This year’s Brake Safety Week is scheduled for Aug. 22-28. During Brake Safety Week, commercial motor vehicle inspectors emphasize the importance of brake systems by conducting inspections and removing commercial motor vehicles found to have brake-related out-of-service violations from our roadways. At the same time, many motor carriers work to educate their drivers and maintenance service providers on the importance of brake system safety.

Throughout the week, inspectors will conduct North American Standard Inspections of commercial motor vehicles, focusing on the vehicle’s brake systems and components. In addition, inspectors will compile data on brake hoses/tubing, the focus area for this year’s Brake Safety Week, to submit to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). 

FMCSA revises the hours of service (HOS) regulations to provide greater flexibility for drivers subject to those rules without adversely affecting safety, Motor carriers are required to comply with the new HOS regulations starting on September 29, 2020, not before. The Agency:

1. Expands the short-haul exception to 150 air-miles and allows a 14-hour work shift to take place as part of the exception;
2. Expands the driving window during adverse driving conditions by up to an additional 2 hours;
3. Requires a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving time (instead of on-duty time) and allows an on-duty/not driving period to qualify as the required break;
4. Modifies the sleeper berth exception to allow a driver to meet the 10-hour minimum off-duty requirement by spending at least 7, rather than at least 8 hours of that period in the berth and a minimum off-duty period of at least 2 hours spent inside or outside of the berth, provided the two periods total at least 10 hours, and that neither qualifying period counts against the 14-hour driving window.

On February 7, 2022, FMCSA’s entry-level driver training regulations will go into effect. These regulations include requirements that training providers will need to meet, such as registering for and providing driver training certification information to the Training Provider Registry. For more information please click the following link https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov/

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is issuing this safety advisory concerning pressure relief devices (PRD) that were not manufactured or intended for use on cargo tank motor vehicles.  PRDs are an integral part of the safety mechanisms for U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) specification cargo tank motor vehicles and are vital to ensuring the safety of hazardous materials transportation by highway. 

In 2013, Emerson Process Management Regulator Technologies, Inc. issued a voluntary recall on Fisher Control pressure relief devices models H732 and H832.  In 2014, the recall was expanded to include models H282, H882, H5112, and H8112.  After a recent crash involving a MC330 cargo tank motor vehicle, FMCSA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators discovered that one of the PRDs installed on the cargo tank motor vehicle was a Fisher Controls model H282.

All owners and operators of specification MC330 or MC331 cargo tank motor vehicles, and cargo tank motor vehicles operated pursuant to 49 CFR §173.315(k), should immediately inspect their PRDs for these Fisher Controls model numbers.  If any of the listed models are discovered, the cargo tank motor vehicle must be taken out of hazardous materials transportation service and the PRD must be immediately removed and replaced.  Continued use of these PRDs is a violation of 49 CFR §180.405 and a safety concern.

Registered Inspectors and companies that maintain stocks of Fisher Control PRDs should take all necessary steps to ensure the model numbers listed above are not used for hazardous materials transportation service. Model numbers are located on the PRD as shown above