Department of Transportaion health regulations on team driving?

Question

Are there any DOT regulations, health regulations, that involve team driving in commercial carriers (semis, 18 wheelers, etc.) ? Specifically: My husband has a truck generally assigned to him by his employer. It is a sleeper cab (with a twin size bed behind the driver's seat). The bedding on this bed are his own, we launder them weekly. His employer, at different times, has expected him to team drive. This means a co-worker, unrelated to him (as teams are sometimes husband and wife) sleeps in "his" bed and then he would sleep back in it when the co-worker is driving. Ok, yick and yuck. Are there specific DOT regs involving team driving and health issues? I have looked at DOT site and found nothing that applies and of course called and got disconnected, voicemail, wrong dept., etc.

Answer 1

I don't think there are any regulations regarding this issue.  I believe there should be something in your husbands contract about team driving.  I know my company does not ever "require"  someone to drive team.  Maybe he should find someone else to drive for if its that big of a problem for you.  To ease your mind there are very few true health risks to sharing bedding.  Hope things work out for you.

Answer 2

You're going about this the difficult way...

When those times occur that he is expected to drive team with someone else...

Get A Sleeping Bag !

And insist the other driver do the same !

If they refuse to agree, talk to your safety department.

Answer 3

Nope no regulations on sharing bedding. While it's nice to have double bunks it's not required.

Answer 4

I don't know of any but I understand you completely and there should be something.  

Try checking The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Department of Health and Human Services and see if they can help you and good luck.

Answer 5

I don't think there are any DOT regulations on this subject, and no real way to enforce them if there were.  Team drivers are expected to provide their own bedding (sleeping bag or sheets & blankets.) and most trucks set up for team driving have two bunks in the sleeper.  If the other guy doesn't have his own bedding, then he's just going to have to sleep on a bare matress, cause the only person I share blankets with is my wife!