| Dear {FName}, |
April 1, 2012 |
We just flew back from the Louisville Truck Show and boy are our propellers tired!
We hope you had a chance to stop by and gab with us, we had a great time!
It’s April - No April Fool’s joke here, just some good advice since April holds the record for being the month with most tornadoes, the final count for April 2011 came in at 758, the most tornadoes ever in a single month.
Meteorologists don’t really know what to expect this season, but the same basic weather pattern exists this year as last. La Nina, the cooling of the central Pacific ocean is an indicator, but not a predictor.
The most important thing to know about tornadoes, is that they can strike without warning. That is why you should be alert to changing weather conditions, and use both broadcast information and your own senses and experience to know when to take cover.
Tornado Watch
A Tornado Watch means that conditions are favorable for tornadoes to develop. In this case, you should be alert to changes in the weather and take precautions to protect you and your property.
During a Tornado Watch:
Move cars inside a garage or carport. Keep your car keys and house keys with you.
- Move lawn furniture and yard equipment such as lawnmowers inside if time permits.
- Account for family members at home.
- Have your emergency kit ready.
- Keep your radio or TV tuned into the weather reports.
Tornado Warning
A Tornado Warning means that a tornado has actually been sighted. Tornadoes can be deadly and devastating storms, with winds up to 260 miles per hour. If a Tornado Warning is issued for your area, seek shelter immediately!
There is little time for closing windows or hunting for flashlights. It is a good idea to know where things are, and to have an emergency storm kit already prepared.
Tornado Preparedness:
Learn the warning signals used in your community. If a siren sounds, that means stay inside and take cover.
- Consider setting up a neighborhood information program through a club, church group or community group. Hold briefings on safety procedures as tornado season approaches. Set up a system to make sure senior citizens and shut-ins are alerted if there is a tornado warning.
- Put together an emergency storm kit including a transistor radio, flashlight, batteries and simple first-aid items in a waterproof container.
- Make a complete inventory of your possessions for insurance purposes.
- Conduct drills with your family in the home; make sure each member knows the correct procedures if they are at work or school when a tornado hits.
During the Tornado
The safest place to be during a tornado is underground, preferably under something sturdy like a workbench.
If there is no basement or cellar in your home, a small room in the middle of house -- like a bathroom or a closet -- is best. The more walls between you and the outside, the better.
If you are driving during a tornado
Tornadoes can toss cars and large trucks around like toys. Never try to outrun a tornado.If you see a funnel cloud or hear a tornado warning issued on the radio or by siren, get out of your vehicle and seek a safe structure or lie down in a low area with your hands covering the back of your head and neck.
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Fuel Price
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New National Clearinghouse for DOT Drug and Alcohol Test Results
Derek Hinton - DOTJobHistory.com
My Mom (a good ole Old Testament Mom) was fond of quoting Numbers 32:23 to me as a kid; “your sin will find you out.” While I’m no Biblical scholar, I’ve never read that flunking or refusing a DOT drug/alcohol test is a sin. However, I can tell you that in the future it will be easier for whatever you call it to find you out.
The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act of 2012 (H.R.7) is working its way through Congress. Section 6401 creates a National Clearinghouse for Records Related to Alcohol and Controlled Substance Testing of Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators. Among other clauses, the law states that an employer must search this new national database before hiring a CDL driver and further gives rules when a driver cannot be hired.
The law details that employers, individuals, and state official will have access to this database. Interestingly, the law states that the Secretary of Transportation must establish a process to make information available from this clearinghouse in a manner consistent with federal information and privacy laws, such as the FCRA. However, the law makers have excluded the third parties who normally represent the employers in the hiring process per FCRA. These third parties are consumer reporting agencies like driving record vendors and employment screening firms that do the background checks. The main consumer reporting agency for the motor carrier industry at this time is HireRight/DAC.
This clause is receiving attention at the time of this writing.
To view a copy of the law visit http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h7:. The law is set to go into affect approximately 12 months after passage.
What will this database mean to drivers? Its primary effect will be that positive tests, or refusals to test, will more surely follow you as you try to get a driving job.
Currently, assume a driver tests positive/refuses a pre-employment drug/alcohol test and as a result, is not hired by the employer. The driver goes down the street a few days later (sloshing with every step from all the water he has drank to wash out his system) to apply to another company.
Questions:
- Can this potential employer find out about the existence of the past positive test-even though the driver was never employed by the testing company?
- Can the potential employer (legally) require the driver to sign a release authorizing the potential employer to get the results of the past drug test?
- Can the company that gave the test in the past-but didn't employ the driver-legally release the info if asked?
Each of these questions has some nuance. Let's take them singly.
Can the potential employer find out about the existence of the past test?
Yes. A potential employer may find out about the existence of a test by making an inquiry to a service that stores driver employment information such as HireRight(DAC). However, the company must belong to HireRight and report drug and alcohol testing results—and not all trucking companies do. Even then, the information provided will not tell whether the test was positive or negative, simply that there was a test.
So, assuming the potential employer discovers the existence of a prior test, can they deny you employment if you refuse to sign a release allowing them to obtain the results of the test?
Yes. But, they can't blame it on the Department of Transportation. The DOT regulations require potential employers to investigate "Whether, within the previous three years, the driver … violated the alcohol and controlled substances prohibitions from all previous DOT regulated employers that employed the driver within the previous three years from the date of the employment application, in a safety- sensitive function that required alcohol and controlled substance testing. [Italics added]
Therefore, if a company did not employ the driver, the DOT does not require a potential employer to obtain the information If an employer wants to check with past companies that did not employ a driver, they are doing so of their own accord. (It should be noted that the term "employer" is used in places in the regulations without there having to be an employment or even Owner/operator relationship with the driver, e.g., DOT regulated employers must keep records of pre-employment tests even if they don't "employ" the driver.)
Can the company that gave the test in the past legally give out the test results if they didn't employ the driver?
Yes-but only if they receive a specific, written release from the driver to release the information to the identified party.
To sum it up, companies can discover past drug tests even if you didn't work for the company, they can condition your employment on your willingness to release the results and past employers must provide the information if commanded by you. But the current drug and alcohol database is managed by a private company to which not all trucking companies belong.
With the new database, in the future it will be much harder to hide a positive or refusal.
The drug and alcohol testing regulations are not a place for you to practice law without a license. Mistakes here are costly—and they will become even more costly.
As this is being written, the U. S. Energy Information Administration has the average diesel fuel price at $4.15 per gallon and rising. Here’s what you had to say about the TruckDriver.com MPG (more pennies per gallon) Survey.
Do you believe fuel prices will reach $5.00 per gallon by July 4th?
Yes - 71%
No - 23%
Unsure - 6%
That’s an overwhelming majority and an overwhelming thought, all we can say is, we hope the majority is wrong!
They say in Spring, a young man’s fancy turns to love. We say, a young man’s fancy turns to baseball! Take the TruckDriver.com Opening Day Survey and let us know what you think.
Until next time, keep on truckin’ and please drive safely.
* * * * *
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“The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it
and wrong too often for us to rely on it.”
~Patrick Young ~
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