Are Your Supervisors of CDL Drivers Trained According to the FMCSA Regulation?

Many of you have sent me emails you have received from consulting firms saying that you are required to have your supervisors of CDL drivers trained in Drug and Alcohol Reasonable Suspicion Testing.  The emails are used as “scare” tactics to get you to purchase their supervisor training courses, webinars, etc.  Well they are correct that your supervisors are required by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). But the good news is that the FMCSA makes this training available to you at NO COST!!!

So let’s look at what the regulations say about training of your supervisors of CDL drivers. 

By the way, this applies to all motor carriers both INTRA and INTER state.

Who is subject to the Supervisor Training for Reasonable Suspicion Testing?

CFR 382.603 Training for supervisors

Each employer shall ensure that all persons designated to supervise drivers (CDL) receive at least 60 minutes of training on alcohol misuse and receive at least an additional 60 minutes of training on controlled substances use. The training will be used by the supervisors to determine whether reasonable suspicion exists to require a driver to undergo testing under §382.307. The training shall include the physical, behavioral, speech, and performance indicators of probable alcohol misuse and use of controlled substances. Recurrent training for supervisory personnel is not required

So where can I get the training?

The FMCSA has the supervisor training available in video format that can be downloaded from their website for FREE!
Go to: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/us-department-transportation-dot-drug-alcohol-supervisor-training-guidance

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the last link:
https://transit-safety.fta.dot.gov/DrugAndAlcohol/Tools/ReasonableSuspicion.aspx
  
It will take a while to download due to the length of the video and depending on the quality you choose. You can also check with your D&A Third Party Administrator to see if they provide the training.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has developed a new web-based template called Educational Tool for Hours of Service (ETHOS) to help motor carriers and drivers understand and comply with the new driver hours of service regulations.

According to the webpage, “When drivers and carriers enter their duty statuses into the web-based log below, ETHOS will identify where potential violations of the following rules may have occurred:

• 11-hour driving limit (property) or 10-hour driving limit (passenger)
• 14-hour driving window (property) or 15-hour on-duty limit (passenger)
• 30-minute break (property)
• Sleeper berth provision.”

Drivers may select an event date, time, and duty status and click “add event” in the template.  Once all the data for a particular log is entered, potential violations will appear on the log and below the log in a table where users can switch between carrier types.

The FMCSA said that ETHOS is merely an educational tool to assist in understanding the new rules.  The agency will not retain any data entered in this application and will not use the data entered for any purpose.

Since September 29th I have had several questions regarding the FMCSA’s revision of the Short Haul exemption, specifically 395.1(e)1.  There is a perception that this regulation was rolled into 395.1(e)2 that addresses NON-CDL Short Haul.  I confirmed with the FMCSA there was NO CHANGE to 395.1(e)2 for NON-CDL and it stands now just as it did before the September 29th revision.

Below are both short haul exemptions as they are today:

395.1(e)1

(e) Short-haul operations—(1) 150 air-mile radius driver. A driver is exempt from the requirements of §§395.8 and 395.11 if:
(i) The driver operates within a 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location;
(ii) The driver, except a driver-salesperson, returns to the work reporting location and is released from work within 14 consecutive hours;
(iii)(A) A property-carrying commercial motor vehicle driver has at least 10 consecutive hours off-duty separating each 14 hours on-duty;
(B) A passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicle driver has at least 8 consecutive hours off-duty separating each 14 hours on-duty; and
(iv) The motor carrier that employs the driver maintains and retains for a period of 6 months accurate and true time records showing:
(A) The time the driver reports for duty each day;
(B) The total number of hours the driver is on-duty each day;
(C) The time the driver is released from duty each day; and
(D) The total time for the preceding 7 days in accordance with §395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or intermittently.

395.1(e)2

(2) Operators of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles not requiring a commercial driver's license. Except as provided in this paragraph, a driver is exempt from the requirements of §§395.3(a)(2), 395.8, and 395.11 and ineligible to use the provisions of §395.1(e)(1), (g), and (o) if:
(i) The driver operates a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle for which a commercial driver's license is not required under part 383 of this subchapter;
(ii) The driver operates within a 150 air-mile radius of the location where the driver reports to and is released from work, i.e., the normal work reporting location;
(iii) The driver returns to the normal work reporting location at the end of each duty tour;
(iv) The driver does not drive:

(A) After the 14th hour after coming on duty on 5 days of any period of 7 consecutive days; and
(B) After the 16th hour after coming on duty on 2 days of any period of 7 consecutive days;
(v) The motor carrier that employs the driver maintains and retains for a period of 6 months accurate and true time records showing:
(A) The time the driver reports for duty each day;
(B) The total number of hours the driver is on duty each day;
(C) The time the driver is released from duty each day;
(D) The total time for the preceding 7 days in accordance with §395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or intermittently.