OSHA has determined that Universal Trucking Solutions LLC – a defunct Hartford, Connecticut, commercial motor carrier – and its co-owner, Juan Ramirez, violated the whistleblower protections of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA). Agency investigators found that the company and Ramirez retaliated against a driver who repeatedly voiced concerns to management about faulty vehicle maintenance.

Federal agencies propose changes to regulations meant to avoid trucker fatigue and silica exposure; napping at work becomes more popular and researchers uncover a link between insomnia and heart disease. These were among the top occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

In a state v. federal fight regarding worker protections, California and the bus industry are butting heads over hours of service (HOS) regulations. The latest salvo was fired this week, when California Attorney General Xavier Becerra urged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to deny a petition by the American Bus Association (ABA) that claims California labor protections for bus drivers are preempted by federal law.

An organization representing truckers says federal Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations intended to reduce fatigue and improve safety have actually done the opposite. HOS rules are aimed to reducing driver fatigue that can cause accidents by limiting the number of driving hours per day, and the number of driving and working hours per week.

A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary report on a fatal multi-vehicle accident in Boise, Idaho on June 16, 2018, shows how quickly things can spiral out of control in highway work zones.

A new federal regulation requiring commercial truck drivers to electronically log their hours is drawing both support and criticism from the trucking industry. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rule – which went into effect in December 2017, started requiring commercial drivers to outfit their trucks with electronic logging devices (ELDs) to replace the paper time cards the industry has used for decades.

A proposal to roll back work hour limits for medical residents has drawn an angry response from safety advocates, who say longer hours lead to more errors, endangering the safety of both residents and the patients they care for.

On March 17, 2016, tractor-trailer driver Jason L. Flynn made an illegal turn across traffic, causing an accident that left a passenger car wedged underneath his trailer and its driver in the hospital.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has declared Ontario, Canada-licensed truck driver Inderjit Singh Gill to be an imminent hazard to public safety, prohibiting him from operating any commercial motor vehicle in the United States.

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) researchers went to 32 truck stops across the U.S. to collect safety data on long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs) – a group for which there’s limited occupational injury and safety data.