Hiring Safe, Reliable Drivers
In the trucking industry, hiring safe, reliable drivers is always a number one priority. Drivers with histories of crashes and incidents that take drivers out of service are not only costly for your business, but can put lives at risk. Gaining reliable information on your candidates’ crash and inspection records can give you confidence that every driver you send out onto the road will be a credit to your business, and ensure that both passengers and goods will make it to their destinations safely. That’s why it’s essential to run a pre-employment screening on every candidate you consider hiring. The best way to ensure that every driver you sign on is going to meet the high expectations that you have for safety is to take advantage of the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) to run a comprehensive crash and inspection checks on each prospective hire.Make Informed Hiring Decisions
"The carriers using PSP were able to reduce their crash rates by an average of 8% and driver out-of-service incidents by 17.2%"
The Pre-Employment Screening Program started in 2010 as an initiative by the Federal Motor and Carrier Safety Administration with the goal of improving overall highway safety. The PSP system allows carriers to make better-informed hiring decisions based on crash and inspection reports for each driver over the past several years. Every time a driver is involved in a crash or has their vehicle inspected, the records of each instance are kept in state databases and periodically submitted to the Department of Transportation. The Department of Transportation then uploads those reports monthly into the PSP system, and makes those records available to carriers, industry service providers, and the drivers themselves. All data handled by PSP adheres to the strict guidelines set forth by the Privacy Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and all other applicable federal laws and access to the PSP service is restricted to account holders and drivers, and request for a PSP report for a carrier or industry service provider has to be submitted with written consent by the driver.
A “Voluntary Must”
Although the Pre-Employment Screening Program is completely voluntary for carriers, it should be a must for your business. The impact that PSP can and has made in carrier safety is significant. After implementing the PSP, FMCSA conducted a study to see how well their initiative was working at improving highway safety. After evaluating over 5,476 carriers who implemented pre-employment screening with PSP over the course of a year, FMCSA found that their safety ratings improved significantly more than carriers who didn’t take advantage of PSP. The carriers using PSP were able to reduce their crash rates by an average of 8%, and reduced the number of driver out-of-service incidents by 17.2%. Over the course of the year that the study took place, the FMCSA estimated that over 863 crashes, and 3,592 driver OOS incidents were prevented!
PSP Options
For carriers looking to subscribe directly to the PSP service, the site accessing for those with over 100 drivers is only $100, and for those with fewer than 100 drivers, the fee drops to $25. Each report itself costs $10 to run and provides the driver’s basic information, including their name and licenses, as well as summaries and details for all crashes and roadside inspections. PSP subscribers can also make use of a mobile app that lets you check on reports when you’re out of the office or traveling. Carriers can also benefit from the information that PSP reports provide by requesting reports through an industry service provider like Tenstreet.
