Electric utility service vehicles, such as bucket trucks, are on the road less than two hours a day. They aren’t simply trucks — they are mobile work platforms that allow utility workers — highly skilled electricians and linemen — to operate and maintain the electric system. Driving is an incidental part of the job. And safety, whether it’s fixing a downed line or driving responsibly, is the number-one priority.
For the past 18 years, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has regulated these trucks as if they were long-haul 18-wheelers whose drivers mostly drive—even though utility driving bears little resemblance to over-the-road trucking. Now, newly proposed regulations further restrict a utility’s ability to provide timely electric service due to limitations on the number of hours employees are allowed to work.
Electric utilities have chafed under this one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme since the passage of the 1984 Motor Carrier Safety Act.
Emergency Response
Currently, drivers of commercial motor vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds are limited to 15 work hours per day, no more than 10 of which can be driving. After this period, the driver must rest for 8 hours before operating a vehicle again. Weekly hours are restricted to no more than 60 hours in seven days or 70 hours in eight.
Typically, utility workers are comfortably under these restrictions — a lineman can still work and drive. But in emergency situations, extended work hours are often needed to provide proper service levels. And that’s when a bucket truck being treated like a tractor-trailer gets in the way.
It is true that Congress, heeding the electric utility industry, has granted some relief. Besides the fact that employees can now “restart the clock” following a 24-hour off-duty period, hours-of-service regulations now do not apply during declared emergencies. And, under the 1999 Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century, local officials can now declare emergencies, like an outage. However, the proposed rules eliminate these hard fought exceptions.
But these provisions do not go far enough. For one, local outages are seldom considered “emergencies.” Also, it is difficult to obtain the necessary paperwork, particularly beyond normal business hours or if a crew needs to cross state lines.
Several states allow utilities to “self-declare” emergencies. But, under current federal regulations, if a driver in a crew has worked close to his or her daily or weekly allocation, he or she must quit work — that leaves the rest of the crew without mobility, waiting until another crew arrives. This causes unnecessary delay and affects the safety of the crew and customers. It also increases costs and limits crew availability should natural or man-made emergencies occur back-to-back — with fewer drivers able to drive, more crews need to be ready to relieve other crews.
DOT’s new rules heighten these problems. The proposed rules are based on a daily 24-hour clock with 14 hours on-duty (and no distinction between driving and other work) and 10-hours off-duty. Also included is a mandatory 2-hour uninterrupted break during the on-duty shift — a safety regulation that would be understandable concerning an over-the-road trucker but not a utility service vehicle driver.
Proven Safety Record
There’s also the fact that stricter regulations would not necessarily make highways safer. Indeed, the utility industry has a very clean driving record. A study performed by Virginia Power in 1996, for example, surveyed the driving records of 18 investor-owned utilities and 69 rural electric cooperatives. It revealed that utility drivers are four times safer than the average professional truck driver. The study concluded that the 15-hour rule has no effect on accident rates.
However, DOT insists that exceptions to current and proposed regulations go through a vague and uncertain testing process, incorporating complex studies on sleep science and cost/benefit to society. The utility industry has voiced its support for performance-based regulations, using accident rates as a measure. This, plus Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, union rules, state commission regulations, and internal company programs ensure the utility drivers are safe drivers.
Edison Electric Institute, the American Gas Association, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association have developed a consensus position for a sensible utility exemption in DOT’s regulatory scheme. Through the rulemaking process and with federal and state legislators, utilities speak loudly with a clear and consistent message and continue to press for relief. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the American Trucking Association, the National Safety Council, and the Small Business Administration, as well as several state regulators and local emergency response organizations, also support utilities in this effort.
Highway safety is an issue of national importance — and so are the integrity of the electric system and the safety of customers. We need to treat a bucket truck as a bucket truck.
About the Author
Rick Tempchin, Director, Energy Efficiency and Transportation Policy, Retail Energy Services, Edison Electric Institute
Develop and lead energy industry policy agendas which: maximize member access to customer energy and telecommunications markets; reduce costs of transportation regulations; position electricity as a clean transportation fuel.
Education: Master of Business Administration, Energy, University of Denver
Bachelor of Science, Marketing, University of Maryland.
For the past 18 years, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has regulated these trucks as if they were long-haul 18-wheelers whose drivers mostly drive—even though utility driving bears little resemblance to over-the-road trucking. Now, newly proposed regulations further restrict a utility’s ability to provide timely electric service due to limitations on the number of hours employees are allowed to work.
Electric utilities have chafed under this one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme since the passage of the 1984 Motor Carrier Safety Act.
Emergency Response
Currently, drivers of commercial motor vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds are limited to 15 work hours per day, no more than 10 of which can be driving. After this period, the driver must rest for 8 hours before operating a vehicle again. Weekly hours are restricted to no more than 60 hours in seven days or 70 hours in eight.
Typically, utility workers are comfortably under these restrictions — a lineman can still work and drive. But in emergency situations, extended work hours are often needed to provide proper service levels. And that’s when a bucket truck being treated like a tractor-trailer gets in the way.
It is true that Congress, heeding the electric utility industry, has granted some relief. Besides the fact that employees can now “restart the clock” following a 24-hour off-duty period, hours-of-service regulations now do not apply during declared emergencies. And, under the 1999 Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century, local officials can now declare emergencies, like an outage. However, the proposed rules eliminate these hard fought exceptions.
Currently, drivers of commercial motor vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds are limited to 15 work hours per day, no more than 10 of which can be driving.
But these provisions do not go far enough. For one, local outages are seldom considered “emergencies.” Also, it is difficult to obtain the necessary paperwork, particularly beyond normal business hours or if a crew needs to cross state lines.
Several states allow utilities to “self-declare” emergencies. But, under current federal regulations, if a driver in a crew has worked close to his or her daily or weekly allocation, he or she must quit work — that leaves the rest of the crew without mobility, waiting until another crew arrives. This causes unnecessary delay and affects the safety of the crew and customers. It also increases costs and limits crew availability should natural or man-made emergencies occur back-to-back — with fewer drivers able to drive, more crews need to be ready to relieve other crews.
DOT’s new rules heighten these problems. The proposed rules are based on a daily 24-hour clock with 14 hours on-duty (and no distinction between driving and other work) and 10-hours off-duty. Also included is a mandatory 2-hour uninterrupted break during the on-duty shift — a safety regulation that would be understandable concerning an over-the-road trucker but not a utility service vehicle driver.
Proven Safety Record
There’s also the fact that stricter regulations would not necessarily make highways safer. Indeed, the utility industry has a very clean driving record. A study performed by Virginia Power in 1996, for example, surveyed the driving records of 18 investor-owned utilities and 69 rural electric cooperatives. It revealed that utility drivers are four times safer than the average professional truck driver. The study concluded that the 15-hour rule has no effect on accident rates.
However, DOT insists that exceptions to current and proposed regulations go through a vague and uncertain testing process, incorporating complex studies on sleep science and cost/benefit to society. The utility industry has voiced its support for performance-based regulations, using accident rates as a measure. This, plus Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, union rules, state commission regulations, and internal company programs ensure the utility drivers are safe drivers.
Edison Electric Institute, the American Gas Association, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association have developed a consensus position for a sensible utility exemption in DOT’s regulatory scheme. Through the rulemaking process and with federal and state legislators, utilities speak loudly with a clear and consistent message and continue to press for relief. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the American Trucking Association, the National Safety Council, and the Small Business Administration, as well as several state regulators and local emergency response organizations, also support utilities in this effort.
Highway safety is an issue of national importance — and so are the integrity of the electric system and the safety of customers. We need to treat a bucket truck as a bucket truck.
About the Author
Rick Tempchin, Director, Energy Efficiency and Transportation Policy, Retail Energy Services, Edison Electric Institute
Develop and lead energy industry policy agendas which: maximize member access to customer energy and telecommunications markets; reduce costs of transportation regulations; position electricity as a clean transportation fuel.
Education: Master of Business Administration, Energy, University of Denver
Bachelor of Science, Marketing, University of Maryland.
