At STC, one of the services we provide is conducting mock DOT compliance reviews for motor carriers seeking an outside assessment of their compliance posture and processes. This means that, over the years, we’ve reviewed thousands of driver qualification and vehicle maintenance files, assessed scores of drug and alcohol testing programs and reviewed countless records of duty status’ in search of hours of service (HOS) violations. In reflection, we thought it might be useful to convey some of the lessons we’ve learned over the years for the benefit of our faithful readers.

This month we’ll focus on driver qualification files (DQF) violations. Ironically, despite compliance with DQF rules being one of the more time consuming and frustrating rulesets we deal with in the trucking industry, there are remarkably few critical and acute violations associated with them. That said, 23% of the enforcement cases closed already this calendar year included a violation of DQF rules or one that could have been avoided with good DQF protocols by carriers. In total, combined fines in these cases accumulated nearly $400,000.

The most common violation is for failure to maintain driver qualification files (49 CFR §391.51(a)). We see this most often in companies whose primary business is something other than trucking. Here, we often see those charged with hiring following the same procedures for its other non-driving employees. Many of these companies are aware of the added risk of employees driving heavy equipment and frequently add additional checks to the process (e.g. obtaining a photocopy of the commercial driver’s license or reviewing the driver’s state motor vehicle record) but lack the formality and thoroughness required by regulation.

Often, this is because for many of these businesses, hiring is, by its very nature, mostly a function of the human resources department. Human resource departments are often very good at evaluating the background and character of a prospective employee but are less savvy when it comes to knowing how to evaluate driving history. They tend to be very knowledgeable in adhering to privacy protections but have an incomplete understanding of the types of background investigations and other DQF elements required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. We also see some carriers missing deadlines for recurring DQF compliance requirements such as medical certifications, annual MVR checks and annual reviews. Unfortunately, many of these businesses remain unaware of their non-compliance until they’re already in the soup; stopped on roadside or caught up in a compliance review.

In these cases, we often need to work with clients to eliminate barriers between transportation and human resources departments, which almost always requires educating them on reasons the transportation department needs to be involved in hiring from the very beginning and to remain in the loop through the end, as well as post hire once the driver has been onboarded. While the driver qualification process sometimes feels like a frustrating paper chase, avoiding hiring your problems and ensuring you are on top of the recurring requirements can pay dividends in the long run.