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Cal/OSHA Launches 2014 Heat Illness Prevention Program

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Cal/OSHA has launched its 2014 Heat Illness Prevention Program to educate employers and workers on the risks of prolonged heat exposure at outdoor worksites.

The goal of the program is to reduce the incidence of heat illness statewide and ensure compliance with California’s heat illness standard.

“Our partnerships with business and labor help us educate workers and employers alike on how to prevent heat illness injuries at outdoor worksites,” said Christine Baker, Director of the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). “Regular training is a key component of workplace safety.” Read more

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New Affiliate Highlight: Authority Tax Services Inc. Joins CCTA Affiliate Team

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By Katie Jeter, ATS Case Manager, Compliance Department

It is estimated that around 9 million Americans currently owe money in taxes and fees to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Many are truck drivers—over the road, heavy haulers, dump truck drivers, etc. Authority Tax Services (ATS)—a tax resolution firm whose clients are mostly truckers dealing with franchise tax board and IRS issues, is here to help. Read more

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‘There Are No More Extensions’

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By Joe Rajkovacz – Governmental Affairs – Western Trucking Alliance

I like to use this column to write somewhat humorous takes on the trucking industry. I don’t really know if this story falls under funny, stupid, or that famous trucker phrase, “Hey, you ain’t going to believe this s#!t.” If you listen to Sirius XM Satellite Radio, lately they have been running an infomercial for the California Air Resources Board featuring none other than Lisa Kelly of Ice Road Truckers fame. Read more

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‘Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice to Deceive’

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By Betty Plowman – Northern Membership Services Director

This saying was buried deep in my brain for almost fifty-years after I tried unsuccessfully to deceive my mother, and she shared that line on me.
With the chaos now gripping our industry, many struggle to understand all that has happened with the CARB regulations and now the proposed amendments, it should be obvious we are all caught in a tangled web of environmental based deception. Read more

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CARB’s Final Proposed Amendments And the Winners and Losers!

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By Lee Brown – Executive Director

Winners and Losers and Prop B1 Funds, that’s pretty much the theme of this issue of the magazine. Maybe a “divide and conquer” theme could have worked too; it’s clearly part of the challenge we now face as an industry and association. Read the thoughtful debate by two members on this exact issue on page 9 CTN March/April 2014 issue.

While those that have or are in compliance want the playing field leveled and believe that trucking rates would dramatically rise if and when that happens, on the other side are those who are not in compliance or many that are and get it all, yet want’s to see our lawsuit presently in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded with a win. There are no easy answers here. Read more

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Magazine Layout Revisions

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By Lee Brown – Executive Director

We have been given numerous suggestions about the monthly magazine layout and in an attempt to make it both more organized and reader friendly, we have decide to add some new tabs and change the names on other tabs. We are going to change the first section to “Association Staff” which will focus on the theme of the magazine for each particular month. Not so shockingly, the theme this month is about CARB’s last proposed amendments to the truck and bus rules and the “winners and losers” these regulations have created within our industry. All or most of the articles will now include the author(s) as most of us write stories about a variety of issues. Read more

Yippee Ki Yay…and Then There is CARB

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By Susan Jones

Howdy folks, I’m having a hard time sitting down to the computer to start this article as my head, heart, and soul are still in Parkfield near Paso Robles, CA, on a horse, on a 20,000 acre cattle ranch, high up in the hills.

The drought has impacted our whole state and it is having a huge effect on not only the grazing of the cattle there, but on our whole industry as well. Water trucks will not be hooking up to the local fire hydrant this year but will have to travel to sources of recycled water. Hmmmm… will this qualify as emergency miles and not be added onto the mileage that trucks report to CARB? Read more

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Occupational Health Groups to Study Workplace Marijuana Use

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The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN) and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) have announced they will collaborate to study workplace health and safety issues associated with worker impairment from the use of marijuana and other drugs.
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Free Injury and Illness Prevention Program Seminar for CCTA Members

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Dear CCTA Members and Affiliates,

Every employer in California is required by state law to have a written, effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). Not having an IIPP is the most-cited Cal/OSHA violation issued by inspectors in California. An effective IIPP can help your members protect their employees from injuries on the job, as well as lower the cost of business operations. Read more

Glitches Abound at CARB Websites

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Greetings to all!

I hope you have been able to get yourselves reported for 2014 in CARB’s TRUCRS system. It has not been easy and there have been many glitches in their on-line reporting system. 

Two of our members when reporting were somehow kicked out of the over 26,000 GVR weight category and that caused a huge problem not easily solved. A one truck owner-operator I helped report was in the Low Mileage Construction Truck (LMCT) and a reporting glitch threw him out of that category. I know that it was a CARB error as I was the one that did the reporting for them both and I have reported at least 100 truckers over the last two years, so I can do it in my sleep.

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