Received notice of my first FMCSA audit...

Had my safety audit this morning. No issues whatsoever.

The auditor told me she has never had anyone come to an audit with a spriral bound documentation notebook like mine

 

In addition, I had a 100% passing grade, not even a recommendation.

 

A heads up to all new entrants waiting for your safety audit. One of things that they look for right away is the "Driver Qualification Records".

It's very important to have on file an application of employment from yourself applying to your own company, with all the supplemental documentation.

I know it sounds weird, but that's one area they catch a lot of new carriers not doing properly.

 

I had 6 months of logs available for her printed out in .pdf via the logging software I use, BigRoad. I also had 6 mos of fuel receipts included. With a smile I encouraged her to find one log where I flagged a fuel stop that didn't have a corresponding fuel receipt. She looked at one log and receipt and closed the notebook

 

No. I've had 3 random level 1 inspections in the past year, all in California. Each time the officer asked me if I was using "electronic" logging. I reply. yes! They don't even look.

 

He received a 2nd ticket because there was a gap of time not shown on the ELD and he couldn't justify that time gap by a paperlog.

The regs require the usage of a paperlog in the event the ELD malfunctions or you switch vehicles to one that doesn't have an ELD.

 

I'll add to that by saying guys will sometimes unplug their unit when fudging their logs.

Most smaller company safety departments will turn a blind eye at it, until you get caught by a smart officer like that guy did you linked to.

I suspect that's what that driver was doing.