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DOT give livestock truckers 90-day waiver on new hours
Story Date: 7/9/2013
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Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 7/8/13
The Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted a limited 90-day waiver from the 30-minute rest break provision of the new Federal hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for livestock transportation.
The waiver applies to new rules that went into effect July 1 that limit the maximum average workweek for truck drivers to 70 hours, a decrease from the current maximum of 82 hours and require truck drivers to take a 30-minute break during the first eight hours of a shift.
Several associations representing various segments of the livestock industry raised concerns about the risks to the health of animals from rising temperatures inside livestock trucks during drivers' mandatory 30-minute break, especially in light of long-range weather forecasts for above-normal temperatures for July, August and September 2013.
“This decision will help ensure the continued humane treatment and welfare of livestock while traveling on the nation’s highways,” said National Pork Producers Council President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn., in a statement. “By granting the 90-day waiver, the FMCSA will ensure that during hot summer months livestock won’t be sitting in the sun for extended periods, with drivers unable to care for them because they’re required to take a 30-minute break.”
The NPPC added that the FMCSA may ultimately develop a permanent exemption covering truck drivers moving livestock and poultry.
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