March 16, 2015:  MCM Weekly Newsletter
 

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Mar 17 Missoula Chapter Meeting, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
             Location:  Jokers Wild
             Speaker: Department of Transportation
             Topic:  TBA

Mar 18 Billings Jobs Jamboree
             MetraPark  Register

Mar 24 Great Falls Community Job Fair 
             Montana Expo Park Exhibition Hall
             Register

Mar 25 Southwestern Montana Job Fair
             Butte Plaza Mall  Register    

Mar 25 Share The Road Billings
             Senior High, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

March 30 Share The Road Billings
                 Skyview High, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
 
March 31 Share The Road Billings
                  West High, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm


Save The Date (following article includes links to applications)
April 1  Safety Supervisor of the Year applications due
           
April 10  TDC Driver Registration form due

April 17 SuperTech Registration form & Sponsorship form due

May 1   Fleet Safety, Scholarship,  TDC Sponsorship forms due

May 2    2nd Annual SuperTech Competition
               Helena College, Helena, MT

June 20  Truck Driving Championships
               Lewis & Clark Fairgrounds
               Helena, MT
   
July 15-17 RMRSR
                  Mountain View Ranch, ID
                  Refer to flyer below 
Enter the ATA Truck and Industrial Safety Contest

All ATA and ATA Safety Management Council members are encouraged to enter ATA's National Truck and Industrial Safety Contest. Entry forms can be accessed by clicking here. If you entered the contest last year, login to the website with your 2014 credentials, click the name of the award you wish to enter and complete the form. If you are new to the online application process, click on the name of the award you wish to enter, create a username, and complete the form. Please note submissions are due by April 20. For questions, contact Jacob Pierce at Jpierce@trucking.org.

FMCSA Issues Railroad Crossing Emergency Information

This morning, in light of a crash involving a truck and an Amtrak train earlier this week, FMCSA issued the following update on what to do should a vehicle become stalled or hung up on railroad tracks.

 

The information - placed on this visor card - includes a reminder to call the appropriate railroad emergency number with the location of your vehicle.

 

For more, visit the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website at www.fmcsa.dot.gov. 

PrePass Enrollment Surpasses 500,000 Trucks

More than half a million trucks operated by nearly 41,000 fleets are now enrolled in the PrePass weigh-station bypass program, the provider of the service announced recently.

 

"As of March 1, 504,169 trucks from 49 states, the District of Columbia and eight Canadian provinces were enrolled in PrePass," said Karen Rasmussen, CEO of Help Inc., the nonprofit partnership that offers the service, which enables participating transponder-equipped trucks to be at pre-screened at designated sites. "Safe carriers and our public-sector partners know Help uses only the most complete, most accurate data to electronically screen and qualify carriers before they are authorized for bypass at PrePass-equipped sites."

 

PrePass is available at 310 weigh stations and port-of-entry facilities in 31 states.

 

New sites are also under development in several states, including California, Delaware, Iowa, Michigan, Oklahoma and Wyoming, according to Help.

10 Things You Need to Know About ObamaCare

The ObamaCare employer mandate - a requirement that certain employers with 100 or more full-time equivalent employees provide medical coverage to their employees or pay a tax penalty - kicked in on January 1, 2015. Fennemore Craig attorneys, Ann Morgan and Erwin Kratz, have provided Ideas & Trends readers with the following top 10 thing you need to know about the employer mandate.
 

Number 1. Three transition rules apply in 2015. The first of these exempts employers with less than 100 full time equivalent employees (FTEs) in 2014 from the employer mandate in 2015. Any employee who works 120 hours or more in a month counts as one FTE. If they work 50 hours in a month they count as half an FTE. In 2015, the employer mandate applies to employers that have 50 or more FTEs in 2015.

Number 2.
The second transition rule for 2015 is that employers subject to the employer mandate only need to offer minimum essential coverage (MEC) to 70 percent of their full-time employees. For this purpose, any employee who averages more than 30 hours per week during a month is considered a full time employee. In 2016 this 70 percent threshold goes up to 95 percent.

Number 3. The third transition rule for 2015 is that if an employer subject to the employer mandate fails to offer MEC to 70 percent or more of its full time employees, and even one of those employees gets subsidized coverage in a state health insurance exchange or in the federal health insurance exchange, the monthly penalty of $167 is imposed for each full-time employee you have in excess of 80. Therefore, if you have 200 full time employees and you fail to offer MEC to at least 140 of them (70 percent of 200) you could be subject to a penalty equal to $20,040 for each month that one of those employees receives subsidized coverage through the exchange (200 - 80 = 120 x $167= $20,040). In 2016, this penalty is imposed on each full time employee in excess of 30.

Number 4. If you are subject to the employer mandate, the coverage you offer your employees also needs to be "affordable" and provide "minimum value." Coverage is "affordable" if the employee's cost of employee-only coverage is less than 9.5 percent of the federal poverty line, or less than 9.5 percent of the employee's rate of pay for the month. Coverage provides minimum value if the policy pays at least 60 percent of the cost of medical services for a standard population of claimants, as determined by actuarial calculations performed by your insurance company. Any "bronze" or above plan offered on the exchange satisfies minimum value.

Number 5.
If you do not offer "affordable" "minimum value" coverage, the monthly penalty is $250 for each full-time employee who gets subsidized coverage in the exchange.

Number 6.
You should keep meticulous records of each offer of coverage and of the house worked by each person to whom you do not offer coverage. This could become crucial evidence to prove you complied with the employer mandate if the IRS tires to assess a penalty against you for 2015.  

Number 7.
There are ways to minimize your exposure to the penalties, by designating certain Measurement and Stability period in accordance with the final employer mandate regulations. This can be very helpful in preventing employees to whom you not offer coverage from ever being considered full time employees for purposed of the employer mandate.  

Number 8.
The IRS will not begin assessing employer mandate penalties until well into 2016, after your employees have filed their tax returns. So if you do not take appropriate action now, (including by designating measurement and stability periods and keeping meticulous records of each offer of coverage and hours worked by those to whom you do not offer coverage) you might not realize you are accruing penalties for many months. Employer mandate penalties are not tax deductible.

FMCSA Says it has Updated Safety Measurement System

WASHINGTON - To further what the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration calls its "ongoing commitment to safety," the agency announced Friday it had updated the Safety Measurement System (SMS) and Serious Violations spreadsheet to better align with all of the Serious Violations in its regulations and IT systems, including five Serious Violations that are currently used in investigations.

 

These violations took effect in the SMS as of Feb. 1, 2015. Motor carriers cited with any of these violations will see them reflected in the March SMS data release.

 

For a complete list of all Serious Violations and updated descriptions, see the Serious Violations spreadsheet.

 

The FMCSA uses the SMS to assess carrier safety performance and compliance. When a carrier's most recent investigation results in the discovery of a Serious Violation, the SMS displays a violation in the carrier's Investigation Results for that Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) for 12 months after completion of the investigation.

 

Serious Violations are violations where noncompliance is considered so severe that they require immediate action by a motor carrier regardless of its overall safety posture - or violations that are indicative of breakdowns in a carrier's safety management controls.

 

The list below includes descriptions of the new Serious Violations in SMS and the BASICs to which they relate.

 

* 172.704(a)(4) - Failing to provide security awareness training, Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance

 

* 172.704(a)(5) - Failing to provide in-depth security awareness training, HM Compliance

 

* 383.37(c) - Knowingly allowing, requiring, permitting, or authorizing an employee with more than one commercial driver's license to operate a commercial motor vehicle, Driver Fitness

 

* 395.3(a)(3)(i) - Requiring or permitting a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle driver to drive more than 11 hours, Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance

 

* 395.3(a)(3)(ii) - Requiring or permitting a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle driver to drive if more than 8 hours have passed since the end of the driver's last off-duty or sleeper-berth period of at least 30 minutes, HOS Compliance

 

The FMCSA said it was committed "to working with our state partners to make America's roads as safe as possible."


March Driver of the Month Nominations

We are now accepting driver of the month applications for March 2015. An application is attached, and you may also download an application from our webpage at www.mttrucking.org on our Home Page under the Driver of the Month tab.

 

All applications must be in by Friday, March 20 at 12:00p.

2015 Event Applications
Any questions you may have regarding these events, please contact Katie at the MCM office, 406-442-6600 or katie@mttrucking.org
 
Click here   Fleet Safety application


Click here  Leonard Eckel Scholarship Application  

 
Click here   Safety Supervisor of the Year application

Click here  
SuperTech Registration

Click here   SuperTech Sponsorship

Click here    TDC Eligibility Info

Click here   TDC Driver Registration

Click here   TDC Sponsorship


Click here    TDC Program Advertising 

Click here    TDC Volunteer Request form 
Share The Road Billings

We are in need of volunteers for Share The Road in Billings March 25, 30 & 31. 

  

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, each location accommodating between 60-72 students.

 

As you consider volunteering please remember that we need your equipment at the location ½ hour before the class starts. 

We also require additional cars/pick-ups to go in the no-zones.

Any help you can provide in these areas would be appreciated.  For questions please contact Frank Molodecki at frankm@dtsb.com

 

Senior High  66 Students

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Driver/Truck 1

 Ankrum Trucking 

Driver/Truck 2

 Old Dominion  

Instructor 1

 Frank Molodecki - DTS  

Helper

 Melaine Collins - HOT Express  

Helper

 

Skyview         72 students

Monday, March 30, 2015

Driver/Truck 1

 A&I Distributors 

Driver/Truck 2

 Old Dominion

Driver/Truck 3

 Old Dominion

Instructor 1

 

Helper

Tanya Hauptman - Motor Power Equipment

Helper

 

West High     60 students

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Driver/Truck 1

  A&I Distributors

Driver/Truck 2

  SAGE

Instructor 1

 

Helper

 

Helper

 


Montana State Fund Safety Workshops   

 

 

A Clue Towards Safety

March Safety Workshops

 

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to understand the signs of workers' compensation fraud or how to investigate an incident at your workplace. What you need is a succinct workshop that will clue you in on simple steps to understanding and identifying these issues. Join our Safety Services Specialist, Kirk Smith and members of Montana State Fund's Special Investigation Unit this March as they present, A Clue Towards Safety.

 

Topics include:

 

Detecting Fraud: 

What is workers' compensation fraud? What can you do if you suspect it? Find out how to identify and report potential fraudulent claims that could be made by employees, employers and medical providers.  We will also highlight Montana State Fund's efforts to investigate fraud and recent court case rulings.

Incident Investigation:


This session will educate participants on the importance of investigating "incidents", not just accidents.  Just investigating accidents can prevent organizations from identifying problem areas before they cause accidents.  During this session, we discuss the different aspects of incident investigation from the philosophy and purpose to the techniques and tools needed to be successful in preventing future accidents.  

March 25 -  Bozeman (Holiday Inn)
March 26 - Miles City  (Sleep Inn & Suites)
March 27 - Billings (Big Horn Resort) 

Interested? The free trainings take place from 8:30 am -Noon.
To register go to safemt.com.   

 If you have questions, call 800-332-6102 extension 5361 (Kirk Smith).

   


Safety Workshops is the official general announcement e-blast for Montana State Fund workshops.

 

 

Mark Your Calendar
                      

 

Montana ESGR & Montana Department of Labor Workforce Services Offices Job Fairs 2015

Early Entry Military, Military Spouses and Vets

Employers will be hiring

 

Billings Jobs Jamboree

March 18, 2015

METRA PARK Billings Montana

Contact Trisha Glenn 406-655-6081 TGlen@mt.gov Registration online now

 

Great Falls Community Job Fair

March 24, 2015

Great Falls, MT

Montana Expo Park Exhibition Hall

Great Falls Job Service Contact Barbara Hardy (406) 791-5816 bhardy@mt.gov 

 

Southwestern Montana Job Fair

March 25, 2015

Butte Montana

Butte Plaza Mall 

Job Service Manager Butte Marilyn Ohman (406) 494-0300 mohman@mt.gov 

 

Bozeman Community Job Fair

April 8, 2015

Gallatin County Fairgrounds Bozeman, MT

Bozeman Job Service Contact Debbie Berg (406) 582-9200 dberg@mt.gov 

 

Miles City Job Fair

April 8, 2015

A small job fair but closer to energy jobs in North Dakota

Miles Community College Miles City, MT

Miles City Job Service contact Cindy Erickson (406) 232-8349 cerickson@mt.gov 

 

Helena Community Job Fair

April 9 2015

Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds Helena MT

Helena Job Service Contact Carol Rule (406) 447-3215 crule@mt.gov 

 

Flathead Valley Job Fair

April 16, 2015

Flathead Valley Community College Kalispell, MT

Flathead Job Service Contact Bill Gilbert (406) 758-6240 wgilbert@mt.gov 

or Roberta Diegel Business Resource Consultant Flathead Job Service (406) 758-6273 rdiegel@mt.gov 

 

North Western Montana's Largest Career Fair

April 21, 2015

Missoula, MT

Hilton Garden Inn

Missoula Job Service Contact Wolf Ametsbichler (406) 728-7060 wametsbichler@mt.gov