BMSA's Safety First! 
September 2018
Check it out!

Every  Monday, beginning on  Sept. 24, OSHA's homepage will feature a brief safety tip to help employers and workers prevent workplace injuries and illnesses. Each tip will link to educational and training resources.

To get your weekly tip click here!
FMCSA Grants Waiver to Allow GPS Mounting on Windshields in  'Safety Technology' Area

 

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has granted Traditional Trucking Corporation's waiver to allow drivers and carriers to mount a GPS on the windshield within the areas allowed for "vehicle safety technology" devices. The five-year waiver applies to any motor carrier mounting a GPS on the windshield, and allows the mounting of GPS devices no more than four inches below the upper edge of the area swept by windshield wipers and no more than seven inches above the lower edge swept by windshield wipers. The FMCSA adds that it "strongly encourages" drivers using GPS devices under this waiver to minimize or avoid distraction by programming the device before driving, stopping to reprogram the device if necessary, and enabling the voice command on the device instead of muting it to avoid glancing at the display.


(Source:  NLBMDA Workplace Safety & Risk Management Newsletter , August 2018)
More States Shift Focus to Hours-, ELD-Related Violations

Photo Credit: JJKeller

Across the nation, hours violation totals have fallen for several years, but more individual state truck enforcement departments are focusing on hours and associated electronic logging device (ELD) mandate violations. Based on the first four months of 2018, 12 state enforcement departments are showing hours violation percentages above the 20 percent line. Part of that is the result of the plethora of ELD-mandate-related violations encoded but not counted toward carrier Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) scores prior to April 1, but it also is an indicator that ELD systems have given inspectors new things to find wrong with carrier operations. Having a functional ELD on board, if you are required to use one under the rules, has never been more important in this respect. That is particularly true in states high in the hours violation rankings.

(Source:  NLBMDA Workplace Safety & Risk Management Newsletter , August 2018)
OSHA Seeks to Roll Back Major Parts of
Electronic
Recordkeeping Rule

OSHA is officially seeking to rescind two major parts of its Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses final rule, according to a notice published in the July 30 Federal Register.

In the proposed rule, the agency states that it would require covered establishments with 250 or more employees or those with 20 to 249 employees in certain high-hazard industries to submit Form 300A data electronically, but would no longer require submission of Forms 300 or 301 injury and illness data. OSHA states that the move is intended to "protect sensitive worker information from potential disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act," and the reporting "burden" on employers is "unjustified given the uncertain benefits of collecting the information."

OSHA has already started on this path by stating on its website that it would not accept Forms 300 and 301. That action caused Public Citizen, the American Public Health Association, and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to file a lawsuit July 25 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

For more information click here.

(Source: Safety+Health magazine, September 2018)
Calendar of Events
 
***2018***


September 30-Oct. 2: 
Roundtable #1 
(Greenville, NC)

October 11-12: Operations Manager Roundtable A 
(Wilson, NC)

October 17-19: NLMBDA Pro Dealer Industry Summit (Chicago, IL)

October 17-19: 
Roundtable #3 
(New Bern, NC)

October 21-23: 
Roundtable #7 
(Charlottesville, VA)

October 25-26: Operations Manager Roundtable B
(North Charleston, SC)

November 7: BMSA Executive Committee & Board of Directors Meetings
(Columbus, OH)

November 7-8: Ohio Education Summit 
(Columbus, OH)

November 15-16: Sales Manager Roundtable
(Charleston, SC)

***2019***

February 6-7: BMSA's Annual Show
(Hickory, NC)

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