April 25, 2018
The BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has issued a National Safety Code Bulletin regarding off-duty time for drivers of commercial vehicles in the Motion Picture industry.
Following a consultation period with a group of industry stakeholders including the CMPA-BC, the bulletin was published to clarify the existing Hours of Service regulations. The document outlines the activities that must be counted as on-duty time during a driver’s work-shift, and also defines when a driver should be legitimately considered off-duty.
The existing National Safety Code regulations regarding hours of service have been clarified as follows:
- A driver’s workshift can be extended from the maximum of 14 hours to 16 hours, provided the driver has 2 hours of off-duty time during the workshift.
- The 2 hours of off-duty time can be taken as a single 120-minute increment, or any combination of non-consecutive increments of 30 minutes or more during the workshift.
- Whether or not the driver is being paid does not affect their off-duty status.
- A driver working a 16 hour workshift must have a minimum of 10 hours of off-duty time in a 24 hour cycle as follows:
- 2 hours of off-duty time during the workshift as outlined above;
- 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time between workshifts (turnaround).
The bulletin, including a list of activities that could be considered on or off-duty, can be found here.
Full details regarding your obligations as a Carrier under the current regulations, including hours of service, driver log books, and record keeping, can be found in the Carrier Safety Guide published by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
The CMPA-BC continues to work with the Ministry of Transportation, the AMPTP, Creative BC, ACFC and Teamsters 155 to determine how the regulations pertaining to Hours of Service and commercial vehicle insurance can better align to the motion picture industry’s current business practices. We will publish the details of these ongoing efforts as they are available.
Any questions can be directed to us as follows:
Jason Lee
Vice-President, BC Industrial Relations
1-604-694-2712 /
1-866-390-7639 ext. 124
jason.lee@cmpa.ca