The Department of Transportation
(DOT) preempts OSHA's jurisdiction over the interstate
trucking industry while traveling public roads. OSHA's
jurisdiction over interstate motor vehicles is limited to vehicles
operated in the workplace and not on public roads. OSHA also
has jurisdiction over all intrastate trucking (such as gravel and
sand haulers, logging, agriculture, and cement and concrete mixers).
DOT has jurisdiction over transportation of hazardous materials,
whether interstate or intrastate.
Highway Driving Overview
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US Department of Transportation (DOT). Oversees the formulation of national transportation policy and promotes intermodal
transportation. Its agencies include: Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA),
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA),
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA),
Maritime Administration (MARAD),
and the US Coast Guard
(USCG).
The newly created Transport Security
Administration (TSA)
was initially part of DOT and is now part of the US Department of
Homeland Security.
DOT Regulations
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA)
Interstate and Intrastate Regulatory Guidance
Interstate commerce is under the
jurisdiction of DOT. However, intrastate commerce is under the
jurisdiction of OSHA. The following are a few sample
questions of the type of regulatory guidance provided on
the FMCSA site:
- 390.3 General Applicability
- How does one distinguish between intra- and interstate
commerce for the purposes of applicability of the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs)?
FMCSR Guidance: Interstate commerce is
determined by the essential character of the movement, manifested
by the shipper's fixed and persistent intent at the time of
shipment, and is ascertained from all of the facts and
circumstances surrounding the transportation. When the intent of
the transportation being performed is interstate in nature, even
when the route is within the boundaries of a single State, the
driver and Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) are subject to the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs).
Note: A trucking company hauls
freight from California to Idaho. Another shipping company
delivers the commodity to its final destination. Although the
second company travels entirely in-state, the original intent of
the shipment is interstate and covered by DOT. However, if the
first company delivers to a warehouse in Idaho, delivery trucks
taking the commodity to customers are not considered involved in
interstate commerce, if the original manifest did not indicate
the shipments were intended for these customers.
- Are the FMCSRs applicable to drivers/vehicles operated by a transit
authority owned and operated by a State or a political subdivision
of the State?
FMCSR Guidance:
49 CFR 390.3(f)(2)
specifically exempts transportation performed by the Federal
Government, a State, or any political subdivision of a State from
the FMCSRs. However, this exemption does not apply to the
Commercial Drivers License (CDL) requirements in part 383.
- See the
FMCSA Regulatory Guidance pages for further information.
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49 CFR 390, General,
Regulatory Guidance
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49 CFR 392, Driving of Commercial Vehicles,
Regulatory Guidance
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49 CFR 395, Hours of Service of Drivers,
Regulatory Guidance
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Hours-of-Service Regulations. (2005,
October). The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has
issued the first significant revision to the hours-of-service
regulations in over 60 years. Information, education, and training links are provided to help
implement these new regulations:
- Hours Of Service Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ). (2005, August). The new regulations provide an
increased opportunity for drivers to obtain necessary rest and
restorative sleep. FAQs address operational
realities of motor carrier transportation.
Training Requirements
-
Commercial Driver's License Program (CDL/CDLIS). Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), (2006). Develops and issues standards for testing and
licensing CMV drivers.
-
Hours-of-Service Regulations.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), (2005,
October). Describes the Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations
49 CFR Part 395 which were revised in August 2005. This page links to
various reference materials in PDF format -- an FAQ, an HOS
brochure, a Driver's Pocket guide, a poster and logbook examples
-- and summarizes the rule changes.
- New Hours Of Service Regulations - Effective October 1, 2005.
Slide Presentation, (2005, August), 4 MB PPT*, 26 slides.
Compares the previous regulations with the new regulations. The new Hours of Service rule is intended to reduce fatigue-related crashes, most notably
in the long-haul sector where studies indicate that fatigue is much greater than in the short-haul sector.
General Hazard References
The following references address the hazards involved in highway driving:
-
Analysis and Information Online. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA),
(2006). Includes an online database site with SafeStat carrier details, crash profiles online,
compliance reviews, roadside inspections, and traffic enforcements.
- Building Safer Highway Work Zones: Measures to Prevent Worker Injuries From Vehicles and Equipment.
US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) Publication No. 2001-128, (2001, April), 436 KB
PDF, 78
pages. Identifies hazards faced by highway workers and
recommends measures that can reduce these hazards. It is a checklist of
interventions from which contractors, contracting agencies, and
other entities may choose those most appropriate to their
situations and needs.
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FHWA
Safety. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), (2003). Contains many safety
references and educational materials including:
- Pilot Test of Fatigue Management Technologies - Final Report.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), (2006).
Discusses the case of a Canadian trucking company and an American trucking company
which agreed to allow their trucks to be instrumented with the fatigue management technologies. Their
drivers were solicited for participation after the protocol, procedures and
informed consents were reviewed and approved by the Canadian Research Ethics
Board and by the Institutional Review Board of The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
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Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Encyclopedia. National Highway Safety
Administration's Fatality Awareness Reporting System (FARS),
(2006). Contains data on all vehicle crashes in the United States that occur on a public
roadway and involve a fatality in the crash. Included are
PDF links to various Traffic Safety Fact reports, separated by
categories such as Large Trucks, School Buses, and Speeding.
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Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA), (2001, December 28). The MUTCD is published by the FHWA under 23 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part
655, Subpart F. The manual is set up for double-sided, offset printing of over 1100 sheets of paper
to be placed in a three-ring binder. Certain chapters
and sections of the MUTCD have very large file sizes due to the
large page count, number of illustrations, or both, contained
within (example, Section 6H, 96 pages with 46 illustrations).
- Moving Safely Across America,
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), (2006). Provides a CD with activity areas
including a virtual road trip, a road challenge to test your
driving skills, and Safety Stops with video clips.
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Report To Congress: Study of Adequacy of Parking Facilities.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), (2002, June). Includes the following:
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has
tentatively estimated that driver fatigue is a primary factor
in 4.5 percent of truck-involved fatal crashes and is a
secondary factor in an additional 10.5 percent of such crashes.
- A 1995 study conducted by the National Transportation
Safety Board asserts that the most important factors in
predicting a fatigue-related accident are the duration of the
last sleep period, the time slept in the past 24 hours, and
interruptions in sleep periods.
- The availability of parking for commercial vehicles can
affect the factors above.
-
Office of Research and Analysis. Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA), (2006). FMCSA's Office of Research and Analysis is committed to reducing the large truck-related
fatality rate from 2.8 per 100 million truck-miles in 1996 to 1.65 by 2008. This page links to all technical briefs,
reports and analysis briefs done by the office, as well as additional links to data, analysis and statistics.
- Highway Workzone Fatality Investigation Reports. National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). These tables
contain links to fatality investigation reports of incidents where
workers were killed in highway work zones. The first table
contains a list of cases
investigated by NIOSH; the second table
contains a list of cases investigated by
state investigators in
state Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE)
programs.
-
Motor Carrier Safety Programs. Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), (2003). Provides in-depth
coverage of the following special safety topics:
-
Brake Safety. Includes links to news releases, reports on
brake safety, titles and descriptions of recent publications and
videotapes available from FMCSA.
-
Safe Transportation of Passengers by Motorcoach - and What it
Means to You. Sets minimum safety standards
that motorcoach companies must follow for the buses they
operate and the physical qualifications and operating rules
for their drivers. This site provides assistance in
evaluating the safety practices of interstate motorcoach companies.
-
Enforcement Reports. Lists its enforcement cases closed in
Calendar Years 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and by State and
Subject type, such as carrier or driver, in both HTML and
PDF format.
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Hazardous Materials (HM). Presents links to cargo tank safety reports, bilingual
hazardous materials awareness training, an intrastate Hazmat
incident reporting compliance brochure, spill reporting, shipping
and permit information and links to the National Hazardous Material
Route Registry which provides the most current listing of the
national network of prescribed, restricted, and radioactive
routes.
-
Motor Carrier Safety Forms and Publications. Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), (2006). Makes available the
latest forms and publications from FMCSA.
- National Crash Analysis Center. US Department of
Transportation (DOT), Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA)/National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
(NHTSA), (2007). Concentrates on vehicle crash research, including biomechanics and safety
research. The federally-funded FHWA/NHTSA National Crash Analysis Center (NCAC) is a successful
collaborative effort among the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the George Washington
University (GWU).
- Preventing
Worker Injuries and Deaths from Traffic-Related Motor Vehicle Crashes.
US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Publication No. 98-142 (Alert), (1998, July). Many workers are at high risk of injury
and death from traffic-related motor vehicle crashes.
Approximately three workers die from these crashes each day.
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Share the Road Safely: Trucks & Bus Drivers. Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), (2006, July). Strives to improve the
knowledge of all highway users to minimize the likelihood of a
crash with a large truck, and to educate people about how to share the road safely with large trucks and buses
expanding the No-Zones campaign. See the
Related Links page for many useful links including many government sites, alliances and councils, listings
of publications and periodicals for truck and bus drivers, rest areas and truck stops by state.
- Stress Factors Experienced by Female Commercial Drivers in the Transportation Industry.
Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Safety & Health (eLCOSH). According to 1998
occupational injury and illness data compiled by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS), truck drivers, as compared to other
occupations, experienced the largest number of injuries and
illnesses with time away from work from 1992 to 1996.
During this time, the number of injuries and illnesses declined
for all occupations by about 20 percent, but the number increased
by nearly five percent (up to 151,300) for truck drivers, with
women accounting for 17.6 percent.
- Traffic Safety: Occupant Protection Program. National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA). Deals with passenger and pedestrian safety.
- Trade: Truck Driver. Electronic Library of Construction
Occupational Health and Safety (eLCOSH). Includes a list of links to related training material.
Accessibility Assistance: Contact the OSHA Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management at 202-693-2300 for assistance
accessing PDF and PPT materials.
*These files are provided for downloading.
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