In my 20-some years of driving, I can’t remember a safety meeting that didn’t include something about hours-of-service records. And now, with the United States having introduced major changes to its HOS regime in April, and the Canadian provinces working to harmonize their regs with federal legislation introduced in February, driver work hours will no doubt be a permanent fixture on your driver-meeting agenda.

The Canadian proposal would restrict drivers to 14 hours on duty (13 hours driving) balanced by 10 hours off during a 24-hour period. At least eight of these off-duty hours would have to be taken consecutively, with the additional two hours to be taken in increments of no less than a half hour. The rules would also eliminate the option to reduce the off-duty time from eight hours to four hours; increase the minimum rest for co-drivers using a sleeper berth from two hours to four consecutive hours; allow the averaging of on-duty and off-duty time over a 48-hour period; and cut the number of available work/rest cycles to a maximum 70-hour cycle over seven days and a maximum 120-hour cycle over 14 days.

The most notable changes in the U.S. rules include a reduction in the length of the workday from 15 hours to 14, lengthening the driving time limit to 11 hours at a stretch (up from 10), and increasing the minimum off-duty requirement from eight hours to 10. The two weekly work cycles (60 hours in seven days and 70 hours in eight days) have been retained, but the new plan would allow you to reset the cumulative hours clock back to zero following at least 34 straight hours off duty.

So indeed, major aspects of the rules are similar on either side of the border. The 24-hour work/sleep cycle mirrors the human body’s natural sleep/awake cycle. And both countries would let you be on duty for up to 14 hours in a day with 10 hours off duty.

But as with most rules, the devil resides in the details. We’ve compiled some basic questions to clarify what to expect from the new regs, which are expected to take effect in the United States on Jan. 4, 2004, and in Canada some time next spring.

How do the rules define “workday”? The two countries differ in their official definition of the term “day.” It may seem like small potatoes, but the distinction affects how the rules are applied. It can be accepted, however, that a “day”-for enforcement purposes-applies to the 24-hour period beginning when you come on duty at the start of each full work shift, following the appropriate off-duty interval.

Of my 14 hours on duty, how many hours can I spend driving? You can drive for 13 hours in Canada, leaving one extra hour for other on-duty activities. In the U.S., you’re limited to 11 driving hours with three for other on-duty tasks.

Can I extend my workday beyond 14 hours? In the States, the workday can be no longer than 14 hours straight. Once your 14 hours are up, you have to log off duty for 10 hours before beginning your next shift. You can’t extend the workday by booking time off for lunch or rest stops, so you’ll have to make the best of your available hours. You can, however, extend the 14-hour period if you log two or more rest periods in the sleeper berth. One of the periods must be at least two hours; the sum of the two sleeper berth periods must be at least 10 hours.

In Canada, you can extend the length of the workday, but you may log only 14 hours of on-duty time (including up to 13 hours driving) in a 24-hour period before taking 10 hours off. The Canadian rules also let you defer up to two hours of your daily off-duty time to the next day if the hours worked in a 48-hour period can be averaged out to equal the allowable cumulative two-day limit. In other words, you can drive for as many as 15 hours in a day if, during the following day, you limit your driving time to 11 hours. That way, your total driving time over the 48-hour period is 26 hours, an average of 13 per day.

The total off-duty time taken over a two-day period still has to equal at least 20 hours; the total driving time in the two-day period can’t exceed 26 hours; and you have to add off-duty time deferred from the previous to the mandatory eight consecutive hours of daily off-duty time taken on the second day (for a total of 10 consecutive hours off duty).

How flexible are my 10 off-duty hours? The Canadian rules require at least eight consecutive hours off duty, with the remaining two of the 10 hours to be taken at your discretion in intervals of 30 minutes or more. Or you can take all 10 hours at once. It’s your choice, but you won’t be allowed to split your workday into, say, a five-on/four-off routine as many now do using the split-sleeper provision. For team drivers in Canada, the minimum rest interval has been increased to four hours from two, while the American minimum remains at two hours.

Can I switch duty cycles? The Americans have retained their two duty cycles: 60 hours in seven days, or 70 hours in eight days. But they’ve replaced the sit-and-rot aspect of those cycles with a 34-hour reset provision. At any time up to the last hour in the week, you can book off for at least 34 consecutive hours, thus resetting the cumulative clock back to zero. Working the full 14 hours each day, you would reach 70 hours in five days. Most over-the-road drivers will be working on the 70-hours-in-eight-days cycle.

In Canada, once you pick a cycle, either 70 hours in seven days or 120 hours in 14 days, you’re stuck with it until you fulfill the reset requirements of the cycle you’re using. The 70-hour cycle requires 36 hours off duty to reset the clock to zero, while the 120-hour cycle demands at least 72 hours. In order to comply with the 120-hours-in-14-days cycle, you must also take at least 24 consecutive hours off duty at some point after the 60th hour but before reaching the 80th hour.

And because of the 14-day cycle available in Canada, you’ll have to retain copies of the daily logs for the preceding 14 days, as well as any supporting documents that the driver receives in the course of the current trip, such as toll and fuel receipts.

Where can I see the regs? You can read Transport Canada’s HOS policy statement at www.ccmta.ca/english/ pdf/hrspaper.pdf, or the federal regulation published Feb. 15 in the Canada Gazette at www.canadagazette.gc.ca.
The U.S. regs are at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/ home_files/revised_hos.asp. There’s also a great site maintained by J.J. Keller, the publisher of compliance and training material for the trucking industry. The address is www.jjkeller.com/informationcenters/hos/home.htm.