This week I had the opportunity to attend the CVSA Workshop in St Louis, MO. It was a great week! FMCSA Administrator Martinez attended the first few days, and I was able have him answer some of my personal questions about where FMCSA will be heading in the next few years. Throughout the week there were also many different FMCSA high level personnel that attended. This was a great networking opportunity, I mean where else can you find high level enforcement from across the United states and Canada, as well as industry, and FMCSA in the same room. Below are some of my takeaways from the week that I believe will affect every transportation company across the nation.
• CCMT, Canada Transportation plugged their white paper on distracted driving. This document is getting international attention. Personally I’ve read it and feel that it has lots of valuable information.
• The Drug and Alcohol clearing house is set to take effect 1/6/2020, it will be required that all employees make an annual query for every DOT drug tested driver. Also note that all new drivers must log into the website (yet to be released) and give each employer permission to view their results. The MRO is responsible for uploading failed tests, the Company is responsible for uploading refusals. Last note is that all new drivers must be checked prior to releasing to operate a CMV.
• New HOS regulations were submitted by DOT Sec. Chao, FMCSA at this time cannot give details about the recommendations. They did mention several times to refer back to the September / October comment period.
• 6/4-6 will be the international road check week. This year enforcement will be focusing on steering and suspension components. 2020 was discussed, and the possibilities of having distracted driving / driver credentials being the focus for that week.
• Brake inspection week will be held 9/15-21. This years focus will be on brake lines / hoses.
• Safe Driver week will be 7/14-20. Focus on distracted driving with emphasis on hand held devices.
• CSA’s are being revamped to an IRT program. This is in the testing phases now.
• DataQ will be receiving a facelift in the near future. Look for changes, if you have anything that you would like to see from the website (ex: reports, user friendliness, ect..) now is the time to reach out to FMCSA @ DataQs@dot.gov
• There cannot be any hazmat inspection done on a level 3 inspection. If you have any of those you should DATAQ them ASAP.
• In 2020 there is discussion of a hazmat blitz week being added to the CVSA push for enforcement.
• CVSA is looking at the possible sending a letter to the FMCSA stating that supervisor drug and alcohol training should no longer be a lifetime training but need to be reoccurring every 3 years.
• CVSA recently released their 2019 out of service criteria book / app. You might consider having a few of these on hand to help your fleet employees, the ones who are working on your CMV’s. Also it would give you more training opportunities on the topic of vehicle maintenance throughout the company.
This is a high level overview of the information for the workshop this week that might affect your company. The D&A clearing house was a hot topic discussed by many members of the FMCSA throughout the week. I personally recommend that everyone in industry make an effort to attend the CVSA meetings and workshops because of the networking opportunities across North America.
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