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Washington – Bipartisan bills introduced in the House on March 12 would exempt certain segments of the commercial motor vehicle industry from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s mandate on use of electronic logging devices to record truck driver hours of service.

Washington — Legislators from both chambers of Congress have introduced bills intended to reduce injuries and deaths that result when passenger vehicles slide under large trucks.

Washington — Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) have reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would require the secretary of transportation to create a working group to determine obstacles to safe operation for livestock, insect and agricultural haulers in an effort to reform federal hours-of-service and electronic logging device regulations.

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is seeking comment on a petition that aims to amend hours-of-service requirements for haulers of livestock, insects and aquatic animals, allowing for a 16-hour on-duty period after 10 consecutive hours of off-duty time, the agency announced in the Feb. 6 Federal Register.

Washington — The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a proposed rule that would allow civilians to operate drones at night and over populated areas without a waiver, amending current regulations that prohibit such activities.

Morgantown, WV — Workers in the motor vehicle towing industry face an on-the-job fatality risk nearly 15 times greater than workers in all other private industries, according to a recent study from NIOSH.

Washington — The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s “failure to establish a final tank car specification for poison/toxic inhalation hazard tank cars and an aggressive schedule for removing nonconforming tank cars from service” jeopardizes safety among fleets, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in its investigation of a chlorine release from a ruptured rail tank car in West Virginia.

Washington — The Department of Transportation intends to seek comment on separate advance notices of proposed rulemaking on the safe operation and integration of drones, including a measure that would allow civilians to operate drones at night and over populated areas without a waiver, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced Jan. 14.

Secaucus, NJ — The rate of positive drug tests rose by double digits in five of 16 major U.S. workforce industry sectors from 2015 to 2017, according to a recent analysis by lab services provider Quest Diagnostics.

Olympia, WA — Strategic positioning during cranking of landing gears can help prevent truck drivers from injuring their shoulders when raising or lowering trailers, results of a recent study by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries and North Carolina State University suggest.