Story by: John Gallagher, Washington Correspondent @ FreightWaves.com

Federal regulators have denied a petition by UPS [NYSE: UPS] to be exempted from two requirements of the entry-level driver training (ELDT) final rule after finding the company failed to make a valid safety case for its request.

In its petition filed earlier this year, UPS contended that its own well-established training program effectively trains drivers, but if forced to comply with the rule’s specific instructor qualification requirements it would be unable to use at least 25% of its current certified driver instructors, thereby limiting its ability to meet the demand for new drivers.

The company also asked for a five-year exemption from a requirement that every training location be registered separately under the program’s Training Provider Registry, claiming it would place a “significant administrative burden” on its in-house training if it were required to register as many as 1,800 UPS locations where a new driver could be trained.

In both requests, however, UPS “has not demonstrated that it would likely achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent the requested exemptions,” the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) ruled in a decision published Dec. 6.

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Source and credits: freightwaves.com /John Gallagher /  iTrucker  / Mario Pawlowski