Hours of Services: Preparing Drivers & Dispatchers for Jan. 4
Patricia Smith
Senior Editor
Trucking companies aren't exactly falling over themselves to train drivers and dispatchers on the new hours of service rules. Many are still trying to sort out exactly how the changes will affect their operations. Some figure it's best to wait until the Jan. 4 changeover gets closer. And some believe - or possibly hope - that the rules aren't yet cast in stone.
"If Wal-Mart is pushing for a second look, I don't think this is a done deal," confided one fleet manager. He was referring to a petition filed by the retail giant asking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to reconsider the rules. Specifically, Wal-Mart has questioned the 14-hour workday, which is emerging as a potentially costly problem for carriers with set routes and multiple stops.
Starting Jan. 4, drivers can take an extra hour behind the wheel - 11 hours versus the currently allowed 10 - but maximum on-duty time shrinks from 15 hours to 14. Worse yet, meals and short breaks no longer stop the clock, and mandated off-duty time stretches from eight hours to 10.
For a while, logging breaks in the sleeper seemed to be a workable alternative, but FMCSA recently limited that option by issuing a clarification. In order to extend the 14-hour period, it said, the driver must have at least two periods in the sleeper berth. One must be at least two hours and the sum of the two sleeper berth periods must be at least 10 hours.
Wal-Mart pointed out that the change won't have a huge impact on its drivers in the western part of the U.S. since long distances between stops usually means that drivers spend most of their on-duty time on the road. But Wal-Mart drivers in the East often make two or three deliveries a day, thus a considerable amount of their on-duty time is spent with non-driving functions such as waiting to be loaded or unloaded.
Wal-Mart figures that adding meal stops, breaks and other personal time to the "on duty" tally will reduce productivity of its 7,000 drivers by about 6%. To make up the difference the company will have to hire an additional 275 drivers and add 300 tractors to its 6,000-vehicle fleet.
Similar operations anticipate much the same squeeze. The Hours of Service Coalition, which represents "businesses that employ short haul operations," says that FMCSA has reduced on-duty time "from a flexible 15-hour period to an inflexible 14-hour period." The organization points out that companies will have to alter delivery routes and even entire distribution systems. "Many say they'll have to increase the number of trucks on the road by 15%," it told FMCSA.
About 80% of G&P Trucking's business is short-haul, less than 500 miles. Many of the South Carolina-based truckload carrier's deliveries are to retailers who typically want them at the door between 6 and 9 a.m. Company President Clifton Parker says that, on their busiest days, a driver can start early in the morning, work 15 hours including lunch, breaks, loading and unloading, get home for the required eight hours of rest, and still be able to make those morning deliveries the next day. That won't be possible under the new rules.
Whether or not FMCSA will heed warnings of lost productivity and more trucks on the road is anybody's guess at this point. Meantime, the clock is ticking.
In many cases carriers will spend the thousands of dollars necessary to reprogram dispatch systems, electronic log monitors and other hi-tech aids designed to make the job easier for dispatchers. But a successful changeover will depend largely on training.
Ed Emerick, corporate manager of consulting and educational resources for J.J. Keller & Associates, says they find a surprising number of carriers who haven't taken the time to train their dispatchers on current hours of service rules, even though dispatchers are usually a vital link to compliance.
"Operations that rely on drivers to stay in compliance are usually in deep trouble," he says, adding a reminder that federal safety regulations require carriers to have management controls in place to keep driver from violating service rules. "Dispatchers probably need to understand hours of service rules even more thoroughly than drivers because they're the ones moving the freight in the bounds of the regulations."
In the first few months of the new rules, drivers are bound to have numerous questions, and their dispatcher or driver manager is likely to be the first person they ask. "Those dispatchers can take a lot of pressure off the rest of the company if they can correctly answer driver questions," Emerick points out.
If you haven't already done so, his recommended first step is to learn the new regulations (copies of the final rule are available through FMCSA's web site, www.fmcsa.dot.gov) and assess the overall impact on your operations.
"Work rules, procedures and policies may have to be addressed," he says. "A lot of dispatchers are governed by on-time deliveries, so it's important to make sure company policies and procedures allow them to meet those commitments."
Drivers must comply with existing rules until Jan. 4, but Emerick recommends asking a few good drivers to also keep track of their time under the new rules. The exercise can help management assess the impact of the changes. At the same time, "word of mouth" from those drivers will help prepare others for Jan. 4.
Once you have the rules figured out, you can develop training programs for dispatchers, drivers and operations or sales people who work directly with customers.
"Customers need to understand that your drivers can no longer stretch out their day by taking time off-duty while waiting to load or unload," he notes.
And, so far, the clock to compliance keeps ticking. "A lot of training is done on the weekends," Emerick points out, "and there aren't many weekends between now and Jan. 4."
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