Welcome back and thanks for reading The Bottom Line! I’m writing from the American Trucking Association Convention in Phoenix. Sorry to mention it, but the weather is perfect!
Anyway, on to business…a big topic this year, as you might imagine, is the implementation of CSA 2010 and its impact on the industry. Over the next several entries I’m going to concentrate on separate and specific topics discussed at the show. The ATA has done a great job compiling some of the industry’s top experts on each subject and much of what they’re saying is worth repeating.
Today I’m going to concentrate on the PSP (PreScreening Program) that the new CSA 2010 regulation makes possible for trucking companies to use when hiring.
While not perfect, the PSP is almost exactly what the doctor ordered for companies to better screen new hires. (New Hires Only…regulations do not allow trucking companies to go back and do a history report on current drivers…although in my opinion you shouldn’t need to since you already have the data) In the past you would check MVRs, question a potential new hire on moving violations and the insurance companies wouldn’t insure a driver with a prohibitively bad record, etc. Now, though, you will have access to a driver’s FULL driving history…including roadside data, like OOS violations for being overweight or an equipment violation, etc.
There are some pros and cons to having this information. For example, there will be no way to tell whether a driver’s equipment violations are the driver’s fault or the result of shoddy maintenance by his previous employer, or if a driver’s multiple overweight OOS violations are a result of something that’s the driver’s responsibility or his company repeatedly sending him out with over weight loads…
Moreover, there are no industry standards yet developed for what should be acceptable and what shouldn’t…we haven’t had a very good tracking system in the past for driver OOS violations, so what will the industry develop as a standard? What will the insurance companies eventually accept? Can drivers sue their previous employers for being unemployable if their PSP report shows too many violations and the driver contends that the OOS violations are the company’s fault? There are a lot of unanswered questions, though there is one question that has a definite answer…
“Do I have to use the system when hiring?”
My opinion: YES.
Remember, the resources available to you today will be available to the attorney suing you tomorrow. If you hire a driver without checking the PSP and documenting the explanations for the violations and how you’ve tried to eliminate a particular driver’s issues from continuing, etc, you stand to get creamed in front of a jury. The courts in America believe that you have an obligation to the public to qualify drivers as well as you possibly can, which means screening the PSP, checking references, and documenting your files when you make a decision. Juries don’t generally get mad when a driver makes a mistake, but they do get mad when a trucking company makes a mistake.
Never before has documenting your decision-making and practicing sound hiring procedures been more important than it is today.
The Bottom Line: As in all parts of your business, you have to make sure you put your business into a defensible position when hiring. Do your due diligence, document your files, and make sound decisions.
Hopefully you’ll check back soon to see our weekly updates. And always, if you have any questions for the Truck Insurance Pro…please just let us know and we’ll get back to you ASAP!
Keep on Rollin’!
Jason Stevenson
Truck Insurance Pro
a division of
The Hoffman Group
800.826.4006
jstevenson@thehoffmangrp.com
Comments
This entire CSA PSP regulation is flat out UNCONSTITUTIONAL . There is no reason for this regulation . Any and all driving violations are availible on the state MVR . If you have had an accident that is serious , IT WILL BE ON YOUR STATE MVR . If you have a speeding ticket ,DUI, DWI it is there . back ground check ,if you have been arrested for ANYTHING all you need to do is a basic criminal background check NCIC check . NO ONE and I mean NO ONE at FMCSA has any idea about driving a truck or what this industry is about or the life style . None of them have a clue as to what goes on out here and what goes on with these companies , shippers and receivers . DAC is nothing but a way for companies to DISTROY LIVES and that is what it did to me and thousands of other drivers and it is still in use , It is abused and nothing is being done about it , Again ,there is no reason for it to even exist .
No one wants to admit that the reason so many crashes between trucks and cars is the fault of the car driver THAT IS A FACT . The amount of “fatigued driver ” accidents is nill. If a driver is involved in a crash and really is fatigued you can bet your @$$ he is being forced to be on the road in order to pick or deliver a load that his dispatcher has told him IT MUST GET THERE OR ELSE . No one talks about that . No one is going after the companies that are pushing drivers . I want to be fair so lets mention the driver greed factor, Drivers who are making good money and just want more . CSA 2010 has nothing to do with safety , the amount of crashes has dropped drastically on its own in the last 5 to 10 years . CSA 2010 has everything to do with CHEAP LABOR and money for the states and federal government .The big companies are all in favor of CSA PSP because it legally allows them to get rid of and not hire more expirenced drivers who make higher wages . Why should they keep a driver with 4 or more years on the road when they can get a brand new student 1 year or less and pay him .27cpm. What the companies did not expect was that they are now being help accountable for their short comings . The biggest problem with PSP CSA is , there are thousands of companies who REFUSE to make repairs on crappy equipment , and the dirver is being charged with violations that are out of his control . This just happen to me . I was torn appart by the massive abuse of DAC and after many many years of fighting I gave up . I have spent from 2006 until today working for companies that pay very little , treat drivers like dogs and have been driving very poorly maintained equipment . For the last three years I have been working for a company based in NJ , the owner is well known and he is simply a greedy , none caring multi millionare criminal who should have been sent to prison back in the mid 80′s .
I have been stuck in this company and have been waitng out my DAC record problems . 7 months ago , I applied to a well paying company and I was told to wait 6 months so my DAC record entries would be past the 3 year mark . I gladly did what was asked . After 6 months I reapplied and was told that their safety Dept will clear me for hire May 1st . On May first, my three year look back would be clear . after several days of waiting to hear back from this company , I called and was told that because of 1 DOT inspection , I had racked up what amounts to 60 psp points . The two recruiters spent days fighting with the insurance company , the recruiters and safety dept argued that the violations had NOTHING to do with me , all of the violations were written to the company .The DOT officer found that the company had done a PM and a Federal Inspection and had not fixed anything , They simply signed off on everything and put a sticker on the truck. The company shopes knew what was wrong with this truck , they have been shown many times and it has been written up over and over and nothing was ever done , Not driving is not an option !!!!!!! Changing to a different truck is just getting out of one junk heap right into another .
Let me tell you what the result of this is . I was married in 2007 to a Filipino girl and we were married in the Philippines,she is still there with our daughter . I spent three weeks with her . I have not been able to go back home since we were married , our daughter was born while I have been here . My plan was to get into a good company as a lease driver and make enough money to build our home in PH and move there for good . It would have only taken 2 or 3 years to meet my goal. I was hired by a as a lease driver and with in my 90 day probation time. I was run off the road at a shipper and did damage to the trailer and with in that same hour , while getting the truck back to the dock to off load the freight, someone backed out of their parking spot with out looking and hit the trailer . I was terminated and was told I could return after 6 months , THEY LIED . Because I now have 60 points on my PSP through NO FAULT OF MY OWN, I had to inform my wife that I will never see her again . I barley make enough money to take care of her and my daughter and I sure as hell dont make enough to keep my bills paid here . You tell me , What am I supposed to do ???? I dont even make enough money to save for a plane ticket to go home to spend any time with her and meet my daughter . The responses I have been getting are ” OH WELL ” ” TO BAD ” NOT MY PROBLEM ” and on and on . I ask you this …. WHY ARE DRIVERS BEING CHARGED WITH PSP POINTS FOR VIOLATIONS THAT ARE OUT OF DRIVER CONTROL ?????
Kevin,
I’m sorry to hear about your situation. It’s a bad string of luck for sure. Additionally, if you have incorrect information on your PSP profile, you can (and SHOULD) contest the information. The process to contest is simple, actually. Go to the following site: http://dadaqs.fmcsa.dot.gov/login.asp. Once there you can submit a Request for Data Review (RDR).
Hopefully this helps…good luck!
Jason Stevenson