The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has developed an information clearinghouse to better ensure that drivers cannot conceal drug and alcohol violations by moving on to another job. There are no exemptions for municipalities.
 
The FMCSA Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is a secure online database that will give employers, the FMCSA, state driver licensing agencies, and state law enforcement personnel real-time information about commercial driver’s license (CDL) and commercial learner’s permit (CLP) holders’ drug and alcohol program violations.
 
An act of Congress directed the Secretary of Transportation to establish the Clearinghouse.
 
The clearinghouse will enable employers to identify drivers who commit a drug and alcohol program violation while working for one employer, but who fail to subsequently inform another employer (as required by current regulations).
 
FMCSA said that drivers are not required to register for the clearinghouse. However, a driver will need to be registered to provide electronic consent in the clearinghouse if a prospective or current employer needs to conduct a full query of the driver’s record. This will include all pre-employment queries beginning on January 6, 2020.
 
A driver must also be registered to electronically view the information in his or her own clearinghouse record.
 
Drivers who register before January 6, 2020, will have their clearinghouse accounts and contact preferences set up, allowing them to quickly respond to query requests from employers on or after January 6, 2020, FMCSA said.
 
Employers are required to enter data regarding drug and alcohol violations into the clearinghouse. This includes, but is not limited to, violation, and substance abuse professional program completion.
 
The system is now open for registration.
 
Additional information about the clearinghouse is available here.

We are a week away from the 25th Annual Water and Wastewater Operator’s Training Workshop, which will be held November 19-21 at Holiday Inn Northwest, Des Moines. You don’t want to miss it. To register, click here.
 
This yearly training is a must for any water and wastewater professionals wanting practical information to help them do their jobs. The three-day workshop includes basic and advanced topics on water treatment, water distribution, and wastewater. Attendees can earn up to 1.2 CEUs toward certification, plus get a chance to connect with other municipal water professionals from around the state as well as check out products and services from water-related vendors.

The freezing temperatures and bitter-cold wind chills of winter weather pose safety issues similar to those faced during the summer heat.

Surprisingly, research shows that winter cold kills more Americans than heat. Of the 2,000 deaths that occur due to inclement weather each year, 63% are caused by cold and only 31% by heat. For eight tips to help you manage the challenges and dangers of hypothermia and frostbite, check out the EMC Loss Control Insights article.

Each city and/or municipal wastewater treatment plant in the country should have already received a letter from the EPA notifying them about this voluntary study with instructions on how they can participate. 
 
The purpose of the study is to obtain nationwide data on nutrient removal to help set more realistic and achievable nutrient reductions, help Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) understand the range of opportunities to optimize nutrient removals based on data from their peers, and encourage improved POTW nutrient removal performance with less expense.
 
Iowa DNR participated in developing this study over the last two years and was able to help steer this study into something that the Iowa DNR thinks will be truly beneficial. 
 
This is a multi-phase effort, and the first phase of the study is a screener questionnaire. The goal of this questionnaire is to identify and characterize the full population of POTWs in the country that discharge to a water of the United States. The information will be used to help establish a baseline of nutrient performance at the national level for all POTWs.
 
The Iowa DNR is encouraging systems to complete the questionnaire, as its success will benefit POTWs in our state, nationwide, and all stakeholders involved in managing nutrients at the watershed level. You can find the survey at https://www.epa.gov/eg/potw-nutrient-survey
 
To help encourage participation, the Iowa DNR is offering CEUs to operators who participate in the study. An Iowa wastewater operator who completes the survey and submits a copy of the EPA competition certificate will receive 3 hours of CEUs. The EPA completion certificates should be emailed to Laurie Sharp for processing at laurie.sharp@dnr.iowa.gov. The Iowa DNR is hoping to have as many of Iowa's facilities represented as possible.
 
The EPA is hoping to get responses by Nov. 26 (the Tuesday before Thanksgiving).
 
If you have any questions, contact Adam Schnieders, Acting Water Quality Bureau Chief & Water Quality Resource Coordinator with the Iowa DNR, at 515-238-055 or by email at adam.schnieders@dnr.iowa.gov.
 
Here is a helpful link from EPA about the effort: https://www.epa.gov/eg/national-study-nutrient-removal-and-secondary-technologies 

Iowa One Call (IOC) has scheduled its annual Excavation Safety Awareness Meetings around the state for 2020. Registration for the meetings will be open soon on the IOC website. IAMU will post a link to the registration page when it becomes available. For now, mark your calendar for a date and location that works best for you.
 
January
7th – Johnston @ Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center
8th – Ames @ Radisson Hotel Ames Conference Center at ISU
14th – Carroll @ Carrollton Hotel & Event Centre
16th – Ottumwa @ Bridge View Center
21st – Waterloo @ Courtyard by Marriott Waterloo Cedar Falls
23rd – Fort Dodge @ Best Western Starlite Village Inn & Suites
29th – Cedar Rapids @ The Hotel at Kirkwood Center
30th – Riverside @ Riverside Casino & Golf Resort
 
March
10th – Mason City @ The Music Man Square
11th – Decorah @ Hotel Winneshiek & Opera House
17th – Council Bluffs @ Holiday Inn Council Bluffs @ Ameristar
18th – Sioux City @ Country Celebrations Event Center
19th – Spencer @ Clay Country Fair & Events Center
24th – Bettendorf @ Waterfront Convention Center
25th – Dubuque @ Grand River Center
26th – Atlantic @ Cass County Community Center
31st – Burlington @ Pzazz Resort Hotel

The IAMU Gas Department and KGM will offer a one-day Gas Metering & Measurement Training Workshop. The class will take place Wednesday, Dec. 18 at the IAMU Training and Office Complex.

This training opportunity is designed to provide natural gas personnel, regardless of experience, with a very specialized, in-depth training into natural gas metering and measurement. Proper natural gas measurement is critical to your utility’s success. Without the proper knowledge and understanding of natural gas measurement and measurement principles, your utility’s lost and unaccounted for gas may be inaccurate, you may receive customer complaints of “not enough gas” due to improper meter sizing, or you may be losing money due to inaccurate metering.

For more information or to register for the workshop, go to https://members.iamu.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1298855&group=

IAMU will host a free apprenticeship workshop during National Apprenticeship Week (Nov. 11-17). The “Establishing & Effectively Managing an Electric Apprenticeship” Workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the IAMU Office.
 
The workshop is designed for managers, journey workers, apprentices, and utility administrative staff involved in apprenticeship programs or would like to start a program. 

• The morning session is geared toward those interested in establishing an electric apprenticeship program at their city/utility. 
  
  
• The afternoon session is geared toward those already in a program OR the morning people to go over their responsibilities as set out by the DOL Standard. 

 
IAMU will host an Appreciation Lunch for everyone that day, complete with door prizes and other giveaways.
 
To register, click here.

The Iowa Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) has a Work Zone Sign Package Program that gives small cities in Iowa (less than 10,000 population) an opportunity to receive work zone signs and devices.
 
In the past, LTAP has only offered this package program to cities that had attended work zone safety training or other LTAP-sponsored events within the last three years. This year, the committee wanted to open the program to all cities in Iowa within the population range. This year, small cities that have taken work zone safety training, either through the Work Zone Safety Series or through IAMU, will receive bonus points on their applications.
 
For more information about this opportunity or to apply, go to https://iowaltap.iastate.edu/iowa-ltap-work-zone-sign-package-program/
 
The deadline to apply is Nov. 29, 2019.

The 25th Annual Water and Wastewater Operator’s Training Workshop will be held November 19-21, 2019, at Holiday Inn Northwest, Des Moines. To register, click here. Early registration deadline is Friday, Nov. 8!
 
This yearly training is a must for any water and wastewater professionals wanting practical information to help them do their jobs. The three-day workshop includes basic and advanced topics on water treatment, water distribution, and wastewater. Attendees can earn up to 1.2 CEUs toward certification, plus get a chance to connect with other municipal water professionals from around the state as well as check out products and services from water-related vendors.

Distracted driving causes vehicle accidents and deaths. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 3,166 traffic fatalities, or 8.5% of traffic deaths, in the United States in 2017 were linked to driver distraction. However, there is some disagreement on how much distracted driving can be attributed to cell phone use.

A 2018 study by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) indicates that between 2014 and 2018, cell phone use while driving rose 57%. On the other hand, NHTSA estimates that the prevalence of drivers using hand-held or hands-free cell phones decreased from 9% of drivers in 2012 to 5.3% in 2017. To learn more about smart phone use and distracted driving, check out EMC Insurance’s Loss Control Insights article.