SAFETY DAWG Chris Harris
What Makes for a Good or Great ELD? As Canada moves forward with the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate, many of my clients are asking, ‘What should I look for in an ELD’? What a great question. Many companies right now are looking at their options. For all the companies that go stateside, they of course already have an ELD. But does that ELD meet the Canadian requirements? The very first item that all trucking companies need to look at is if they (the ELD provider) are listed on the Transport Canada approved website? https:// tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/ electronic-logging-devices/list-certifiedelectronic-logging-devices In Canada, the Government correctly chooses to have ELD vendors ‘Approved’. In the USA, the DOT decided to have a ‘Self-Approved’ process. This means that a provider only has to say that their device meets all the DOT criteria. It has been proven that not all self-approved ELDs meet the criteria. It is estimated that between 25% to 50% don’t meet the government stated criteria. In Canada, our transportation sector made third-party testing part of the mandate. Each device supplier must pay for the cost of testing with no guarantee that they will be approved. All this is to say that third-party testing is necessary in Canada.
18 • OVER THE ROAD
So, the first thing to look for, is the device approved? If you are looking at a device that is not yet on the approved list and you are going to purchase the device on the word of the salesperson who is saying ‘Don’t worry, we are going to be approved’, ask them to put in writing that you will not be out any money if the device does not get approved. In other words, you want to know that they will buy back the devices and refund any installation costs that put you out of pocket. And this needs to be decided well before June of 2022. Why June of 2022? That is the date when many of the provinces will begin hard enforcement. This means they will be writing tickets and possibly be putting trucks out of service if they don’t have a Canadian compliant ELD system. So, the guarantee needs a date that is well before June 2022. i.e., March 30, 2022. This way, it will still give you three months to select a new provider. But remember that the closer that we get to June 22, the more shortages that we are likely to see with the suppliers. So, March may be too late. I’m telling my clients that the devices need to be approved no later than December 31, 2021. This way, the client can select a new ELD supplier early in 2022, get the devices, install them, and train the drivers and dispatchers, all before the crunch of June 2022. In other words, don’t wait to make your choice.
NOVEMBER 2021
