Arnold Safety Blog

Here’s a fatal crash that escaped my attention until now. This happened on April 11, 2003 in Glen Rock, PA, York County. That’s just down the road from me. A 21 year old driver of a 26,000 GVWR dump truck (non-CDL) lost his brakes on a steep hill, crashed into several cars [...]

The DOT has issued a rulemaking, which affects the way drug and alcohol testing is conducted. Go here to review the changes.
Most of it is inside baseball, which has no bearing on motor carriers or nearly all drivers. However, there is one significant change. Starting 8/25/08, all return-to-duty tests and follow-up tests [...]

Did I mention you have to shut down a positive driver immediately? It seems like I just said that, but I recently ran into another instance where this has happened. When one of your drivers flunks a random test, you must immediately find him after being notified by the MRO of the failure. [...]

I haven’t posted anything in awhile. Why? Well, let’s just say, if you’re not backing up your computer files, you should be. One day you’re going to push the “ON” button on your trusty laptop, and it’s just going to sit there. I was 80% ready for that awful day, next [...]

From a DOT regulatory standpoint, positive drivers are not something to take lightly. DOT takes these rules very seriously, and will fine a company several thousands of dollars if every ‘I’ is not dotted, and ‘T’ crossed. While they may take it a little too far, from a safety standpoint, you want ensure [...]

If you see a driver falling down drunk, about to get into one of your vehicles, what should you do?  The DOT regulations state that an employer must conduct reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing on employees who appear to be impaired.  They also state that whoever is conducting the testing must be trained on how to spot [...]

There is nothing DOT takes more seriously than drug and alcohol testing.  This is largely because it’s easy for them to enforce, and there’s nothing a government official loves more than easy.  Nevertheless, the most serious violation you can commit is using a driver who has failed a drug test.  If a driver fails a random drug test, [...]

When you are drug testing your drivers, occasionally a driver will fail the test, also known as testing positive. While this may seem like common-sense to some, if a driver tests positive, you must remove him from duty. Immediately. No ifs, ands, or buts. That means getting on the two-way radio, [...]

Source Story

At 12:30 Saturday afteroon, July 14, a tractor-trailer crossed the center-line of Hwy 425 near Pine Bluff, AR, crashing into a car, killing a family of five. After the accident, the driver admitted to using crack cocaine before the accident.
What’s the moral of this story?
Obviously you don’t want to hire an idiot like [...]

DOT probably levies more penalties for failing to drug and alcohol testing than any others.  Particularly to the smaller, local type companies who are not your traditional “for-hire” motor carriers, ie, landscapers, utilities, construction companies, etc.  If you have vehicles which require a CDL license, you are subject to drug and alcohol testing.  This includes:  [...]