Delivery routes covered, driver by driver.

Heat rules when the van is the workplace

A driver works outdoors at each stop and inside a vehicle, so two Cal/OSHA heat standards can reach one route. Heat illness is a workers' comp exposure, and I ask for your written heat plan when I prepare a workers' comp submission.

• Outdoor work (Title 8, section 3395). Water must be fresh, pure, suitably cool and free; where it isn't plumbed, there must be enough for one quart per employee per hour for the shift, or effective procedures to replenish it. Shade must be present when it's above 80 degrees, and a car sitting in the sun isn't acceptable shade unless it's running with air conditioning.
• Cool-down rests. Employees may take a preventative cool-down rest in the shade when they feel the need. They can't be ordered back until signs of heat illness have abated, and never sooner than 5 minutes beyond the time needed to reach the shade.
• High-heat procedures at 95 degrees. These apply only to listed industries, including transportation or delivery of agricultural products, construction materials or other heavy materials, such as furniture, freight or cargo, but not work that consists of operating an air-conditioned vehicle with no loading or unloading.
• Indoor work (section 3396). It applies to enclosed work areas at 82 degrees, with all provisions, including control measures, at 87 degrees (temperature or heat index) or at 82 with heat-restrictive clothing or high radiant heat. Exposures below 95 degrees for under 15 minutes in any 60 are exempt, except in vehicles without effective and functioning air conditioning.
• Training and a written plan. Employees and supervisors are trained before heat-exposed work, and the plan is in English and the language most employees understand.

Keep training records and an A/C log per van. Outside California, heat rules vary by state.

When a heavier truck brings in FMCSA rules

I list every vehicle's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). Under 49 CFR 390.5, a vehicle used on a highway in interstate commerce to carry property is a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) when its GVWR, gross combination weight rating, gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight, whichever is greater, is 10,001 pounds or more.

• Interstate commerce. It includes trips within one state that are part of transportation beginning or ending outside the state.
• Medical certification. Under 49 CFR 391.41, a driver subject to Part 391 must be medically certified as physically qualified and, with limited exceptions, carry the original or a copy of a current medical examiner's certificate on duty.
• Hours of service. Under 49 CFR 395.3, a property-carrying CMV driver needs 10 consecutive hours off, then may drive 11 hours and not past 14 hours after coming on duty. After 8 hours of driving, a 30-minute break from driving is required unless a short-haul exception applies.
• Short-haul exception. Under 395.1(e)(1), a driver who stays within 150 air miles of the normal work reporting location, is released there within 14 consecutive hours, and has 10 hours off between each 14 on duty is exempt from the logbook rules. The carrier keeps 6 months of time records: report time, on-duty hours and release time.

If you add a box truck at or over the line, I'll ask for medical cards, time records and driver files. See box truck insurance and whether a box truck needs a CDL, and tell me before it goes into service so I can ask the carrier to add it to your commercial auto policy.

Official sources

• Cal/OSHA Title 8 section 3395, Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor Places of Employment
• Cal/OSHA Title 8 section 3396, Heat Illness Prevention in Indoor Places of Employment
• 8 CCR 11090, IWC Wage Order 9 (Transportation Industry)
• California Labor Code 226.7
• California Labor Code 2810.3
• California Vehicle Code 23123.5
• FMCSA, California's Meal and Rest Break Rules for Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers; Petition for Determination of Preemption, 83 FR 67470 (Dec. 28, 2018)
• 49 CFR 390.5, Definitions (commercial motor vehicle, interstate commerce)
• 49 CFR 391.41, Physical qualifications for drivers
• 49 CFR Part 395, Hours of Service of Drivers (395.1 and 395.3)