Provincial ministers approve HOS standard

WINNIPEG (Sept. 20, 2002) — Transport ministers today unanimously approved a new federal hours-of-service standard for Canadian truck drivers, a deal that promises to give drivers more opportunity to rest.

The standard will replace the current National Safety Code guideline for the number of hours a truck driver should be allowed to work.

“Ordinary people who drive on the highways where there are ever more trucks present want to know that those drivers do have mandatory rest periods, that they are not able to work the number of hours that they are currently allowed to work,” federal Transport Minister David Collenette told reporters after the ministers’ meeting in Winnipeg today. “Those who dispute it have other interests. They really are in favour of other modes (of transportation).”

Currently, a truck driver can be on duty up to 16 hours in a 24-hour period and can log as many as 104 hours in seven days. The new standard restricts drivers to 14 hours on duty (13 hours driving) followed by 10 hours off, and 84 hours in a seven-day period. However, a driver who accumulates 70 hours after consecutive five days must take 36 hours off before resuming work. The 36-hour interval is intended to provide two periods of the deeper recovery sleep discussed above.

The standard will now form the basis for changes to federal and provincial regulations. Provincial transport officials have said they want the new standard to take effect next September.

Bitter opposition from labour unions and Canadians for Responsible and Safe Highways (CRASH), a group that has received funding from rail interests, did not seem to affect the ministers’ vote.

The new standard is supported by the industry’s largest trade union, the Teamsters, and the Canadian Trucking Alliance, which represents for-hire trucking companies.

CTA president David Bradley called the decision “a brave and innovative step in improving highway safety.”