The Fleet Business Authority
Issue link: http://heavydutytrucking.epubxp.com/i/221397
Safety&Compliance; Training typically focuses on preventing accidents (which is clearly important), but stopping there leaves out a critical component. SA E Y F T Shorts BRAKE SAFETY WEEK SHOWS LOWEST OOS RATE YET fficials inspected 20,067 vehicles in North America during the Commercial Vehicle Safety AllianceÕs Brake Safety Week in September and put 2,714 commercial vehicles out-of-service for brake violations. The out of service rate for all brake-related violations was 13.5%, compared with 15.3% for the same week last year. This rate ties with May 2013 and September 2010 for the lowest OOS rates recorded since similar events began in 1998. O reported right away. Sometimes accidents that seemed small may blow up when the motorist has time to stew over it. In some cases, drug testing may be required following an accident, either by the DOT or your insurance company. Controlled Substance Tests must be conducted within 32 hours and alcohol tests must be conducted within two hours. If the test is not performed within these time frames, you must provide documents stating the reason. Ensuring that your drivers are well trained on how to respond at the scene of an accident is vitally important. Yet most companies offer little to no training on this. Training typically focuses on preventing accidents (which is clearly important), but stopping there leaves out a critical component. Don Jerrell is associate vice president with HNI. This article originally appeared on the HNI blog. Used with permission. HNI is a non-traditional insurance and business advisory firm. t 30 HDT • DECEMBER 2013 FOR HAZMAT CHEMICAL HAULERS ew requirements from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that go into effect this month require t i i f i training for many transportation and warehousing employees on the new Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, or GHS. Workers who could be exposed to chemicals were supposed to be trained by Dec. 1 on new labeling standards and a new format for safety data sheets (formerly called material safety data sheets, or MSDS.) InstructionalTechnologies Inc. has a white paper available at www.instructiontech.net. N Highway fatalities rose 3.3% in 2012 The national highway safety effort lost ground in 2012 as fatalities from both car and truck crashes increased compared to the previous year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported a 3.3% increase, from 32,479 to 33,561. Most of the increase came from motorcycle and pedestrian accidents, but truck crashes accounted for a 3.7% increase, from 3,781 to 3,921, the agency said. This figure needs some explaining, though. Even though NHTSA references "large trucks" in its report, the data covers trucks rated from 10,000 to 26,000-plus pounds – from heavy pickups and step vans to combination rigs. The agency should make this clear, said American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill TRAINING REQUIRED Graves. "When the public hears the term 'large truck,' they naturally think of the millions of large tractortrailers that deliver their most essential goods," he said in a statement. "However, data [released by NHTSA] lumps those tractor-trailers in with millions of smaller, nonfreight-hauling vehicles whose crash rates are higher than in the trucking industry. The federal government should not be so casual with its terminology and should provide further information and clarity to the public." The truck data show a 8.9% increase in fatalities among the occupants of these trucks. NHTSA noted that the 2012 numbers are the first increase in fatalities since 2005, and that highway deaths continue at historic lows. – Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor OSHA CITES FLEET AFTER TANKER CLEANING FATALITY he Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Arkansas-based Sherman Brothers Trucking, doing business as Team Transport, for 11 safety and health violations following the fatality of a worker cleaning the inside of a tanker trailer. The worker had not had proper training and was killed by working in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere. T www.truckinginfo.com