GSIS

The FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) Rejects Sand and Water HOS Requests for Exemption & Considers Livestock and Military Requests

The Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers Final Rule went into effect February 27, 2012. Compliance date for all provisions was July 1, 2013. New regulations include mandatory home terminal time, 30-minute rest breaks, waiting time, and new distinctions between off-duty and on-duty hours. Since its publication in the Federal Register, the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) has fielded petitions and requests for elaboration and exception.

Sand and Water HOS Exemptions Rejected Specialty truckers at oil- and gas-drilling operations are exempt from on-duty waiting time. The hours spent waiting at well sites may be recorded as "off-duty," thereby pausing the 14-hour maximum drive time. However, per an August 12 notice, FMCSA rejected a request to extend the same exemption to truck drivers carrying sand and water.
Critics of this decision feel truck drivers in the oil and gas industry are unnecessarily limited by confusing regulations. Others feel it's a double standard. One suggestion, proposed by the American Trucking Association (ATA), is to base the off-duty exception on whether or not the driver had the opportunity to rest while waiting at the well site and not just based on what the driver was hauling.

Livestock and Military Rest Break Exemptions Being Considered
Federal regulators are still considering exemptions to the 30-minute rest break requirement for drivers carrying live animals or sensitive U.S. military cargo.
Pointing toward the potential for harm to animals, drivers hauling livestock would not be required to take breaks at all. The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) was granted such an exemption in July. However, that exemption expires September 9, 2013.

Advocates of the U.S. military cargo exemption state that continuous surveillance of sensitive military shipments are required. If the petition is granted, drivers would be allowed to watch their loads during breaks if they are a part of a two-driver team.

In both cases, the FMCSA may grant 90-day waivers until carriers can establish levels of safety similar to the original regulations. Longer-term exemptions may last up to two years and are then up for renewal if petitioning groups request a new exemption.