Earlier this year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) granted a five-year waiver to a technician training requirement after a years-long fight by the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC).
Prior to Jan. 16, a new technician would need a year of training and on-the-job experience before they would be allowed to perform annual inspections of commercial vehicles or inspect, repair or maintain brake systems.
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“It takes 12 months before a new technician can be onboarded and cleared,” says Robert Braswell, TMC’s executive director, on a Wednesday webinar presented by TMC and the ASE Education Foundation. “That is kind of inefficient.”
The exemption will cut the 12 months to 540 hours — about four months — provided the training new technicians receives follows the TMC’s Recommended Practices (RPs). It applies across the industry, to schools, fleets and shops.
“We think that is a big advantage, especially with the shortage of qualified technicians in the commercial vehicle industry,” Braswell says. He cited statistics showing technicians are most likely to drop out of the industry in the first 12-24 months of employment. With this exemption, new technicians can get to doing what they want to do — fix trucks — more quickly. This might help some of them to stay on the shop floor.
Once the 540 hours is completed, Braswell says, technicians can self-certify and get to work on trucks. This isn’t a change, he says, noting schools, shops and fleets have to do the same thing now after 12 months.
“Just like you’re doing now, but with the new curriculum,” Braswell says.
To participate, the training provider must:
- Provide a training program consistent with TMC RPs that includes at least 540 hours of classroom and hands-on instruction.
- One third of the training should be in the classroom and two thirds should be hands on.
- Give notice to the American Trucking Associations (ATA) of the program’s self-certification, including the effective date.
- Provide graduates with certificates of completion and maintain who earned these certificates.
- Agree to allow FMCSA access to documents or records related to the training program to evaluate compliance.
In turn, the ATA and TMC will:
- Maintain, publish and provide a public list of the training programs.
- Remove from the list any provider that does not comply.
Braswell says the list has just been started and he hopes to publish it next year. TMC also maintains an app to help fleets and service providers provide RP-based training and testing. The organization can also help build training bundles to fit any needs.
“We can customize a plan that makes sense for you,” Braswell says. “We want to make it available.”
Braswell and the ASE’s George Arrants both insist there should be no concerns with the shorter training requirement.
“I could also say that you could also take 12 months and the technician still doesn’t know how to do the job if they are learning the wrong things in the process,” Braswell says. “You don’t have to certify anyone as being qualified to do this. You’re the gatekeeper.”
