Starting a new trucking company isn’t easy, but it’s not just business owners that hate the headache. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) spends a lot of time and money every year doing safety audits. That’s why inspectors will now be doing “offsite safety audits” as well as in-person visits.
Every year, 34,000 motor carriers apply for their operating authority. The vast majority of those are small fleets and owner-operators. Scheduling an in-person review of insurance documents, driver records, and more can be difficult for both those truckers and the DOT safety auditors doing the work.
While it had been standard practice to allow for up to 18 months before a new carrier’s first safety audit, Congress asked to bring that down to 12 months. So, the DOT ran an 8-year pilot program in which Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) officers did offsite safety audits at select companies in 10 states.
Carriers would get a letter asking them to log in to an FMCSA website and upload their own documents for review.
According to the FMCSA, the offsite inspections save them time and money without compromising safety. But while some aspects of the safety audit seem to make perfect sense to conduct remotely, there are some safety and compliance issues which a ‘hands-off’ approach can miss.
For example: Paperwork for driver CDL info, drug and alcohol testing information, HOS logs, and insurance information will likely look the same online as in person. But while vehicle inspection records, registration info, and permitting seem straightforward, allowing them to be submitted remotely may let serious problems slip through the cracks that would be immediately apparent to a safety auditor on an in-person visit.
Offsite safety audits have been rolled out in all 50 states, though not all carriers are eligible.
Source: fleetowner
Just when you thought they couldn’t make the industry safer, they blow your minds with these brilliant ideas.
Lol
This is the way we did it. 5 years later, we are perfectly safe. You still have to submit all of your paperwork.
If ya don’t know how trucking works. How do ya promote safe audits. Government can’t make our roads safer by sitting at a desk in Washington. Lol. Even though you think you can!!! LMAO. Screw up another part of the industry..
What ??!! Do our JOBS ??????
See why the Trucking Industry is over 350,000 truckers short and is expected to reach 500,000 by the end of ‘20. The pay sucks, DOT are ball busters, congress wants to lower the trucking age to 18! This industry is very RAW! Make more money driving school buses than trucks! Pulling in $700 wkly( Gross) not including Food( Truck Stop) is expensive! The Food is Garbage! I’m a Vegetarian/ Vegan! There are truckers who eat very healthy! Whole Foods/ Trader Joe’s should take over at the truck stops! Adios to this industry! Not worth it!!!!!
I do think this driver shortage is a lie. Some of these mega carriers have 90% plus turnover. There’s so many drivers changing jobs so often they don’t really know if and by how many drivers they’re short. By the way carriers fire people sounds like they aren’t too worried about finding new drivers.
I don’t see the problem with allowing paperwork to be submitted remotely.
It’s not the paperwork running into the medians in the winter.
Owner ops and small fleets comprise well over 3/4 of the trucking businesses in this country, with drivers whose experience level and regard for safety far outweigh the attitudes of the “driver mill” drivers, the majority of whom are driving for the major carriers. The issue is with DRIVER safety not compliance. Tougher entry rules for drivers are what will make our roads safer. An owner op has much more to lose investment wise that a driver for a major carriers. Compliance checks will not change this.
For the inspections is ok for those companies that have more than two trucks.The owner with one truck if operate intrastate the paperwork work I agreed to be check and also devising the findings in the first inspection.
They showed their hand , it’s not about safety it’s about MONEY!!
The thing I find staggering from this article is that 34,000 companies apply for authority every year! How many of those are out of business in the first year or two, and even worse how many of those are just repops of companies trying to hide a shady safety record? Well that’s gonna be way easier now that no one is coming to check the operation out !
Its always for the company, why do drivers get the raw end of the stick every time ? Companies put unsafe trucks out and if a driver is stopped they get the ticket. I think a new rule should apply as well such as checking office personal for drugs. A lot of the office workers take drugs some prescribed that make them zoned out so they don’t care about the driver either.
Just another way to shut down the little guy, I’ve been an owner operator for 30years and since I’ve had my own authority the last 10 year’s I see all the B’s that the so called safety Dept try to tell us. It has nothing to do with safety it’s all about the almighty dollar,I think it’s time to get out of trucking
The best thing to do is be legal.
If your legal there should be no complaints..
You’re exactly right I just left the company because of being unsafe not repairing their trucks and expecting me to log out if I run out of time run it as unidentified miles. No thanks
The FMCSA and DOT are a joke,they think that passing regulations justifies their salaries however all it has done is destroy the industry.
Kinda goes along with drivers getting a CDL without any real training. Should work out fine.
Are you talking about driverless trucks or over the border?
Stupid truck drivers
Oida sucks no one cares about us stupid truck drivers we been getting the cock so often is no funny anymore
Time to grow at pair
Your missing all points if the parts on our trucks are recalls it’s our fault we didn’t know that.
You mean we can’t use zip ties bailing wire , duct tape or super glue any more ?
Look how many teams are hired not knowing one end of our trucks to the other let alone can describe the parts by name. A check off list a pretrip of guess what part of the rig it is for the day.
Go back to the beginning. The war on labor in this country began before 1776 with slavery. The war on labor continues. And, we are losing.
You no I’ve have been trucking for 37 years what the dot ,fmcsa ,the state workers state patrol sheriff’s DoT officers they need to realize they are our employees owner operators pay the most Taxes of any one on the roads
And more BS rolls out.
When u people gonna quit whining here and grow a pair and shut this nation down???
This is a more convenient way to submit paperwork but you still have an auditor call you and you still have to have your “duck in a row”. They aren’t letting things slide believe me. They question you and if they so choose, you will receive a site visit! It’s always in the best interest of the company, no matter how big or small, to make sure you are running a safe operation. More times than any the trucking company is the one assuming ALL responsibility, ALL the time. In other words, running an unsafe business will cost you far more than doing it the right way. It’s not worth cutting corners for the liability risks that we are responsible for. On every job site, on every load, on every road, you have to be safe and smart about it! Be safe out there! We all depend on it!
The government will keep intruding into our lives. They are proposing a bill at the moment to install speed limiters on all trucks. A max speed of 65 mph. What will that do for the industry.