CONDITIONAL RATING!!!! LOOKING FOR OTHERS WITH THERE OWN AUTHORITY FOR ADIVCE

It is a really easy thing to fix, happens a lot. You won't take a hit like some say, I've looked at one fleet which had a lot more wrong but they were getting the work and their insurance didn't go up much.

However I have to ask this, if you are a fleet owner, how did you not do these things as part of your business routine?

I mean a lot of fleet owners become lazy and think they need to get a driver in the truck or else they lose a lot of money but when the FMCSA comes in and does an audit and finds things wrong, then they lose money correcting the problems.

Maybe you need to get it together by putting together a checklist for hiring, one for truck maintenance and so on.

YOU make it a habit to follow them no matter what.

When a problem crops up like a L1 and a violation, have a corrective checklist to follow to ensure it is fixed then file that with the truck records.

The same goes for a new hire, a check list to follow so nothing it missed, if you don't do the driver intake but someone else does, have them sign it then you check it and sign off on it and it goes into the driver's file for proof that everything was done.

I have done this because I may have three people touch an issue, not one of us is in the same building and we can communicate through email or through a phone conversation but something is missed.

I've written them up in a matter of hours, put them on line at the company website so they can be printed off and I also have copies of them in binders at the office and here at home so there is no excuse that someone can't find them.

I have them for new hires, rehires, dismissals, truck purchases, truck maintenance, truck disposal, broker engagements, new company leasing, medical treatment, and especially with accidents.

These are created around my company's needs, so I do not suggest you get those that are on line but create your own to fit your needs.

 

Im not trying to beat the system, but could you have moved the start date by 15 days on paper? We are small as well and things happen, just wondering. I know we are dealing with the all powerful FMCSA

 

I just went to an audit where this was an issue. We hired a driver who was pretty hard up for money, but we had to wait for his passport and drug test before he could drive. So we put him to work on the farm doing some construction, and had him do some mechanicing on the farm vehicles. Inspector lasered in on that like a moth to a flame. Turns out we got the results the day he started driving, but he dug and dug and dug to see if he could catch us there.

 

Well I would have put him down as general labor, not truck driver in my book and then when he was already with his passport and drug screen, I would have just crossed it off and put down truck driver. Having a non-dot employee won't effect anything under your authority, but processing him as one can tag you so it is better to make him a non-dot employee until the paper work is all in place and if there is any questions, then you can say "well we didn't know he had a cdl until he asked if he could drive a truck".

 

Didn't make a difference in this case, the farm and the trucking company are different LLC's, but the trucking company leases the employees from the farm LLC for benefits purposes. Once he found a check without a drug test, the hunt was on. Payroll data was part of the audit.

 

Ok I get how you have it structured. Sometimes these regs have no latitude.