OSHA to Stop Fining Truckers Over Chocks

(Michael James - Transport Topics) Robert Costello, chief economist with the ATA's Economics and Statistics Group.

Federal job safety inspectors will no longer fine truckers for failing to place wheel chocks to stop trailers from rolling because trucking safety regulations have been held to supersede the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, officials said.

A letter from Julie A. Cirillo, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s acting administrator, to Thomas Galassi, the deputy OSHA director for compliance programs, stated that OSHA does not have the authority to enforce wheel chock regulations because FMCSA regulations already address the issue.

In response, an OSHA official said the agency would issue a directive soon instructing its inspectors to stop enforcing wheel chock standards.

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