bake - February 2012 - 16

legislation

A Bumpy Road for Truckers
A new rule by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration revises the hours-ofservice safety requirements for commercial truck drivers. The ﬁnal rule reduces by 12 hours the maximum number of hours a truck driver can work within a week. Under the old rule, truck drivers could work on average up to 82 hours within a sevenday period. The new HOS ﬁnal rule limits a driver’s work week to 70 hours. In addition, truck drivers cannot drive after working eight hours without ﬁrst taking a break of at least 30 minutes. Drivers can take the 30-minute break whenever they need rest during the eight-hour window. The ﬁnal rule retains the current 11hour daily driving limit. FMCSA will continue to conduct data analysis and research to further examine any risks associated with the 11 hours of driving time. Companies and drivers that commit egregious violations of The American Bakers Association said it was disappointed in the ﬁnal HOS rule announced in late December. “There is no safety beneﬁt or documented rationale to change the existing rules,” says Robb MacKie, president and chief executive officer of the ABA. “This rule will require signiﬁcant changes to current baking industry distribution systems that will affect employee work hours and increase the cost of transporting and delivering fresh bakery products. With high unemployment and elevated food inﬂation, now is the worst time to be pushing regulation for regulation’s sake.” The proposed regulations were published in December 2010. Since that time the ABA communicated the baking industry’s concerns with the rules. On Nov. 30, 2011, MacKie testiﬁed at a hearing to examine the impact of the HOS rules held by the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “This marks the fourth major rewrite of these rules by FMCSA in 12 years,” MacKie said. “The current Hours of Service regulations have been effective in improving safety. The safety performance for trucks has improved at unprecedented rates. Speaking before the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, Subcommitee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending, Keysaw testiﬁed that the proposed changes would also impact a driver’s quality of life. He also expressed concern about potential safety issues, because companies would need to hire more drivers at a time, when experienced drivers are already tough to ﬁnd. Glen Keysaw, executive director of transportation and logistics for Associated Food Stores Inc. appeared before the hearings on behalf of his company and the Food Marketing Institute and argued that the consumer will ultimately pay the price for reducing the number of hours drivers can be on the road, as “virtually every product found on grocery store shelves is delivered by commercial motor vehicles.” the rule could face the maximum penalties for each offense. Trucking companies that allow drivers to exceed the 11-hour driving limit by three or more hours could be ﬁned $11,000 per offense, and the drivers themselves could face civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense. Commercial truck drivers and companies must comply with the HOS ﬁnal rule by July 1, 2013. The ﬁnal rule requires truck drivers who maximize their weekly work hours to take at least two nights’ rest when their 24-hour body clock demands sleep the most — from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. This rest requirement is part of the rule’s “34-hour restart” provision that allows drivers to restart the clock on their work week by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off duty. The ﬁnal rule allows drivers to use the restart provision only once during a seven-day period. Fatal accidents and injuries involving large trucks have declined more than one-third to historically low levels. Given these facts, we ﬁnd it difficult to understand the rationale for additional regulation, especially one that even FMCSA recognized would disproportionately negatively impact the short-haul segment of the trucking industry of which the baking industry is a part.”

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bake - February 2012

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