Use data to help hire qualified drivers

Take advantage of the resources available to you when seeking safe drivers

By Brad Schneider – Director of Underwriting for Transportation, Sentry Insurance

Your drivers are the biggest exposure for your trucking company. They can make or break your operation. So why take chances when it comes to the hiring process?

You have numerous data-driven resources, federal regulations, and industry associations—like the American Trucking Associations (ATA)—available to help guide you.

Before we review some of these options, let’s focus on one important reason you need good drivers behind the wheel: negligent entrustment.

What’s negligent entrustment and how can you mitigate the risk?

When you assign a driver to deliver your goods or services, it’s your duty to assign someone who’s competent. If your driver demonstrates improper behaviors and causes an incident, your business could be held liable in a negligent entrustment lawsuit.

One of the ways your company could be at risk is assigning duties to someone without exercising proper care, including—but not limited to—conducting background checks.

In a hypothetical example, let’s say you assign a young driver with little experience to deliver cargo. This driver, while traveling over the speed limit, hits another vehicle, injuring its occupants. Not only could your company be held liable for the occupant’s injuries and the vehicle, but you could also be held liable for punitive damages under negligent entrustment laws for not exercising proper care.

The following are some examples of demonstrating proper care involving your drivers.

Start with driver qualifications

Your first measuring stick when considering a prospective driver is whether they meet the requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

At minimum, qualified prospective drivers need to:

• Be at least 21 years old
• Pass a DOT physical
• Speak and read English well enough to interact with the public, understand highway traffic signs and signals, respond to official questions, and make legible entries on reports and records
• Pass a road test or equivalent
• Complete an application for employment

FMSCA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse

This clearinghouse provides you real-time access to important information about commercial driver’s license drug and alcohol program violations. As an employer, you’re required to register and report to this clearinghouse.

However, you can also perform queries with the clearinghouse to help you determine if prospective employees are prohibited from performing safety-sensitive functions due to unresolved drug and alcohol program violations. Depending on the type of query you’d like to conduct, you may need the driver’s consent beforehand.

Understand that records may not be up to date when you review them. Some violations may not appear until months after the violation has occurred.

You can find more information and FAQs on the FMCSA Clearinghouse website. Consult your legal, human resources, and safety professionals regarding appropriate ways to implement clearinghouse requirements in your workplace.

Examine Motor Vehicles Records (MVRs)

As part of your hiring practice, consider—based on your circumstances—reviewing MVRs of all candidates before selecting a driver. Major violations to look for include:

• Reckless driving, speed contest (racing), driving 15 mph or more over posted limit
• Leaving the scene of a crash (hit and run), evading arrest, misrepresentation to avoid arrest
• Homicide, assault, or felony by motor vehicle
• Driving while impaired (DUI/DWI) or illegal possession of drugs or alcohol
• Refusing an alcohol test
• Traffic violation resulting in fatality
• Driving while license is suspended, revoked, or has been denied

These violations are red flags when hiring. However, you’ll want to dig a little deeper for other warning signs. Look for behavior patterns that may surface. Did the driver change jobs often? Are there gaps in employment? These can be signs there were performance issues in the past.

Here, too, the data that appears on an MVR may not be up to date when you’re reviewing them. There are services available to alert you when a driver’s MVR changes. Consult your legal, human resources, and safety professionals for the proper way to conduct and use MVR checks and records.

InCheck: An employment screening solution for Sentry customers

InCheck provides comprehensive background and employment screening services. Accredited through the Professional Background Screening Association, InCheck helps deliver a picture of applicants—based on your organization’s requirements—to help you make the best hiring decisions possible.

InCheck also monitors state and national legal and regulatory changes that might affect you and your candidates, and keeps you informed along the way.

Consult with your human resources and legal professionals to make sure InCheck works for your employment setting.

We’re here to help you, too

Sentry trucking customers don’t have to navigate the hiring process alone. Our Safety Services team is available to help you meet your responsibilities under federal rules—including MVR and FMCSA clearinghouse checks.

Our consultants can help you develop a driver qualification file for each employee, conduct safety training, and provide reviews of your safety program.

We work with the ATA to understand the latest regulations and industry trends to educate trucking companies so you can be knowledgeable in the areas of driver hiring and retention and still continue to focus on the job at hand.

Together, we’re working to support the trucking industry and help keep the roads safer for everyone.

The information contained in this document is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual. IT IS DISTRIBUTED “AS-IS,” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES. NO MEMBER OF SENTRY INSURANCE GROUP WILL BE LIABLE TO ANY PERSON OR ENTITY WITH RESPECT TO ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES CAUSED, OR ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN CAUSED, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY BY THIS DOCUMENT, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH CLAIM IS BASED ON CONTRACT, WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE AND FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE AND DEATH) OR OTHER GROUNDS.

Property and casualty coverages are underwritten, and safety services are provided, by a member of the Sentry Insurance Group, Stevens Point, WI. For a complete listing of companies, visit sentry.com. Policies, coverages, benefits, and discounts are not available in all states. See policy for complete coverage details.