Section 1550.10  Purpose, Scope and Application

a)         The purpose of this Part is to prescribe regulations establishing minimum standards for the safe transportation of employees to and from their places of employment and during the course of their employment.

b)         These regulations shall have to apply to every motor vehicle acquired after the effective date hereof, which is designated primarily for highway use and which is used to transport employees whether or not used on a public highway, including motor vehicles regularly assigned to a gang or crew with headquarters or assembly point within Illinois, and including motor vehicles headquartered elsewhere but frequently used in Illinois.  Motor vehicles owned or operated prior to effective date hereof are not required to conform with these regulations, but motor vehicles purchased, leased or otherwise acquired after the effective date of these regulations (including those previously used in other states and reassigned for regular use in Illinois, but not including existing vehicles assigned to system gangs even though such system gangs may be temporarily working in Illinois) shall conform hereto. These regulations shall not apply to taxicabs or other vehicles licensed by competent authority to transport the public, and used by a railroad to transport its employees.

c)         All owners of such motor vehicles, and their duly appointed agents, and the drivers of such vehicles shall abide by all safety orders issued to them by the Commission.

d)         It is recognized that these regulations cannot cover all contingencies, and, accordingly, the Commission, upon written application or upon its own motion, may in a particular case, after notice and hearing, modify or grant exceptions to any of these regulations where their effect is unduly burdensome, or may prescribe higher standards than those herein prescribed where such higher standards are necessary for the safety of employees.

e)         In time of emergency, vehicles not complying with these regulations may be used.  An emergency shall be considered as existing when rail traffic has been stopped or disrupted (or where there is a threat of stoppage or disruption) because of derailment, accident, storm, fire, flood, or other similar condition.  Winter weather requiring the removal of snow and ice from flange ways and switches or station platforms shall not be considered an emergency, except as set forth above.

f)         Terms used in these regulations, other than those specifically defined, shall be interpreted in the most commonly accepted sense.