"Educational Enforcement Period" for Canadian ELD Mandate

Canada’s Minister of Transport recently issued a statement indicating Canada’s electronic logging device (ELD) mandate will go into effect on June 12, but with educational enforcement. Carriers subject to the ELD mandate in Canada will not face penalties if they’re not in compliance as of June 12. The minister acknowledged the impact COVID-19 has had on commercial vehicle operations.

The minister’s announcement referred to a “progressive enforcement period,” with educational enforcement to start. While the newly announced soft enforcement period certainly helps alleviate the pressures of finding, installing, and implementing a certified ELD by June 12, fleets still need to start now to prepare for the mandate. Preparations are even more critical for fleets still using paper logs.

What can be done now as you prepare to make the switch? Here are a few tips on how to manage the change:

Communicate Your Plan

When any transitions need to happen in an organization, communication is critical. Making the change over from paper logs to ELDs is no different. Inform your internal stakeholders of your plans and ensure they understand how ELDs will be a positive change. Make sure you provide information on:

• Reasons why you’re making the change to ELDs;
• Primary benefits of ELDs; and
• How ELDs will make hours-of-service compliance easier for drivers and management.

Update Your Policies and Procedures

Onboarding ELDs in place of paper will require changes to your hours-of-service policies and procedures. You may need to update your policies to include specifics on:

• Accessing driver records;
• Suggesting edits to driver records;
• Gathering and storing supporting documents;
• Transferring data to enforcement;
• Handling ELD malfunctions; and
• Auditing driver logs.

Consider Your Training Plan

Training will be a significant part of your company’s ELD implementation, and it’s essential to have a plan. Remember, it’s not just drivers that need to be trained. Managers, supervisors, and operations support will need training on the systems, too.

For these reasons, be sure your training plan includes all affected parties. Give plenty of time in your training plan and consider that you may need to train — and re-train — on some topics.

It’s going to take time for everyone to become comfortable with ELDs.

Use This Time Wisely

You now have some extra time to help yourself prepare for Canada’s ELD mandate but know that this time is limited. The progressive enforcement period will start as educational, but it’s not going to last forever. The provinces and territories will be working with industry to determine a reasonable enforcement timeline. More details about the exact timeline are expected in the coming weeks. For more insights from J. J. Keller compliance experts, sign up for our blog.

Use this extra time wisely. The more time you can spend communicating and planning, the better the outcome will be when switching to ELDs. Request a free copy of the Canadian Mandate Navigator, an informative infographic that shares details about the mandate timeline, differences between the US and Canadian mandates, and US and Canadian carrier considerations.

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