Be Part of the Ultimate Safety & Compliance Community
Trending news, knowledge-building content, and more – all personalized to you!
SAFETY & COMPLIANCE NEWS
Keep up to date on the latest developments affecting OSHA, DOT, EPA, and DOL regulatory compliance.
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) is calling for truck drivers to participate in its detention survey to collect data about driver experiences at customer facilities.
Using a short, confidential, online survey to gather data, ATRI is asking truckers to share details on their experiences with driver detention and the impacts it has on their day-to-day and professional routines.
The online version of this survey will help ATRI get nationwide input to gain a more complete overview of drivers’ perception of detention periods.
What is driver detention?
Driver detention is the time a driver spends waiting at the shipper or receiver outside of loading and unloading time. Detention time is historically problematic in the trucking industry and has negative impacts on:
What’s the point?
The results of this detention survey will help inform a larger ATRI study on how the trucking industry is impacted and affected by detention. The goal is to identify solutions for managing driver detention times nationwide.
How can you participate?
ATRI asks drivers to complete the survey by April 26, 2024. You can take the survey by going to https://www.research.net/r/Driver-Detention-Survey.
Some of the questions include asking:
Not every employer is comfortable being escorted on their workplace inspections. So, who can tag along? To help make that determination, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review of OSHA’s Worker Walkaround final rule on March 20, 2024.
The Worker Walkaround rule is intended to clarify workers’ and certified bargaining units' rights to designate whom they’d like to accompany the Compliance Safety and Health Officer (CSHO) during facility or workplace inspection walkarounds. The rule also explains that the representative does not need to be an employee of the employer but could be third party. The CSHO would determine if having the designated individual would be “reasonably necessary” to aid in the inspection.
OSHA recognizes that employee representation during the inspection is critical to ensuring a thorough and efficient analysis of all worksite conditions and hazards. The agency wants employers to be able to select a representative of their choice to accompany the CSHO, but selecting inspection escorts isn’t as easy as just picking someone.
OSHA’s proposal to the Representatives of Employers and Employees regulation is considering:
The current rule allows employees to select a non-employee, such as a third-party safety consultant or industrial hygienist, only if the CSHO agrees that the person is “reasonably necessary” to complete an effective inspection.
Now that the OMB review is complete, the next step is publication in the Federal Register which can be anticipated within the next year or two. A final rule is typically effective no less than thirty days after the date of publication to the Federal Register. Once published, 1903.8(c) criteria will expand on who employees can authorize to act as their representative during an OSHA inspection. The CSHO will still determine reasonable necessity and has the right to deny accompaniment to any person whose conduct interferes with a fair and orderly inspection.
The changes to the rule will ensure employees can select trusted, skilled, and knowledgeable representatives of their choice, resulting in more effective inspections. OSHA’s goal is to shift the focus from representative titles (such as safety consultant or industrial hygienist) to pertinent skills, experience with workplace hazards or conditions, and relevant language skills that will facilitate better communication between employees and the CSHO.
Key to remember: OSHA’s Worker Walkaround final rule has been reviewed by the OMB and intends to expand the criteria for employee-authorized representatives who can participate in workplace inspections.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is issuing this final rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to address to the extent necessary the unreasonable risk of injury to health presented by chrysotile asbestos based on the risks posed by certain conditions of use. The injuries to human health include mesothelioma and lung, ovarian, and laryngeal cancers resulting from chronic inhalation exposure to chrysotile asbestos.
DATES: This final rule is effective on May 28, 2024, published in the Federal Register March 28, 2024, page 21970.
View final rule.
Subpart F—Chrysotile Asbestos | ||
Entire subpart | Added | View text |
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is finalizing facility response plan requirements for worst case discharges of Clean Water Act (CWA) hazardous substances for onshore non-transportation-related facilities that could reasonably be expected to cause substantial harm to the environment by discharging a CWA hazardous substance into or on the navigable waters, adjoining shorelines, or exclusive economic zone.
DATES: This final rule is effective on May 28, 2024, published in the Federal Register, page 21924.
View final rule.
Part 118—Clean Water Act Hazardous Substances Facility Response Plans | ||
Entire part | Added | View text |
§300.185 Nongovernmental participation. | ||
(a) | Revised | View text |
§300.211 OPA facility and vessel response plans. | ||
(c) | Revised | View text |
§300.411 Response to CWA hazardous substance worst case discharges. | ||
Entire section | Added | View text |
New Text
§300.185 Nongovernmental participation.
(a) Industry groups, academic organizations, and others are encouraged to commit resources for response operations. Specific commitments should be listed in the RCP and ACP. Those entities required to develop tank vessel and facility response plans under CWA section 311(j) must be able to respond to a worst case discharge to the maximum extent practicable, and shall commit sufficient resources to implement other aspects of those plans in accordance with the requirements of 30 CFR part 254, 33 CFR parts 150, 154, and 155; 40 CFR parts 112 and 118; and 49 CFR parts 171 and 194.
* * * * *
§300.211 OPA facility and vessel response plans.
* * * * *
(c) For non-transportation-related onshore facilities, these regulations are codified in 40 CFR 112.20 and 40 CFR part 118;
* * * * *
Even though Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) scores for property-carrying operations are not visible to the public, the raw data is. Members of the public, such as customers, driver applicants, and your insurance carrier, can view your roadside inspection and crash reports.
That’s why it is important to review your reports for accuracy and use DataQs to request corrections when necessary to improve your safety record.
Two areas that may impact your scores include adjudicated citations and post-crash inspection violations.
A citation associated with a roadside inspection can be removed from CSA scoring if the violation is dismissed. This removal is possible under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) adjudicated citations policy.
For any violation received during a roadside inspection:
But the policy does not result in an automatic update to your file since court records are not tied to the federal database. It requires a request from you via DataQs. DataQs is a mechanism set up by the FMCSA to request a review of safety data.
To have a dismissed violation removed, drivers and/or carriers must submit adequate documentation, which can include scanned copies of certified documentation from the appropriate court or administrative body or a direct web link to the judgment results on an official court or agency website.
Following a crash, motor carriers should review the crash report and their CSA data. They need to ensure that any vehicle damage as the result of the crash is not mistakenly used in the CSA math.
Any vehicle violations discovered after a crash will be classified in one of two categories.
Only those with the “N” in the Crash column will be used in the CSA Vehicle Maintenance Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASIC) scoring.
To confirm crash damage is not scored, check your CSA data in the Safety Measurement System (SMS). When you go into the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC, the report will be visible under the Inspection History and should have a zero in the severity weight column. When you open the report, it will list the violations. However, it should indicate the violations are not included in the SMS and include the reason as being “Result of Crash.”
If you find the violations were entered incorrectly, you should use DataQs to correct the error.
Key to remember: A lot is at stake if your carrier is not monitoring its CSA data. You can bet others are watching your data, so you need to be monitoring it as well. Review roadside inspection and crash reports and file DataQs challenges, when applicable, to improve your safety record .
On March 20, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed SB 1515 into law. This bill is designed to better coordinate the leave provisions under the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) and Paid Leave Oregon (PLO). The changes will make administering leave under these laws easier for employers by reducing most of the overlapping reasons for leave. Employees may, however, get more leave overall.
What’s changing?
Effective July 1, 2024, employees may take OFLA leave only for the following reasons:
OFLA will no longer include time off for parental (bonding) leave or for a serious health condition (the employee’s or a family member’s).
Leave reasons under PLO remain the same with one change: Employees may take PLO to care for a child only if the child has a serious health condition. Employees choose when and whether to apply for PLO benefits.
Generally, PLO and OFLA will not run concurrently, and PLO will no longer be capped. Therefore, with these changes, in certain situations employees could end up being entitled to take up to 38 total weeks of leave under both laws. An employee could, for example, take 12 weeks of OFLA leave to care for a child or for bereavement, another 12 weeks of OFLA for pregnancy disability, 12 weeks of PLO parental leave or for a serious health condition, and another two weeks of PLO for pregnancy disability.
If employees are eligible and the reason qualifies, the OFLA or PLO leave will run concurrently with leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Wages capped
Employers may cap the use of OFLA and PLO to the amount that would result in an employee receiving 100 percent of their wages. Currently, employees using OFLA and PLO can end up with more than 100 percent of their wages.
Key to remember: Employers with employees in Oregon need to prepare for more changes to OFLA and PLO, but the changes should make administering leave easier.
Did You Know You Can Ask Unlimited Questions to Our Compliance Experts?
Get answers to your most puzzling compliance questions from the industry’s top experts!