Are Logbook Notations Required When Changing Duty Status?

I was told today that if you log on duty and don’t have any remarks that it’s a DOT violation. From what I was taught and read, I thought you only had to log location eg city, state when you do a change of status but nothing required as far as a remark about what activity you are doing. Can someone clarify this?

Aka- annotations.

I’ve always used them for things like PTI, fueling, deliveries, yard move, post-trip, etc. It’s easy on my QC; there are drop-downs with many options. Got into that habit long ago.

Other than showing an on-duty period for PTI of no less than 15 minutes per day, not really sure if it’s a citable violation. ???

Change of status location is automatically tagged by the ELD and telemetry systems on most trucks if so equipped. Go into your daily bar graph and touch the intersecting bars where a change of status occurred and the name of the locale will display.

I’ll ask around and check FMCSA website for guidance. To be safe I’d er on the side of caution and use the remarks to annotate the type of work being performed. Eliminates any questions an officer might have during an inspection.

On e-logs you must absolutely show what it was that you were doing during every onduty period. Any on duty time with no remarks IS a DOT violation. On ours we have a pull down menu list of remarks like pre or post trips, fueling, scaling, etc or we can type in a custom remark as well.

On e-logs you must absolutely show what it was that you were doing during every onduty period. Any on duty time with no remarks IS a DOT violation. On ours we have a pull down menu list of remarks like pre or post trips, fueling, scaling, etc or we can type in a custom remark as well.

On e-logs you must absolutely show what it was that you were doing during every onduty period. Any on duty time with no remarks IS a DOT violation. On ours we have a pull down menu list of remarks like pre or post trips, fueling, scaling, etc or we can type in a custom remark as well.

Thanks Susan. There yah have it...a trainer knows best.

Like I said, I’ve always noted what I am doing...using a similar drop down as Susan described. Never gave it a second thought.

Haven’t found anything on FMCSA website supporting this requirement though. Not the easiest thing to navigate...way-TMI.

Our logs compliance person constantly writes up drivers/repeat offenders for this.

Also, you must approve your e-logs every day. It's the equivalent of signing your old paper logs when that log page is complete. You are certifying that your legs are complete and correct.

Hahaha logs not legs.

I always make a notation when I'm changing duty status with the exception of when I'm starting on the drive line - that one is obvious. When I first switch to on duty after my ten hour break at a customer's location I may put something like this: "pre-trip inspection, and picking up pre-loaded trailer."

Now, let's say my load has three stops. When I arrive at the first stop I will switch to on duty and put this for my note: "arrive at stop." If I switch to off duty or sleeper berth I will just put "break" for the note. If I've switched to off duty or sleeper berth while at a customer I will put myself on duty just before leaving and make an entry like this: "signing bills and depart stop." I will continue this same method until I reach the consignee and then when I switch to on duty I will put, "arrive at consignee."

You also need to keep your trailer and load details current for each load. Your ELD should have a place where you can enter the trailer number, the license plate number and state that it's registered in. You also need to show the current bill of lading number and the shipper's name.

I put the bold emphasis on that one piece of advice because I've found a lot of new drivers don't realize this needs to be done. It's a very common citation when a thorough officer looks into your logs.

The notes are definitely a requirement for your logs. G-Town is correct about the entries for location...

Change of status location is automatically tagged by the ELD and telemetry systems on most trucks if so equipped.

Those entries are automatically processed by the truck's electronic system.

Absolutely Old School.. I tend to forget about that one since our load tab auto-populates that info for us. We only get a grim reminder if the system glitches and fails to auto-populates and we have to go back and manually enter the trailer/load info

our load tab auto-populates that info for us.

That's cool. I've thought it would be easy for it to be set up that way, but I always have to enter mine manually. I guess we're not as advanced technologically as I think we should be.

I wish my load tab would auto-populate. On days I’ve got multiple drop and hook stops, it’s possible to have 4 entries in there for a single day...