The Company's operations are regulated and licensed by various federal, provincial, state, local and foreign government agencies in the United States and Canada. In the United States, the Company and its drivers must comply with the safety and fitness regulations of the DOT and the agencies within the states that regulate transportation, including those regulations relating to drug- and alcohol-testing and hours-of-service. Weight and equipment dimensions also are subject to government regulations. The Company also may become subject to new or more restrictive regulations relating to fuel emissions, environmental protection, drivers' hours-of-service, driver eligibility requirements, on-board reporting of operations, collective bargaining, ergonomics, and other matters affecting safety, insurance, and operating methods. Other agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also regulate the Company's equipment, operations, drivers, and the environment. The Company conducts operations outside of the United States, and is subject to analogous governmental safety, fitness, weight and equipment regulations and environmental protection and operating standards, as well as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which generally prohibits United States companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining favorable treatment. Any investigation of any actual or alleged violations of such laws could also harm the Company's reputation or have a material adverse impact on its business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
The methodology used to determine a carrier's safety rating could be changed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and, as a result, the Company's acceptable safety rating could be impaired. In particular, the FMCSA continues to utilize the three safety fitness rating scale: "satisfactory," "conditional," and "unsatisfactory"-to assess the safety fitness of motor carriers and the Company currently has a "satisfactory" FMCSA rating on 100% of its fleet. While the Company believes the FMCSA will update its records and grant a "satisfactory" rating, there can be no guarantee that this rating will occur. Accordingly, the Company's market opportunities could remain constrained, as many customers require a rating of "satisfactory". However, pursuant to a 2015 federal statutory mandate, the FMCSA commissioned the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study and report upon the CSA program and its underlying Safety Measurement System (SMS), which is the FMCSA's process for identifying patterns of non-compliance and issuing safety-fitness determinations for motor carriers. In June 2017, the NAS published a report on the subject providing specific recommendations and concluding, among other things, that the FMCSA should explore a more formal statistical model to replace the current SMS process. In June 2018, the FMCSA posted its response to the NAS study in a report to Congress, concluding, among other things, that it would develop and test a new model, the Item Response Theory (IRT), which would replace the SMS process currently used. The FMCSA was expected to commence small scale testing of the IRT model as early as September 2018, with full scale testing expected to occur in April 2019 and possible program roll-out expected to occur in late 2019 but the testing schedule has been delayed. The FMCSA's June 2018 response is under audit by the DOT Inspector General to assess consistency with the NAS recommendations, and the audit findings will guide the agency's actions and timing with respect to testing of the IRT model as a potential replacement for the SMS, in the event and to the extent that the FMCSA adopts the IRT model in replacement of the SMS or otherwise pursues rulemakings in the future that revise the methodology used to determine a carrier's safety rating in a manner that incorporates more stringent standards, then it is possible that the Company and other motor carriers could be adversely affected, as compared to consideration of the current standards. If the Company were to receive an unsatisfactory CSA score, whether under the current SMS process, the IRT model, should it be finalized, and adopted, or as a result of some other safety-fitness determination, it could adversely affect the Company's business as many of its existing customer contracts have a prohibition against doing business with carriers that have an "unsatisfactory" DOT safety rating, and an unsatisfactory rating could negatively impact or restrict the Company's operations.
The FMCSA published a final rule in December 2015 mandating the use of Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) for commercial motor vehicle drivers to measure their compliance with hours-of-service requirements by December 18, 2017. The 2015 ELD final rule generally applies to most motor carriers and drivers who are required to keep records of duty status, unless they qualify for an exception to the rule, and the rule also applies to drivers domiciled in Canada and Mexico. Under the 2015 final rule, motor carriers and drivers subject to the rule were required to use either an ELD or an automatic onboard recording device (AOBRD) compliant with existing regulations by December 18, 2017. However, the AOBRDs were only permitted to be used until December 16, 2019, provided those devices were put into use before December 18, 2017. Starting December 16, 2019, all carriers and drivers subject to the 2015 final rule must use ELDs. Commencing with the December 18, 2017 effective date, the Company and other motor carriers subject to the 2015 rule are required to use ELDs or AOBRDs in their operations.
The Company is subject to various environmental laws and regulations governing, among other matters, the operation of fuel storage tanks, release of emissions from its vehicles (including engine idling) and facilities, and adverse impacts to the environment, including to the soil, groundwater, and surface water. The Company has implemented programs designed to monitor and address identified environmental risks. Historically, the Company's environmental compliance costs have not had a material adverse effect on its results of operations; however, there can be no assurance that such costs will not be material in the future or that such future compliance will not have a material adverse effect on the Company's business and operating results.
The Company also has vehicle maintenance operations at certain of its facilities. The Company's operations involve the risks of fuel spillage or seepage into the environment, discharge of contaminants, environmental and natural resource damage, and unauthorized hazardous material spills, releases, or disposal actions, among others. Some of the Company's operations are at facilities where soil and groundwater contamination have occurred. If the Company is found to be responsible for such contamination or spills,the Company could be subject to costs and liabilities, including costs for remediation, environmental natural resource damages and penalties.
We cannot predict the nature of any future laws, regulations, interpretations, or applications, nor can we determine what effect such additional regulation, when and if it occurs, would have on our business in the future. Such additional regulation could require, however, any or all of the actions listed below, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations:
- the reformulation of certain products to meet new standards - the recall or discontinuance of certain products and/or services - additional record keeping - expanded documentation of the properties of certain products - revised, expanded or different labeling - additional scientific substantiation