Hello everyone I thought I posted this the other day, but apparently it didn’t go thru. So I am posting it again. I am leaving the trucking industry do to a work related injury, not by choice. Workers comp is putting me thru a program to help me with my resume, and that kind of stuff. I did an exercise last week that really made me stop, and think about how much we really are responsible for. I was asked to put in writing what I felt were the essential job functions of truck driving. Here is what I came up with.




Job Title: Truck Driver

Essential Functions:
1)Have a valid class A CDL with Hazmat endorsement.
2)Be able to pass a DOT Physical and Drug Screen.
3)Have a working knowledge of the FMSCR, to ensure that the vehicle is operated in a safe and legal manner.
4)Have a working knowledge of how to keep a logbook, and hours of service regulations. The 11, 14, and 70 hrs rule, how to log trips legal manner.
5)Know how to read and right in English.
6)Be able to learn how to use a Quelcom on board computer.
7)Be able to accurately relay load information, Hrs of service you have available to run another load, or breakdown information over the OBC.
Be able to retrieve load, trip plan, routing, and general messaging from the OBC.
9)Be able to keep accurate counts of material as it is being on or off loaded.
10)Be able to supervise how a truck is loaded to ensure that the total vehicle weight is less than 80,000lbs.
11)Scale load and shift tandems to ensure leangle axel and gross weight regulations are not exceeded.
12)Be able to communicate with customer, to ensure that all of their load requirements are being met. I.E. trailer sweep out before loading, tie downs, blocking and bracing, skid pads, trailer seals ect.
13)Supervise Lumpers that you hire to unload your truck.
14)Higher lumpers when required, and communicate the cost back to dispatch so that they can be paid after the job is finished.
15)Be able to Wright out a com-check.
16)Be able to perform a walk around safety inspection. To ensure that your equipment is not operated in a manner that would cause a public hazard, or break the laws contained in the FMCSR.
17)Be able to read a map.

HAZMAT OPERATIONS
1)Be able to communicate on the phone to dispatch, and the Safety Department EXACTLY what you are hauling.
a)Be able to read Hazmat Manifest (See Attached)
b)Know were the to find the DOT description, HAZMAT class, id number, and quantity being shipped.
c)Ensure that the truck has the correct placards and that they are placed in the right locations on the trailer.
d)Do mandatory walk around and tier inspections to ensure that none of the contents of the shipment are leaking,

e)Insure that all manifests and a Hazmat Guide are in the door pouch or on the drivers seat when you are not in the vehicle. Have manifest and Hazmat guide within drivers reach while driving.
f)Be able to communicate in English with police, fire, HAZMAT officials, and the safety department in the event of an accident or spill.


I think this is a good start, and may give someone out there that is thinking about getting in to truck driving some idea about what they are getting in to. As well as give the general public some idea of all the things we have to deal with. Feel free to add to the list.




Later Storm Crow

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Armodin Storm Crow

The Storm is coming are you ready ?

To Stormcroe, excellent job on the basics. I can think of a bunch of things to add.
1.must be knowledgeable of scale procedures in different states.
2 must be able to communicate with shippers and receivers who think you are a second class creature.

Haha, that's a common thing around the world, drivers rate very low on the scale! Makes me laugh when one of our bosses says drivers are a dime a dozen, and yet they're also constantly advertising and recruiting! Even that seems to be fairly common around the world.....

Well there is some truth to that. It seems with every year I'm in this buisness I see more and more people come into trucking with the wrong impression and intents. What I mean is they don't care about the ones that have come before them and they certainly don't care about how they are percieved by the general public.

Yes, I agree with your point. One of the items missed off the original list was a very important one, personal presentation. By this I mean how you present yourself, clean and tidy in appearance, grooming and clothing, polite/courteous with customers and other road users.

And also, there is a number of entrants to our industry each year who think that they are "owed" a decent living by their employers....not sure how else to write that. I've been driving for around 20 yrs, have a decent job with decent pay and every 'johnny-come-lately' seems to think they should be treated the same way as some of us veterans....

This is a sign of professionalism and just overall being a decent human being in any job.

I read an article recently that said the Gen-Y generation (14-22 I'm guessing?) has been treated like 'customers' their whole lives so therefore come to expect it as they enter the workforce. And it's more than "I'm 21 and the world is my oyster!" Either as individuals or vicariously through their parents, they were heavily marketed by MTV, video game and cell phone makers, sports apparel makers, etc., creating a false sense of entitlement ("buy this, you deserve it, don't you?"). The advent of the internet accelerated it because they, as a generation, were among the first to really embrace the new technology and were therefore exposed to more marketing efforts than perhaps the average person from a generation or two before.

So it makes sense to me that a Gen-Y-er might not understand having to pay your dues and show some humility. Especially in an industry that is not dependent on high tech but on more traditional values like work ethic, integrity and respect.

Well, I guess I should admit to being part of this Gen-Y/Echo Boomers/iGeneration (I like iGeneration better, a friend of mine called MC Lars wrote a song about us)

1. I HATE what MTV has become
2. I HATE the constant marketing to me trying to force me into a "crowd"
3. I Grew up in Northwestern Illinois (Mount Carroll to be exact). My father was a Factory Worker (UAW Proud) and my Mother was in the same factory, then a full time babysitter, then a secretary at the town newspaper.

iGeneration - that works

"MC Lars is more punk than you!"


By no means am I trying to lump everyone in that age group into the category that the article described. I myself have never fit into the mold of my peers.

I believe people learn things as they need to, so I'm confident that as members of this generation start to break away and find their own path they will learn the lessons that Strngs012 and caspernz are talking about.

I've worked in a professional setting for the last seven years. Hopefully this, and a good work ethic of expecting nothing but a reward (ie earning my keep) for hard work will help me.

I intend to try to represent myself as a professional, no matter what the job is. Hopefully this is appreciated in the industry.

I think he forgot the main thing Ability to Drive an 18 wheel vehicle Safely!

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