Self-Auditing the Driver Logbook: Ensuring You’re Ready for a DOT Visit

Staying on top of driver logbook issues is one of the primary duties you have as a trucking company owner. Self-auditing this important record is one of many steps you should take to ensure that you’re in compliance with DOT regulations.

Making sure you comply with these rules is more important than ever since the passage of the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010). CSA 2010 created a Safety Measurement System (SMS) for crash data and roadside violations over the previous two years. This act provides severe penalties for those companies that fail to meet its standards. Here are some of the areas that the DOT auditors will be looking at:

• The accident registry – what the DOT wants to see is less than 1.5 reportable accidents per million miles. More than that will automatically give your company a “conditional” rating. Once the driver logbook audit is completed, that rating could be further downgraded to “unsatisfactory.”
• Drug and alcohol testing – the DOT mandates pre-employment, random, post-accident, and random cause testing. As company owner, you’re also responsible for creating a drug and alcohol policy and handing it out to your drivers. Each driver must sign a receipt acknowledging that he or she has received a copy. These receipts must be readily available to DOT auditors when they arrive.
• Driver records – the DOT will want to see that you know when your driver’s CDLs are up for renewal. They will also want to verify that you ran background checks on each one prior to hiring them.
• Driver logbook records – be sure you have at least the prior six months on hand for the DOT to examine. To ensure everything goes smoothly, you should audit these yourself before the agents show up.

As you can see, running a trucking company requires keeping up with a huge amount of paperwork. Fortunately, TruckingOffice makes that easy, with its dozens of easy-to-use features designed specifically for the needs of truckers like you. But don’t take our word for it; take our software for a free 30-day test drive and see for yourself.