While the U.S. Government has policies in place to protect whistleblowers speaking out on unsafe or illegal industry practices, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) says those policies are not saving truck drivers from retaliation.
The OOIDA — a national trade association representing more than 160,000 trucking professionals and drivers — presented evidence to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last week regarding the health of whistleblower protections on the transportation industry. While there are multiple means for drivers to submit complaints — through various state division offices of the regulating agency, a national database, phone line or online — the OOIDA said there is typically little response or follow-up which comes from these, actively discouraging drivers from reporting unsafe practices.
“Our membership has had less experience with OSHA’s whistleblower program,” Jay Grimes, OOIDA director of federal affairs, said. “We usually receive 1 or 2 calls inquiring about OSHA per year but have not been active in any OSHA whistleblower cases. Our general thought is that many drivers are not aware of the OSHA Whistleblower protections provided by the Surface Transportation Assistance Act. Drivers are also likely more familiar with the DOT/FMCSA filing processes rather than OSHA’s.”
Truckers are, in theory, protected by a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulation established in 2016, which prohibits their employers from coercing them into silence regarding noting violations of safety regulations. Those violations include running over maximum service hour limits for drivers, commercial driver’s license regulations, drug and alcohol testing rules and regulations on hazardous materials.