FMCSA Opens Driver Records to Carriers
This story appears in the May 17 print edition of Transport Topics.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration opened its pre-employment screening program to carriers last week, allowing them to see the driving records of prospective hires.
“Starting today, commercial carriers will have an essential tool for making informed hiring decisions that will lead to safer drivers on our roads,” FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said in a May 10 statement. “The pre-employment screening program raises the safety bar for the motor carrier industry and helps to make our roads safer for everyone.”
Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express Inc., Dayton, Ohio, told Transport Topics on May 13 he and his safety director were reviewing records from the system just minutes before they conducted interviews.
“This is redefining how we hire people or how we keep people,” Burch said.
First announced at American Trucking Associations’ annual meeting in October, the program allows fleets to view drivers’ safety records — with their consent — for a fee (click here for previous story).
“ATA has advocated for a pre-employment screening program for the past eight years as another tool to help improve safety on our nation’s highways,” said Dave Osiecki, ATA senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs. “This new program will allow companies to better screen professional drivers they are considering hiring to put behind the wheel.
The screening will help “ensure that drivers with poor safety records are not allowed to hide their past actions,” Osiecki added.
According to FMCSA’s website, large fleets must pay a $100 annual fee to use the system and then $10 for every driver history requested. The annual fee for fleets of fewer than 100 trucks is $25, and an individual driver can get his or her own report for $10.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the system’s launch “sends a strong message to commercial carriers and drivers that we are serious about having the safest drivers behind the wheel of large trucks and buses.”
Jeff Davis, safety director at Jet Express, said the company would make granting access to driving records a condition of employment for drivers.
“Although it is not a requirement by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, I’m sure all top-notch carriers will go ahead and secure that information,” he said, adding that with Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 replacing FMCSA’s old SafeStat system, it’s even more critical that fleets use only the safest drivers.
However, Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, cautioned that fleets using the system might wind up disqualifying quality applicants.
“A lot of that information may or may not be relevant to whether an individual is a good driver,” Spencer said. “Many of the violations will be things that the driver has limited ability to control.”
Spencer also criticized the program as a favor to large trucking companies by the federal government.
“It’s curious that ATA and bigger carriers have been able to prevail on lawmakers to set up a program where they can outsource their [human resources] responsibilities,” he said.
