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

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by RuralTrucker, Jul 22, 2022.

  1. Lostmykey

    Lostmykey Medium Load Member

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    If you were supposed to be on duty for it, then the department that’ll ding you is log audit. I’m not aware of them requiring us to go on-duty for incidents that happen while parked… I’m not really sure about if it happens on the road, I’d probably do go on-duty to be safe for handling it, can’t handle an incident from the sb and off-duty on the side of a road is suspect imo. I know for stopped interstate (or road) traffic, that can be logged in sb if you’re stopped for awhile.

    Log audit likes to send their violations out Friday afternoon, preventing us from calling till the next week. If you didn’t get anything, then I think it’s fine as far as Kllm is concerned; if I got inspected and they had a problem with it, I’d tell them I followed company policy (DOT probably wouldn’t care), and then I’d tell company that DOT dinged me for that and maybe our policy needs to be updated.

    I drive for kllm Saputo acct.
     
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  3. MACK E-6

    MACK E-6 Moderator Staff Member

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    From what you described in the OP I wouldn’t be surprised if they expected you to start your 10 over again if you did that.
     
  4. Dennixx

    Dennixx Road Train Member

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    Several times a year while parked near/at the motel on layover, we will be called outside to address the fire department.
    Our cryo trailers tend to vent, just condensed moisture but appears like smoke.
    Even though we are off duty and don't go on duty to engage w the responding units we are supposed to restart our 10 off duty.
    Reasoning is that should the driver be involved in a incident/accident, the investigation could determine the drivers 10 was interrupted. And as defined, an on duty interaction w police or fire means they violated the 10 hr rule.
    We hate it cause while the motel is covered as is meal allowance, we want to get back home but understand the company's need to cover their arse.
     
  5. wis bang

    wis bang Road Train Member

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    I remember the Safety Director of Matlack [over 2000 drivers] mentioning that a good day was zero incidents/.

    When I sent in my terminal's recapped logs for the month, the cover sheet has to list the violations of the HOS that I found.

    DOT used to come every few years to audit and would spend a few weeks.

    As long as most of the violations found were on our monthly reports, little came of it.
     
  6. RuralTrucker

    RuralTrucker Light Load Member

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    The reporting part is supposed to be on duty status. Once the reporting is concluded, then off duty or sleeper berth is acceptable.
     
  7. RuralTrucker

    RuralTrucker Light Load Member

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    I would either have to start over or do a split. If I absolutely had to go on duty, I would have simply done a split and lose the on duty time when I start my next shift.
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2022
  8. Moose1958

    Moose1958 Road Train Member

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    I remember a safety critter telling me that two FMCSA auditors rented hotel rooms for almost a month. The audit did not end well and several people lost their jobs. Yes, for some of these large carriers these audits can take weeks and can be several visits over several months.
     
  9. gentleroger

    gentleroger Road Train Member

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    It's gotten worse. FMCSA now gets to look at load data. Not just BOLs with timestamps, but the arrival, activities, and departure times sent via Qualcom (or whatever). If a driver's "pick up loaded trailer" macro doesn't correspond to on-duty time, it causes 'issues'.

    The odd thing is that road side DOT is restricted from looking at anything in your in-cab device except the log book in 'inspection mode', but when the company gets audited they get all the data.
     
  10. RuralTrucker

    RuralTrucker Light Load Member

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    So I guess the many drivers who PC from a parked location to a receiver, then PC to a parked location, then PC to a nearby pickup are really screwing the company pooch. I bet most companies don't sweat their drivers over it because that is getting freight moved.
     
  11. brian991219

    brian991219 Road Train Member

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    Oh many of them do worry but they are playing a game of chance. Realistically the chance of having a full blown DOT audit at a company without first screwing up their CSA score is very low, like about 1%. The FMCSA simply does not have the manpower to conduct these exhaustive audits.

    What I have witnessed as a compliance consultant the past 14 years is a trend shifting towards targeting bad actors with just a random sampling of other carriers. Many of my clients have not been looked at past their new entrant review, others have had at least one full audit resulting in a safety rating (which is important to shippers and brokers in some segments) while others had the last review more than 10 years ago.

    So, PC in advance of a load is still wrong but the carriers, at least the greedy ones, are waging a bet the record will drop off before an auditor comes knocking.

    The FMCSA even acknowledges this in a round about way, stating they only conduct a few hundred full blown audits/compliance reviews on site each year. They have been shifting to remote reviews which are not nearly as intense as in-person. This may result in more carriers pushing the limits as their fear of getting caught goes away. It is nothing like the ICC or OMC days, that's for sure.
     
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