The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has provisionally renewed an hours-of-service exemption for drivers from R.J. Corman Railroad Services and Cranemasters.
An exemption notice is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, March 10.
Specifically, the action exempts the companies from the prohibition against driving a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty. It also provides an exemption from the prohibition against driving after accumulating 60 hours of on-duty time in seven consecutive days or 70 hours of on-duty time in eight consecutive days.
“The exemption renewal is applicable to employees of R.J. Corman and Cranemasters operating commercial motor vehicles in response to unplanned events that occur outside of or extend beyond the subject employees’ normal work hours,” FMCSA wrote in the notice.
The provisional six-month exemption renewal took effect on March 4 and expires on Sept. 4.
Exemption request
R.J. Corman Railroad Services, Cranemasters and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association originally petitioned FMCSA for the exemption in October 2018.
The groups said that the workers transport equipment is used to clear derailed or disabled trains. Considering that these events are unplanned, the groups said that the events often occur outside of or extend beyond the employee’s normal shift.
“Because these drivers perform a safety-critical, time-sensitive function that affects the flow of commerce and spend a relatively small portion of the work day driving on public roads, they should be exempt from the hours-of-service regulations from the time they are called to respond to an unplanned event until they arrive at the site of the incident,” the groups wrote.
In March 2020, FMCSA granted the groups’ drivers a five-year exemption.
FMCSA said the exemption would provide flexibility without hindering safety when needs arise for the companies to address urgent situations that disrupt rail services.
“Because the relief is limited to the trip to the scene of the unplanned event and such events would happen only occasionally and not during a predictable number of times per week or per month, drivers would not operate commercial motor vehicles after the 14th hour of coming on duty as a regular part of their schedules,” FMCSA wrote. “Similarly, drivers would not regularly operate commercial motor vehicles after accumulating 60 hours or 70 hours of on-duty time during seven or eight consecutive days. Drivers’ standard schedules would include adherence to the 14-hour rule and adherence to the 60- and 70-hour rules.”
Last month, the groups requested a five-year renewal of the hours-of-service exemption.
FMCSA granted a six-month provisional renewal as it accepts comments from the public for the next 30 days. To submit a comment, go to Regulations.gov and enter Docket No. FMCSA-2019-0056. LL
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