Canada ELD Mandate: Recapping Transport Canada’s Recent Statement and Trimble’s Commitment to Help You Migrate to ELDs
In early 2021, Canada’s Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, issued a statement to provide an update on the status of Canada’s upcoming mandate on electronic logging devices (ELDs).
As part of his full statement, Minister Alghabra called for a “a period of progressive enforcement without penalties including elevated education and awareness until June 12, 2022."
With the clock ticking, it is imperative that fleets subject to the mandate take the time now to evaluate their ELD options, regardless of whether they are operating on paper logs today or have some form of AOBRD installed.
By putting in the time today, fleets can be prepared to maintain their compliance as well as begin harnessing the full benefits of ELDs sooner.
How Trimble is Prepared to Assist in Your ELD Migration
Implementing new technology like ELDs can be daunting and, at Trimble, we are committed to making your compliance with the mandate as seamless as possible.
The Canadian mandate requires that certification bodies (CBs) certify all ELDs for their use. As part of that process, Trimble has gained certification that our Trimble ELD is compliant with the regulation.
And, whether you are a Trimble AOBRD customer now or are currently evaluating your ELD options, we are here to make the switch straightforward for you and your drivers. This not only involves having compliant technology but helping fleets like yours by outlining a four-step process to make the move to ELDs.
These steps include:
1. Training Your Fleet for ELD Use
The shift to ELDs will impact workflows across your fleet, regardless of whether you have AOBRDs or paper logs in place today. Although training is not required by the regulation, it will be important for you to help key team members understand how to use ELDs in their roles.
For drivers, training them on how to navigate the in-cab display and interpret key ELD functions will be crucial to ensure events like roadside inspections and data transfers go as smoothly as possible.
Back office personnel, too, will need to get an understanding of how your ELD platform works and how to utilize it to monitor driver Hours of Service (HOS) data, edit and annotate driver records (when needed) and generate key reports.
2. Examining Your Company’s Policies and Procedures
Implementing new technology such as ELDs can also impact any existing company policies or role-specific procedures.
It is crucial to make an inventory of your existing company rules to ensure you have documentation related to items such as off-duty use of trucks, accounting for unassigned driving time, editing driver records and managing through any technical device malfunctions.
By having these details ironed out now, you can better prepare your fleet to not only maintain compliance but do so in a way that aligns with how your business operates.
3. Exploring the ELD Mandate’s Special Driving Categories
While we are on the topic of off-duty use of trucks, it is important to note that the Canadian ELD mandate accounts for this with a special driving category: personal conveyance or PC.
If your company allows drivers to use trucks while off duty, drivers will need to understand how to properly account for this time on their ELD. Your ELD software may have a soft button to toggle between “Off Duty” and “PC” time so that any PC drive time is recorded correctly on line 1 of the driver record (compared to line 3 where on-duty driving is captured).
Doing your homework on PC time now will help avoid driver questions and reduce the likelihood of needing to edit a driver record to after the fact.
4. Grasping What ELD Enforcement is All About
While Minister Alghabra’s statement mentioned a “period of progressive enforcement”, helping prepare your drivers for roadside inspections will be crucial to streamlining the inspection process and keeping your vehicles in service.
While initially focused on education and awareness, enforcement of the mandate will eventually become more rigorous. This means that the sooner your drivers are comfortable and aware of how inspections in ELD world go, the better.
To help prepare, it may be worth reviewing the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA)’s list of ELD-related information in its North American Out-of-Service (OOS) Criteria. This criteria details critical inspection points and highlights what items could result in a failed inspection and require a truck to be placed out of service until any violation(s) is properly addressed.
Leverage Trimble’s HOS Know-How for Your ELD Compliance
Our Driver ELD platform was first introduced nearly 20 years ago and we back our current ELD solution with two decades of experience in helping fleets like yours make the most of electronic logging technology.
As noted above, our Driver ELD is certified as a compliant solution and we are prepared to help your fleet prepare for this regulation. Just as we helped our customers navigate the U.S. ELD mandate in 2019, we are here to assist you in your migration now.
Contact us today to learn more about Trimble’s unique approach to ELDs and how our ELD compliance solution can help you not only comply with the mandate but empower you to harness driver data to make more informed decisions, maximize your resource utilization and better connect to the entire transportation supply chain.