Written up for being in the shower while logged as sleeper berth.

This actually is not the first time I have heard of this happening. It is a dang shame that it is happening. The safety dept has to make sure all Ts are crossed and all Is are dotted. In this case, I would not worry about the write-up. @ZVar and I have actually sparred over this subject for a while now. Over the last year I am coming to see zvar is right. If the carrier deemed it a DOT Recordable the accident has to go on their accident register. If during a future FMCSA safety audit they WILL check that register and they WILL ask for records. If they see you reported being out of the sleeper and your HOS records say you were in the sleeper, this can be a problem for them. Now with the write up they are covered. It's all BS, but with the way the FMCSA is these days carriers have to get really anal with this kind of stuff.

 

You did go On Duty to do paperwork, right.
Annotation Accident.

Can’t charge you with accident, I’d be looking for a new company.

 

Unless I was logging spilt sleeper berth,I would always log off-duty.

 

20+ years ago I would disagree with that comment. Today? With how things have changed I highly recommend ALL drivers pay close attention to how on duty time is defined in 395.2.

On duty time means all time from the time a driver begins to work or is required to be in readiness to work until the time the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work. On-duty time shall include:

(1) All time at a plant, terminal, facility, or other property of a motor carrier or shipper, or on any public property, waiting to be dispatched, unless the driver has been relieved from duty by the motor carrier;

(2) All time inspecting, servicing, or conditioning any commercial motor vehicle at any time;

(3) All driving time as defined in the term driving time;

(4) All time in or on a commercial motor vehicle, other than:

(i) Time spent resting in or on a parked vehicle, except as otherwise provided in § 397.5 of this subchapter;

(ii) Time spent resting in a sleeper berth; or

(iii) Up to 3 hours riding in the passenger seat of a property-carrying vehicle moving on the highway immediately before or after a period of at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth;

(5) All time loading or unloading a commercial motor vehicle, supervising, or assisting in the loading or unloading, attending a commercial motor vehicle being loaded or unloaded, remaining in readiness to operate the commercial motor vehicle, or in giving or receiving receipts for shipments loaded or unloaded;

(6) All time repairing, obtaining assistance, or remaining in attendance upon a disabled commercial motor vehicle;

(7) All time spent providing a breath sample or urine specimen, including travel time to and from the collection site, to comply with the random, reasonable suspicion, post-crash, or follow-up testing required by part 382 of this subchapter when directed by a motor carrier;

(8) Performing any other work in the capacity, employ, or service of, a motor carrier; and

(9) Performing any compensated work for a person who is not a motor carrier.

 

So the DOT could have a field day citing violations by comparing the fuel receipts with the logbooks

off duty at the same time you were fueling the truck ?
Bam ! violation . And super easy to prove .

 

I retired in 2012. In my last few years driving, if I forgot to log fueling I got dinged for it. I can't remember the name of the 3rd party company that does this. They take everything you generate paperwork wise this includes using your fuel card. They generate a timeline from it. All somebody had to do with paper logs is compare them together. Maybe @brian991219 can remember the name of that company. As long as the carrier takes steps to combat this, the FMCSA is happy.

 

It's not DOT that is the issue - it's the plantiffs lawyers. If they can show a driver had a history of falsifying logs and get get that information in front of the jury the argument will be:

"You regularly lied in official documents to further tour own and the company's interests, so are you lying now?"

I'm not saying it's a logically sound or a ethically right argument to make, I'm just saying that's what's going to happen.


It's also not about this incident. What happens when he is in an incident and fault is not clear? Little things like logs can make the difference.

 

M,

The name of that audit prep service also escapes me but it is a real thing that keeps many carriers on edge. Log violations are the easiest to prove and carry stiff penalties for the carrier which is why they have a whole department dedicated to just collecting, filing and auditing logs even today with digital records.

As for the OP, it sucks that you are getting a company write-up but by the letter of the law, well actually regulations in this case, you have a false log.

This sucks because it was brought to the company's attention due to an event you had no control of but it isn't the end of the world.

Going forward the best way to avoid log violations is to log it as you do it. Itnis a pain in the arse to click over to off duty when you step out of the truck but then there will be no hassle should something happen. I have seen insurance companies try to reduce payouts for workers comp injuries when they discover a similiar false log situation. They use this to paint a picture of a reckless person even though it isn't true.

Now for those that say just log off duty for the whole time, that too is a log violation. It shouldn't be, especially with the change years ago to allow off duty time to be logged while in a CMV, but it is still a violation as the current regulations are written.

 

Back in the days, I was active in my last carrier I had to get logbooks and Transflo Scan sheets from safety. The first thing they did was look at a page that had log dates and "issues" for that date. This was when that 3rd party timeline was compared to the actual log. Most of the time I generally had no more than one or two. The safety critter would go over those days and show me what I did wrong. In maybe 90% of the cases, I forgot to log a fuel stop. I also would have several times a year a 14-hour bust. I remember one time I had a form and manner mistake because I stupidly forgot to sign that dang log. The safety man generally said I was doing OK and gave me extra logs and scan sheets. He told me about half of the drivers kept that list under 4 or 5. Then he had drivers that had far too many. He hated to do it, but sometimes after repeated warnings, they would send a driver home.