LAS VEGAS — The freight hauling industry will be busy finding ways to comply with 27 new congressionally mandated regulations expected over the next two years, according to Annette Sandberg, former head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Speaking at the Transportation Intermediaries Association annual convention here Friday, Sandberg said the rulemaking onslaught will begin as soon as June, when FMCSA is expected to issue a proposed drug and alcohol clearinghouse rule.
That measure will allow carriers to view truck driver alcohol and drug test failures, as well as refusals to take the tests.
She said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to issue a proposed truck speed-limiters rule in June, and that FMCSA is scheduled to issue a proposed rule for supplemental electronic logging devices in September.
A final ELD rule is not expected until the summer of 2014, said Sandberg, who was FMCSA Administrator from November 2002 to April 2006. She is now CEO of TranSafe Consulting LLC and is a Spokane, Wash.-based attorney.
A new hours-of-service rule also is set to become effective on July 1, unless an appeals court rejects the rule in response to a federal lawsuit filed by American Trucking Associations and several other groups attempting to block some provisions of the rule.
Also this summer, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is due to issue a “fall-protection” rule that could require dock-leveling systems to prevent workers from falling when loading and unloading trucks, Sandberg said.
