit for your organization. Follow your progressive discipline policy and do not hesitate to release a driver unwilling to operate safely, no matter how productive they may be.

Along with coaching drivers based on telematics data, video clips, hours-of-service violations, improper vehicle inspections or use of Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIRs), you must take into account:

• Negative road observation (NRO) — Your drivers should be expected to drive in a defensive manner and exercise road courtesy at all times. Legitimate observations of aggressive, careless, or reckless behavior, need to be counseled, retrained when necessary and documented. Drivers involved in repeated NROs are demonstrating a pattern of unacceptable and unsafe driving behavior and should be subject to appropriate corrective and/or disciplinary action.

• Multiple moving violations — You are required to pull your drivers’ motor vehicle record (MVR) at least every 12 months. You are also required to review the MVRs along with all data you may have indicating unsafe behavior. Take note of any convictions of moving violations such as speeding, improper lane change, etc. Although these incidents may be isolated — momentary lapses in judgement — they could be indicators of unsafe driving habits. A single speeding ticket might represent hundreds, if not thousands, of times the driver was speeding but did not get caught.

Behavior

You are trying to find and correct poor behaviors. Too many safety professionals only look at outcomes that impact the safety rating. Accidents, violations, and citations are a good starting point for a behavior-based system, but they should not be the only measures as these are reactive. Whenever the driver is involved in any occurrence involving a variation from what is normal and expected behavior, the safety professional should be aware of it. The key is to proactively monitor behaviors, not just the negative outcomes.

If the behavioral trait that led to the occurrence is allowed to continue unchecked, the driver inevitably will be involved in a crash. Defining poor behavior and looking at the drivers’ performance may provide insight into which drivers are taking unnecessary risks, becoming “short” tempered, inattentive, or generally unsafe.

The key is developing a system that tracks overall driver performance and intervenes when pre-selected incidents occur or a performance threshold is met. In short, a safety professional needs to develop a system that catches behavioral problems before they lead to a crash. With the advent of video-event recorders or “dash-cams”, proactive behavior management is much more feasible to implement and manage on an ongoing basis.

The first steps with implementing the system is measuring and tracking. Always remember the adage “what is monitored and measured is fixed,” so use everything you can access as measures. As mentioned, if a driver receives a violation, citation, customer complaint, operations complaint, or negative driving observation do not just deal with it by itself, use it as a measure in the system as well.

Telemetry data off the engine control module (ECM) or video-event data from cameras can record unsafe driving behaviors such as:

• Hard-braking,
• Excessive speed including violations of stop signs and speed limits with “smart dash cams” that can recognize specific signs,
• Hard cornering,
• Lack of seat belt use,
• Lane drift,
• Following too close,
• Falling asleep behind the wheel, and
• Distracted driving (cell phone use and more).

There are many other behaviors that if not corrected increase your potential liability. The key to using the data effectively is to have an exception reporting system that allows the most serious events to be prioritized for meaningful action to correct and eliminate the behavior.

Your safety management processes must account for and act on all data that you “should have been aware of” because that is how you will be judged in court when the plaintiff’s lawyer is attempting to prove that you were guilty of negligent supervision or negligent entrustment.

Avoiding claims of negligence when using safety systems

The key with these systems is to act on the most critical events and do not ignore the data once you have the systems installed. The systems are only effective if carriers have policies and procedures that are clearly understood and executed to support proper use.

Carriers are judged by what they should have known, not what they took the time to review and act on. Carriers must avoid negligent supervision or negligent retention which are commonly asserted by a plaintiff’s attorney in their attempt to prove that the carrier did not live up to their “duty to act” and allowed a dangerous situation to persist. In short, coach the negative driver behavior in a timely manner, document any coaching or progressive discipline to correct the behaviors, and only retain the videos and corrective action documentation until the behavior is corrected.

You don’t want to retain corrective action information, after the behavior has been definitively corrected, beyond your document retention policy for disciplinary documents.

If you put a driver on a 90-day action plan based on hard-braking events and the driver has successfully avoided hard-brake events for 90 days, it is best to follow your company document retention and corrective action policies. You may have a policy that says, “keep everything for employment plus three years” then adhere to that, and if you have a policy to destroy disciplinary documents for one year after the behavior is corrected, that is what you should consistently do for every driver. However, never destroy or attempt to conceal any information once a major accident has occurred as you could easily be found to have engaged in “spoliation” or destruction of evidence.

To increase acceptance of the electronic safety systems, especially the driver-facing cameras, carriers have adopted a positive behavior reward system to add money to drivers’ paychecks while greatly reducing risk costs.

Effective safety leadership includes being a visionary. Because of the liaison aspect of the role, he or she is in a unique position to gain a much wider perspective of how the safety goals align with the mission of the organization. Thus, it is the responsibility of the safety professional to develop safety programs and processes that fulfill many different needs, whether they be regulatory or business-driven.

Vision statement

The vision statement must align with the safety culture desired in your organization. The safety culture is a combination of how people value and prioritize safety as well as how things get done. The development of a safety culture or improvement of the current safety culture starts with understanding your improvement areas. You will want to formally assess the safety culture to help align everyone’s behavior to support the safety vision.

Like much of your safety program development, creating an overall vision begins with, and relies heavily on, your values and goals. As part of the process, you might brainstorm with your staff or top management what you would like to accomplish for the future. Discuss and write down the values that you share in pursuing your safety vision.

Your safety vision will evolve throughout your program development process — so it’s okay to revise it. The important point is that a motor carrier without a guiding vision will struggle.

Organizations with a vision have a powerful competitive and strategic advantage over carriers that operate without one.

The vision statement must align with the safety culture desired in your organization. The safety culture is a combination of how people value and prioritize safety as well as how things get done. The development of a safety culture or improvement of the current safety culture starts with understanding your improvement areas. You will want to formally assess the safety culture to help align everyone’s behavior to support the safety vision.

Assessing the safety culture

To gauge the alignment of your current safety culture with your safety vision, you should consider getting the answers to at least the following questions, and others of your own choosing, to aid in the assessment of the current safety culture:

1. Does senior leadership convey safety as a value of the organization and stress safety above all else?
2. Is everyone held accountable for ensuring safe operations, or just the safety manager?
3. Where do we have concerns with ineffective communication or mixedmessages with respect to safety? Does dispatch focus on service over safety, lack of recognition for positive safety results, lack of acknowledgement of lessons learned from negative safety events, lack of soliciting and taking action on driver feedback, etc.
4. In which areas does our safety data indicate that we must improve and are we gathering the right data to drive corrective action? Maintenance, moving violations, over-speed data, fatigue-related incidents, driver injuries etc.
5. Are we reactive to the safety data and events or proactive in implementing solutions to prevent future safety events?
6. How do our drivers feel our safety program and culture can improve?
7. Do drivers feel they can make safety decisions without fear of retribution?
8. What barriers exist to improving our safety culture to align it with our safety vision?

After completing a thorough assessment of your safety culture, communicating the results to all stakeholders is vital. The actions to improve the safety culture should not just be the responsibility of the safety manager.

However, the safety manager and the safety department should play a central role in coordinating the improvement initiatives. Ultimately, leadership across all departments must buy in and take accountability for corrective actions that fall under their respective areas of authority.

Changing an organization’s culture is a process that will take time and commitment to push through some inevitable challenges. When the culture aligns with the safety vision statement, the positive results will follow.

• Compliance alone does not translate into safety. Involve all employees in risk management.
• Incorporate rewards, comprehensive safety training, and discipline into your overall safety program.
• Vehicle maintenance is critically important to any motor carrier safety program.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) completed a survey of 148 of the nation’s safest motor carriers on which safety management practices are work for them. The survey, titled Best Highway Safety Practices: A Survey About Safety Management Practices Among the Safest Motor Carriers was done by the Supply Chain Management Center at the University of Maryland’s R.H. Smith School of Business.

Safety Goals

With regard to setting your safety goals, keep in mind:

1. Compliance does not necessarily translate into safety, and
2. Employee/driver involvement is a critical element of any motor carrier safety program.
3. Establish a comprehensive driver training program that includes initial, refresher (annual), and remedial safety training for all drivers.
4. Incorporate rewards, safety training, and discipline into your overall safety program.
5. Vehicle maintenance is critically important to any motor carrier safety program.

Therefore, don’t comply with the relevant FMCSRs for the sake of compliance alone, but rather use the regulations as the framework for your overall safety programs. In addition, make sure one of your overall safety goals is to seek out input and feedback from all employees.

Safety starts with the people (current and future) you surround yourself with. Therefore, your safety goals should incorporate two very important concepts:

1. The most important characteristics with regard to driver applicants involve past driving performance with a special emphasis on alcohol and drug violations and chargeable crashes; and
2. Leading carriers have established (written) formal driving hiring standards that place the greatest emphasis on an applicant’s safe driving record.

Driver hiring practices

Driver characteristics — Carriers were asked to evaluate the importance of 10 driver characteristics when making a hiring decision. The results illustrate that few differences exist between attractive characteristics for employees and owner operators.

The three most important characteristics all involve the individual’s past driving performance with a special emphasis on alcohol or drug violations and chargeable crashes. Age and training were less important compared to the applicant’s safety record. Other important considerations were driving experience, speeding and traffic violations, as well as recommendations from other carriers. Carriers are most interested in hiring drivers that are honest, reliable, and self-disciplined.

Assessing applicants — Seventy percent of all companies (90 percent of large carriers) use safety-related criteria to evaluate driver applicants. Ninety percent or more of carriers use drug testing, past traffic records, on-road tests for evaluating driver behavior, and license qualification checks as effective means of assessing the safety risk of driver applicants.

Written hiring policies — The most common criteria for establishing driver safety require a review of the applicant’s past driving record and establishing a maximum number of moving violations and crashes that disqualify an applicant. Overall, a higher percentage of the large-size carriers than of carriers overall included these safety-related criteria clearly or very clearly in their written hiring policies.

Driver Training Practices — The results suggest that pre- and in-service training programs for employees and owner-operators are strategic safety investments for companies, not viewed as a cost. Close to 90 percent of all carriers require training programs; the majority of which require 1–2 weeks of training.

Employees appreciate the relevance of training programs and their importance in maintaining safe carrier performance.

Over 57 percent of all carriers indicated that both pre-service and in-service driver training has an equal impact on the company’s highway safety performance. However, more companies consider in-service driver training to be more critical than pre-service training.

Overall, training is very important to the safety leaders surveyed. In addition, peer-to-peer training among drivers is strongly supported. Most carriers (80–90 percent) train drivers on the following subjects:

• Pretrip and post-trip inspections
• Federal safety regulations
• Accident notification
• Hours-of-service regulations
• Driver disciplinary policies and dispatch procedures

An increasing number of carriers and driving schools are effectively using driving simulators to provide an initial skills assessment, basic training before on-road training, and refresher training.

Encouraging and Reinforcing Safe Driving Behavior — Motor carriers rely on two basic management principles

1. Safety rewards, and
2. Driver discipline.

Safety rewards — Over 75 percent of all respondent carriers have safety award programs for individual drivers. Safe drivers get promoted over unsafe drivers in over 89 percent of companies.

Safety awards are also presented in order to encourage and reinforce safe driving. Awards are issued on a monthly, quarterly, and an annual basis with annual being the most common.

In most cases a variety of rewards are used, such as verbal praise, public recognition, congratulatory letters from management, safety decorations, safety banquets, cash, and merchandise.

Awards are most frequently based on established criteria or driver accomplishments, such as a lack of crashes, violations, or traffic convictions during a specified time period.

Driver discipline — Carriers feel that disciplining drivers is more important or equally as important as rewards in encouraging and reinforcing safe driving behavior.

Carriers discipline or coach drivers for poor safety performance when drivers violate Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, violate company safety policies, or demonstrate generally unsafe driving performance. Maintaining standards is essential to minimizing risk. Do not allow exceptions for the most productive drivers for example. Everyone meets the same safety standards.

Types of disciplinary actions include coaching, verbal warnings, written warnings, and termination of employment when necessary.

Lesson learned: The above results suggest that carriers feel that safety training, reward, and discipline are all effective for reinforcing safe behavior.

Managing and Monitoring Driver Activities — Results of the survey in this area show that companies use a variety of technologies to monitor driver performance and promote safe driving.

Companies manage driver fatigue by encouraging drivers to refuse dispatches if they do not feel alert enough to handle the drive, equip trucks so they are easier to handle, and provide uninterrupted break times for drivers.

Managing Vehicle Maintenance — With regard to vehicle maintenance, approximately 90 percent of carriers considered cost as a nonissue when it comes to keeping their vehicles defect-free and deploying a defect-free fleet is the most important thing they do to ensure vehicle safety while out on the highway.

Since preventative maintenance is critical to deploying a safe fleet, 80 percent of carriers rarely need to conduct unscheduled maintenance.

Your safety effort needs to consider virtually every aspect of your operation — including vehicle maintenance. Your DVIR, annual inspection, and other scheduled maintenance and repair systems must ensure your vehicles are in safe working order at all times.

• Establish regular safety committee meetings to keep people focused on the most important issues as well as hold them accountable for results.
• Set the tone that safety is a company value and preventing crashes is expected.

As a safety manager with so many responsibilities, it can be difficult to stay focused — to know what area of safety concern requires your immediate attention and long-term consideration. To address the issue of staying informed and disseminating important information, many safety professionals — across all industries — rely on a daily/weekly/monthly safety meeting with key operations, recruiting, and training personnel to keep on top of issues affecting the organization’s overall safety performance.

Also known as a weekly significant events meeting, this safety management meeting can help you:

• Keep up-to-date (in real time) on safety critical issues that affect the entire organization;
• Stay informed on safety- and operational-related incidents such as personal injuries, minor vehicle accidents, driver turnover events, customer service failures, cargo claims, etc.;
• Ensure necessary follow-up, corrective action, discipline, or management intervention occurs in a timely manner for all safety and operational concerns; and
• Communicate and reinforce your safety vision and values to every department on a weekly basis.

Tips for your weekly significant events meeting:

• Hold them at the end of the business day each Monday to discuss the previous week’s safety and operational results.
• Don’t allow interruptions. Even though your safety meetings should be brief, this is a serious weekly get-together. Before you start, make sure everyone has made arrangements with their staff to take messages and answer phones for the next 15-20 minutes.
• This is a reporting meeting, not a debate. If a discussion gets heated, continue it at the next meeting or after the current meeting on a one-to-one basis.
• Hold the meeting in a central location such as the dispatch/operations office, or via video conference, at the same time and location every week. Safety is a state of mind, and by conducting your meetings at the same time and place every week, eventually they will become routine and an expected part of the involved personnel’s work-week.
• Encourage team members to review near misses — situations when they came close to having an accident — with the group. Try to get the team to learn from these experiences.
• Use a standard report format for safety committee members to provide updates on their respective responsibilities. This is a critically important part of conducting weekly safety meetings. Your job is not done until you document the meeting. This record could be critical in the future. But remember, the important thing is the message you send to your people, not what form you use.
• After each meeting, encourage discussion among team members about the significant events of the past week. Review recent vehicle accidents and onthe- job injuries. Ask participants to forward any suggestions about how the loss event could have been prevented or the violation corrected.

Safety meetings with the office personnel and drivers should convey a consistent message that safety is a value not a moment to moment priority. The message should be similar to the following:

“We will take all loss events seriously — regardless of type or severity. As an organization, we will evaluate, analyze, and learn from every loss event. In doing so, our goal is to prevent accidents and any reoccurrence by proactively managing our risk.”

Safety committee functions:

General functions of a safety committee can include:

1. Identifying/investigating and reducing or eliminating potential work environment hazards;
2. Reducing accident and injury frequency and severity rates;
3. Ensuring that the facility and shop is in compliance with OSHA standards;
4. Creating and maintaining active participation and awareness in safety;
5. Enforcing safety rules;
6. Measuring safety performance;
7. Increasing employee safety awareness and general morale;
8. Creating and administering incentive programs to promote safety;
9. Issuing periodic reports, bulletins, posters, and table tents to report on safety accomplishments;
10. Evaluating employee attitudes toward safety and safety programs;
11. Developing, administering, and monitoring the safety program;
12. Facilitating communication and cooperation between management and employees which, includes drivers, on safety and health;
13. Creating new safety policies and programs; and
14. Demonstrating results to management and employees.

The safety committee can be one of the most important tools to help the safety professional influence and drive positive change

• Carriers have a duty to act which includes following the regulations.
• Document and follow safety management controls to prevent crashes.

The regulations lay out very clearly defined duties a carrier should be following. Not following them creates a situation where the carrier is providing an opportunity for another party to prove that the carrier breached a known duty.

If this can be proven, the party is one-quarter of the way to winning a settlement in court if there is an incident leading to injury or loss.

To prevail in a tort (civil lawsuit) the one party needs to prove that:

• The other party had a duty to act,
• The other party breached that duty,
• The breach led to the injury or loss and the other party is responsible, or
• The injuries are real and were caused by the breach.

To determine if the other party had a duty to act or committed a breach, courts will normally look to see what a “reasonable person” would have done in the same circumstances. The problem in the transportation industry is that the duty to act in many areas is clearly defined in the regulations. This creates a situation where the other party only needs to prove that you either knew, or should have known, about the regulations and your responsibility to comply with them.

If you are not complying with the regulations, the regulations will be used as a “roadmap to litigation” by plaintiff’s attorneys following a serious accident. During the interrogatory and discovery phases of the litigation, the attorney will be asking many questions concerning your safety programs and safety compliance. The attorney is trying to find proof that you do not have adequate safety management controls, and therefore have breached your duties to the public. If the attorney is successful with this tactic, it can lead to a significant award.

To give you an idea of what the other party will be asking, here is a list of typical interrogatory questions asked by plaintiffs’ attorneys when litigating against a motor carrier:

• Was the driver within the scope of his employment at the time of the accident?
• Who at the company is responsible for compliance with FMCSA regulations, document retention, driver qualification and personnel files, driver training, driver discipline, driver termination, log auditing, fleet safety, fleet operations, and vehicle maintenance?
• Was the accident investigated by the company? If so, by who?
• What is the company policy on driver discipline for violations of FMCSA regulations and company policies?
• What does the new driver training program consist of and is there a driver handbook/ policy book distributed?
• What is the frequency and content of safety meetings?
• What are the company’s minimum qualifications for drivers?
• What was the driver’s employment and driving history previous to employment? Also, provide the driver’s performance since beginning employment.
• Who was the dispatcher responsible for the movement the driver was involved in at the time of the accident?
• What were the origin and destination at the time of accident? Please include the loading and delivery times (appointment and actual) and if the shipment was time sensitive.
• What were the driver’s movements the previous 12 months?
• What was the vehicle’s weight at the time of the accident?
• Was the vehicle equipped with an ECM, a communications or tracking system, or any other data collection equipment at the time of the accident?
• What is the written policy on repair and maintenance?
• When was the vehicle last in for scheduled maintenance?
• What percentage of the company budget was dedicated to maintenance and driver training over the last five years (please detail each area)?
• Please provide details of any personal injury claims within last 5 years. Please include the outcome of each claim.

• Retain legal counsel immediately after a crash with any potential for litigation.
• Be prepared to address counsel’s questions regarding the crash and your operation.
• Preserve records for the attorney to avoid spoliation.

One key decision in the case of a major accident is that of when to retain counsel. The best time to retain counsel is ASAP. By getting an attorney on your side early, you can avoid the pitfall of spoliation along with many other pitfalls. A common pitfall is simply answering all requests, no matter how ludicrous. Your attorney can work with the judge and plaintiff’s attorney to make sure the other side is being reasonable.

Many mistakes made in the first 48 hours cannot be corrected, and an experienced trucking industry defense attorney can help prevent the mistakes. Any request for documentation and statements from other parties, whether formal or informal, should be cleared with your attorney.

Once the plaintiff’s attorney has the interrogatories and discovery material, the plaintiff’s attorney’s investigators and experts will go to work on it. They will review everything to see if the carrier has contributed to the accident through negligence.

There are certain areas that will get special attention and your legal counsel will ask how you handle your operational and compliance areas. These areas are not limited to:

• Hiring standards. Did the carrier comply with the driver qualification regulations and did the carrier have hiring standards? By the way, the investigators and experts will do their own background check on the driver as well as checking on the carrier’s background check.
• Performance standards. Did the carrier follow the annual review processes dictated in the regulations? Did the carrier have standards for their existing drivers, including a disciplinary process that included terminations, and were they followed?
• The driver’s DQ file will be examined page-by-page to verify compliance with the regulations.
• The driver’s personnel file will be examined to see if the driver was performing up to company and industry standards.
• The carrier’s operational practices will be reviewed. Compliance with various regulation areas (the setting of schedules, hours-of-service management, etc.) will be checked.
• HOS compliance will be verified, including the carrier’s safety management, auditing, and compliance practices.
• Vehicle condition and maintenance records will be checked page-by-page to see if the vehicle had been maintained and repaired correctly.
• Special attention will be paid to the trip during which the accident occurred.

To get you prepared, your legal counsel and any experts engaged will review everything (logs, trip paperwork, dispatch records, company and driver receipts, credit card and phone records, electronic records, vehicle condition, etc.) to verify compliance by the driver and carrier, and the operational feasibility of the trip. What they are looking for is any place the carrier is not in compliance or below industry standards. If the attorney can prove that the carrier was not in compliance or was well below industry standards, the carrier has not followed its duty to act. This can lead to the carrier being potentially exposed to a large litigation award.

The key point to remember is that the carrier may be ruled liable for the damages done during the accident (the plaintiff’s attorney proved that your driver, and therefore you as his/her company, are responsible for the accident); what you are trying to avoid is being proven to be a carrier that does not take the correct steps to comply. It is one thing to be responsible for an accident, it is another to have an attorney prove that it was your lack of compliance efforts that either led to, or contributed to, the accident that injured their client.

Discovery is the next pre-trial phase in a lawsuit. During this phase each party can request documents and other evidence from other parties.

The discovery process will follow the same basic path as the interrogatories, but it will require that the carrier turn over requested documents and evidence for review by the plaintiff’s attorneys, investigators, and experts.

Here is a list of typical discovery requests in litigation involving a motor carrier:

• Driver’s logs and time cards (if applicable) for the previous 7, 15, or 30 days.
• Driver’s qualification and personnel file.
• Driver trip envelopes (if still used) and payroll records for the previous 7, 15, or 30 days.
• Bills of lading and delivery receipts for all loads carried/delivered in the previous 7, 15, or 30 days.
• Driver’s income tax records.
• Company and driver credit card transactions and cell phone records.
• Any cash advance or reimbursement receipts.
• Toll and scale clearance device receipts (both cash and electronic).
• Tractor and trailer maintenance records for the equipment involved.
• Driver’s disciplinary, training, and accident records.
• Any records for this incident (including any investigative reports or photos) or internal determination of preventability.
• Insurance settlement records.
• Any written statements pertaining to the incident.
• Any electronic records (computerized dispatch records and communications, GPS position reports, electronic logs, dash cam video, etc.).
• Data downloads from the vehicle’s on-board computers.
• Gate or maintenance logs (if the carrier logs vehicles in and out).

Of course this is not an exhaustive list of all the requests you may see. Any answers to requests (interrogatories, discovery, etc.) should go through your attorney.

Spoliation

One idea that has been tried is to not turn everything over when it is requested. Hiding materials from the other party in litigation can be an extremely dangerous move. The other party will have a team of investigators and experts who know what a reasonable motor carrier would retain and how long it should be retained during normal operations. The other attorneys will be expecting additional preservation due to the reasonable expectation of litigation.

If you tell the plaintiff’s attorneys that you did not retain the requested documents, they will be making a major point of this later. The other attorneys will be asking the judge and jury the rhetorical question “Why did the defendant not retain the requested documents? The regulations require it, the expectation of litigation would warrant it; why did they not save the requested documents?” In some jurisdictions, if the plaintiff can prove you should have retained a document, the judge will tell the jury to assume that the missing materials were damaging to the defendant.

If you have deliberately destroyed evidence, you have committed spoliation. Spoliation is the intentional destruction, mutilation, alteration, or concealment of evidence. If a carrier destroys or alters documents that may be of use to another party in litigation, the carrier has committed spoliation of evidence. This in itself can be grounds for the plaintiff suing the carrier or asking for additional sanctions (penalties).

The way to avoid having to turn over “painful” information is to make sure to operate in such a way that there is nothing negative for the other party to find. If you have drivers who have poor compliance or driving records, you have equipment that is not in compliance, or you have operational tendencies that could be hard to explain in court, it would be better to try to fix the problems rather than try to hide them.

• With emerging technology comes the elevated danger for carriers of vulnerability to cyberattacks.
• Asset tracking technology can reduce back-office costs and minimize reporting errors.

While technology has many benefits, it brings with it some challenges, not the least of which is a vulnerability to cyberattacks. In the wrong hands, a company’s electronic data could be used to track and steal shipments, transfer funds, obtain financial information (including credit card numbers), etc. Electronic equipment and files are not just vulnerable to theft and unauthorized access; they’re vulnerable to accidental loss (e.g., hard-drive crashes or accidental file deletion).

Over the past few years, few could have missed the news headlines detailing large, well-known companies that have fallen victim to data security breaches. The phenomenon has become all too common, and companies all over the United States have faced negative publicity and considerable fines in the wake of their data being improperly shared.

Among the areas of concern for motor carriers are:

EDI: The transmission of data from a motor carrier to customer or vendor via electronic data interchange (EDI) can become a weak point in a motor carrier’s security protocol.

ELD security: Because electronic logging devices (ELDs) are internet-enabled, they can be targeted by hackers. Unfortunately, many ELDs being installed on trucks are not well-protected from cyberattacks. An ELD presents an access point for a cybercriminal to steal a fleet’s critical information.

ELDs send inspection reports to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and are required to connect to a vehicle’s electronic control module (ECM) to track date, time, location information, engine hours, vehicle miles, user identification data, vehicle identification data, and motor carrier identification data. ELDs must also permit wireless connectivity.

As a result, ELDs create a bridge between critical vehicle components and wireless data transmission, such that the vehicle components themselves can be accessed remotely through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The most common ELDs use built-in cellular modules, but satellite, Bluetooth, or cabled tethering to cellular-enabled smart phones and tablets are also options.

The ELD mandate does not contain any cybersecurity or quality assurance requirements for ELD suppliers. As a result, no third-party validation or testing is required before vendors can self-certify their ELDs. Before deploying an ELD, or if there are concerns about a current provider, contact the ELD supplier and ask about its cybersecurity. ELDs can include a combination of in-vehicle, communications link, user interface, and cloud back-end systems. The supplier should be asked for details that address the cybersecurity of all functions and components.

In May 2020, FMCSA released a set of cybersecurity best practices for ELD solutions in “Cybersecurity Best Practices for Integration/Retrofit of Telematics and Aftermarket Electronic Systems” [FMCSA-RRT-19-013]. The best practices provide guidance for trucking companies when acquiring new devices and what suppliers can expect from customer acceptance testing of these requirements. ELD solutions from J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. meet these security requirements.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII): For starters, employers should ensure verify that any PII collected by the company is amassed for a specific reason. Where data is necessary, controls should be in place to ensure it is available only to employees with a clear business need to access it. When these controls include individual user passwords, employees need to be reminded to create passwords thoughtfully and to keep them secure. Despite increasing awareness of the importance of data security, “password” and “12345” have been at or near the top of the list of the most common internet passwords annually.

Bottom line: Electronic files probably play a core role in the functioning of any motor carrier’s business and need to be protected along with physical assets.

For more in-depth information on data security, click on the following links:

• Privacy and data security

Asset tracking

Vehicle and other asset tracking systems assist operations teams to manage a fleet more efficiently, safety managers to track safe operations, and the legalization staff to accurately submit required state and federal filings. Both large and small fleets can benefit from in-cab technology.

Asset tracking technology has many uses, including to:

• Automate International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), International Registration Plan (IRP), and Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) recordkeeping and reporting;
• Monitor driver and vehicle location and productivity; and
• Update customers on the timeliness of deliveries or service appointments.

The use of technology can significantly reduce back-office costs and minimize reporting errors.

For more in-depth information on asset tracking topics, click on the following links:

• Vehicle tracking
• Fleet taxes
• Performance management and training

• Although FMCSA sets specific rules for carriers operating CMVs, hiring standards and related decisions are left to the employer.
• Carriers are required to protect the general safety and health of all their employees, not just drivers.
• An effective drug and alcohol testing program can not only identify impaired workers, but it also can influence a carrier’s safety rating.

Hiring and training drivers

Commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers are responsible for their personal safety and the safety of others while operating a CMV as defined in 49 CFR 390.5. For the motor carrier, this includes more than just full-time drivers. It covers technicians, yard jockeys, casual drivers, supervisors, leased independent contractors, and anyone else who may operate a CMV for the carrier on a highway, which is any area open to public travel. “Highway” is also defined in 390.5.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires that motor carriers follow specific rules for operating CMVs. But FMCSA only sets the minimum for regulated employees and leaves hiring standards and decisions to the employer. Any additional requirements for regulated and/or non-regulated positions would be a matter of company policy.

To aid in recruiting and retaining low-risk employees, motor carriers need to comply with 391 for all CMV drivers, as well as 382 and 383 when drivers with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) are operating vehicles as defined in 382 and 383.

To further reduce risk, carriers should utilize best practices in areas such as:

• Driver qualification (DQ) file auditing;
• Entry level driver training;
• Longer combination vehicles training;
• Recruiting and retention strategies;
• Company drug testing programs in addition to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) testing;
• Training programs (new hire and recurrent);
• Hiring policies and job descriptions;
• Succession planning; and
• Monitoring and tracking of safety data (e.g., roadside inspections for Compliance, Safety, and Accountability, or CSA).

Injury prevention and employee health

Motor carrier operations involve more than following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). Management needs to protect the general health and safety of all employees, not just drivers. Drivers are required to be medically qualified to drive and must stay medically qualified.

No specific regulations

Transportation and driver work most often take place outside of a conventional workplace, in or on a truck, bus, or other CMV. FMCSA does not have specific injury prevention regulations for people operating CMVs.

In situations where there aren’t specific standards for a hazard, employers are responsible for complying with the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1). This clause indicates that each employer must furnish “a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.”

Protection from specific injuries

Transportation employees are exposed to many risks. One such risk is driver injuries from a crash. FMCSA has regulations specifically meant to reduce crashes and the chance of injury from a crash.

Other risks to transportation employees occur as a part of the work being done, such as the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The number and severity of MSDs resulting from poor posture or support while working or driving, physical overexertion, and their associated costs can be substantially reduced by applying ergonomic principles to the workplace and CMVs.

Drivers’ personal safety is at risk when they operate vehicles or work in areas that are not well-lit or in an unsafe location. Transportation security for cargo is often a concern of carriers, yet precautions also should be taken to protect the driver’s safety.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Personal Protective Equipment requirements generally apply to all employers who have employees exposed to any hazard that causes a need for protection. OSHA regulations cover protection of the employee’s hearing, eyesight, head, hands, and feet. Exposure to excessive heat or cold temperatures can also threaten driver health.

Fall protection is covered by OSHA, but falling off commercial vehicles is not well-covered and is an example of a General Duty Clause concern in many cases.

Cargo loading and securement rules are in place to minimize the risk of a crash or injury from poorly secured cargo. Shippers and receivers have a responsibility to operate safe docks and properly load and unload vehicles, but drivers should always be careful when opening trailer doors and when involved in loading and unloading.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light transportation employees’ exposure to infectious diseases. Protection from sickness transmitted in the work setting remains a national priority receiving ongoing support.

What if my employer won’t fix unsafe conditions?

Under OSHA’s whistleblower protection laws, transportation employees are protected should they need to report unsafe workplace conditions without fear of employer retribution.

Carriers should understand the OSHA areas below to improve employee health and reduce work-related injuries:

• DOT physical exam requirements
• General Duty Clause
• Transportation security
• Personal protective equipment
• Ergonomics
• Heat and cold exposure
• Cargo loading and securement
• Infectious diseases
• Whistleblower

Drug and alcohol testing

Drug and alcohol testing is a risk management tool to assist in identifying impaired employees.

For drivers operating CMVs requiring a CDL, the motor carrier investigates DOT testing history through former employers and the new CDL Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. While serving with a carrier, a driver may be tested occasionally in accordance with 382. A mismanaged DOT testing program can result in a poor safety rating, high CSA Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) scores, and an increased chance of a crash involving an impaired driver.

For other motor carrier employees (e.g., non-CDL drivers, dispatchers, technicians, support staff, or yard workers), performing a non-DOT test under company policy (best practice) is complex since it involves employment laws at the state and federal level.

Carriers should fully understand the requirements for:

• Drug and alcohol testing

• Any entity shipping or transporting hazmat by highway within the United States is subject to the HMR as required by PHMSA.

Transportation of hazardous materials requires a clear understanding of the hazardous substances on the vehicle. An incident involving a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) transporting hazmat could result in an injury or illness for the driver or general public, an environmental mess requiring cleanup, and/or an explosion.

The mission of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other essential hazmat. To accomplish this, PHMSA establishes national policy, sets and enforces standards, educates, and conducts research to prevent incidents. PHMSA also prepares the public and first responders to reduce consequences if an incident should occur.

Anyone shipping or transporting hazmat by highway within the United States must follow the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) as required by PHMSA. Carriers also need to follow regulations set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

With large volumes of hazmat on the roads each day, PHMSA and FMCSA have taken steps to increase public safety. These steps provide guidance and regulations in areas such as:

• Accepting a shipment,
• Loading and unloading,
• On the road, and
• Violations and enforcement.

The HMR require that all hazmat employers train their hazmat employees. This required training helps ensure that every hazmat employee:

• Is familiar with the HMR;
• Can recognize and identify hazmat;
• Understands specific HMR requirements applicable to the functions performed; and
• Is knowledgeable about emergency response, self-protection measures, and accident prevention methods.

Training

Before hazmat employees perform any job function subject to the HMR, they must be trained, tested, and certified. Until training is finished, hazmat employees cannot perform any hazmat function, unless they are directly supervised by a trained hazmat employee and training is completed in 90 days.

Further, each hazmat employee must be provided with recurrent training at least once every three years. Hazmat employees must be tested upon completion of training. Training may be provided directly by the hazmat employer or by other public or private sources.

Regardless of who provides the training, the hazmat employer is responsible for ensuring that appropriate testing occurs. The training must be effective, appropriate, and successful in achieving the intended objectives of providing employees with knowledge and skills necessary to perform their job functions safely.

Information regarding hazmat training can be found in 49 CFR Subpart H, 172.700 through 172.704.

For more in-depth information on hazmat transportation, click on the following links:

• Hazmat
• Hazmat highway
• Shipping papers
• Training hazmat
• General packaging requirements
• Hazardous Materials Table (HMT)