Improving hours-of-service compliance

Submission of false logs and hours-of-service violations continue to be common violations discovered during Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) compliance reviews. To avoid these violations during compliance reviews, carriers need to have an organized approach to hours-of-service compliance.

No misunderstandings during training

The first step is educating the drivers. Training them on what is required to be in compliance with the regulations and the company policies is the starting point. Do not accidentally give a “wink and a nod” implying that some “creativity” is allowed. Well-intending trainers can do this by explaining exactly what the carrier checks to verify the correctness of logs. “We only check the time and date of fueling against drivers’ logs” can be heard by some drivers as “They do not check bills of lading, toll receipts, repair receipts, expense receipts, and all the other documents against my log. All I have to do is make sure my log matches fuel receipts.”

Tell the drivers during training that their logs will be checked for form and manner, falsification based on any of a wide variety of documents, accurate mileages, and over-hours violations.

Have an effective auditing system

The second step is to have an auditing system that can catch the drivers that are violating. If drivers are allowed to submit false logs or drive over hours, and the carrier does not catch them, it appears to some drivers that the carrier does not care. This again can provide a “wink and a nod” to the drivers.

Work together

Third, make sure everyone is “on board” when it comes to hours-of-service compliance. If the safety department is preaching and enforcing compliance, results can be mixed if dispatch is “making” the drivers “run too many miles.” What can be even worse is if dispatch is “helping” the drivers violate the hours-of-service regulations by “giving advice” or “hiding documents.”

Do something about it

Finally, the carrier must be willing to address the issue of noncompliance with drivers that are violating. This means bringing drivers in for counseling or discipline when they are found in violation. This is another point where a carrier can accidentally give a “wink and a nod.” If the drivers repeatedly submitting false logs only receive a “slap on the wrist,” this can easily be seen as a “wink and a nod.”

To prove they are serious about hours-of-service violations, many carriers have gone to a progressive discipline approach. This system “steps up” the discipline for each repeated violation. If drivers submit false logs one month, they are counseled. If the submit false logs again, they are given a written warning that the next violation will result in a suspension, and so on up to terminating the drivers that repeatedly violate.

Remember, carriers can be held liable for not stopping the drivers from violating the hours-of-service regulations. This liability can lead to fines in compliance reviews and/or large settlements in lawsuits! The “trick” with hours-of-service compliance is to do all of the above. Carriers that only do one may accidentally be giving a “wink and a nod” to their drivers.

Accident/Incident/Near Miss Investigation  

One of the best ways to avoid further incidents is to understand how an accident occurred, and how to avoid that type of accident in the future. Incident investigation is a tool. The goal is not to lay blame.

The goal in an accident investigation is to:

Satisfy legal requirements (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health—NIOSH, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration—OSHA)
Find out what happened and determine immediate and underlying or root causes.
Rethink the safety hazard.
Introduce ways to prevent a reoccurrence
Establish training needs.

An accident, a near miss and an incident should all be investigated.

Accident investigations are a tool for uncovering hazards that either were missed earlier or require new controls (policies, procedures or personal protective equipment).
Near-miss reporting and investigation identify and control safety or health hazards before they cause a more serious incident.
Incident investigations should focus on prevention.

ACCIDENT—an undesired event or sequence of events causing injury, ill-health or property damage.

NEAR MISS—near misses describe incidents where, given a slight shift in time or distance, injury, ill-health or damage easily could have occurred, but didn’t this round.

INCIDENT—an incident is an unplanned, undesired event that hinders completion of a task and may cause injury or other damage.

Recommendations
Conduct an investigation as soon as possible following the event to gather all the necessary facts, determine the true causes of the event, and develop recommendations to prevent a recurrence.
Get there as quickly as possible.
Ensure area is safe to enter.
Make sure injured person has first-aid or medical attention required.
Look for witnesses.
Record the scene with photos (ideally date and time printed) or sketches.
Safeguard any evidence.
Establish what happened.

Equipment that may come in handy:
Pens and notebook
Measuring tape
Specimen containers
Camera and film
Tape recorder and cassettes
Copies of accident report forms, checklists
Telephone numbers
Personal protective equipment

Investigate
The investigation should answer six questions:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
Interview
Interview all people involved. Look for all the causes. Do not fall into the trap of blaming the employee, even if the person admits causing the event. Investigate the procedures, supervisor’s directives, training, machinery, weather, you get the idea. The entity’s accident, incident and near-miss reporting forms should be designed to give guidance.

Document
Properly document all accident investigations using the entity’s approved investigation form. The form should make it simple to remember what questions to ask, be easy to understand and complete, and be filed and retained in chronological order.

Protect Privacy
Investigation reports are not to be released to anyone without authorization.

Review
Review all accident, incident and near-miss investigations occurring since the last safety committee meeting at the next safety meeting.

I believe that a safety program which records and investigates NEAR MISSES will be more successful in preventing accidents and incidents.

The business community has put the letters O-S-H-A into that  “beware” category.   OSHA is out there to fine me, or shut me down if my workers are in an unsafe workplace.  Their concept of OSHA is something to be weary of. 

How wrong you are. While part of OSHA’s job is to monitor unsafe working conditions and asses fines, they are also available to help business and organizations stay in compliance with federal and state laws.  In Illinois we have the Illinois Onsite Safety and Health Consultation Program, funded by OSHA, to help small business with worker’s safety compliance.  There is a similar program in almost every state in the US.  In addition, OSHA has self-inspection checklist covering 9 different areas of safety.  These will help you start developing a safety programs with regards to the 9 standards covered in 29 CFR parts 1910 and/or 1926.  OSHA also offers e-tools, grants and programs available in Spanish for the Hispanic worker.  Recently, our ASSE chapter had an OSHA area Compliance Assistance Specialist speak at our meeting.  She made it very clear that her position is to help business with compliance.  She is NOT a compliance officer. 

You can be scared of OSHA or you can utilize the services and help they offer to the fullest.  Keep in mind YOUR tax dollars pay their salaries.