Hours of Service Major Update

(May 15, 2020) - FMCSA has published the final rule on changes to hours-of-service (HOS) regulations. The new rule is scheduled to become effective September of 2020. The changes reflect some of the sentiments of SC&RA both in formal comments submitted last fall, and in a private meeting between SC&RA leadership and Acting Administrator Jim Mullen in February 2020.
So what do the changes mean for SC&RA members?
Specifically, the final rule:

  • Allows more flexibility for the 30-minute rest break rule by requiring a break after eight hours of consecutive driving and allowing the break to be satisfied by a driver using “on-duty, not driving” status, rather than “off-duty” status.
  • Modifies the split sleeper berth exception to allow drivers to divide their required 10 hours off duty into two periods: an 8/2 split or a 7/3 split. Neither period would count against the driver’s 14-hour driving window.
  • Modifies the adverse driving conditions exception by extending by two hours the maximum window during which driving is permitted.
  • Changes the short haul exception available to certain drivers by lengthening the drivers’ maximum on-duty period from 12 to 14 hours and extending the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air miles to 150 air miles.
To view an easy-to-read chart comparing the old and new HOS regulations, click here. 

Hours of Service

Both specialized transportation and crane & rigging companies regularly find themselves addressing hours-of-service challenges that can affect public safety as well as impact operational efficiency. SC&RA is driven to advocate on the industry's behalf in examining and addressing these challenges so that member companies can focus less on regulatory distractions, and more on long-term success.

Crane & Rigging

Problem: On average, crane operators spend only one to two hours of on-duty time each trip driving a crane to and from a job site; however, operators have multiple periods of unscheduled breaks when they are basically “at rest” or “on break:” waiting for the scheduled time of the lift, waiting for the item to be rigged, waiting for the item to be lifted to arrive on the jobsite, jobsite delays extending the time onsite and then driving the roadways and dealing with traffic delays when returning to the yard, mechanical breakdowns requiring a service technician (down time waiting on repair) and weather delays.

Solution

Specialized Transportation

Problem: Despite effective planning, delays occur in specialized transportation that can affect the job when a driver must take a required 30-minute rest break. This burden may put the motoring public at risk by causing oversized loads to be forced to park on road shoulders and exit ramps. Drivers are also required by law to park their oversize/overweight (OS/OW) load for hours, and even days, at state lines/borders while they wait for the next jurisdiction’s OS/OW permit days/hours of operation to allow compliant passage. This regulation can be cumbersome to completing specialized moves and lifts.

Solution

  

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