The carrier industry is the top most governed industry in the US today, therefore, it is paramount to ensure that carriers follow safety transport regulations. These regulations are put in place by a body called the FMCSA. Carrier safety and compliance is an important aspect of the trucking and shipping (transport) industry and this is so for several very good reasons.
Due to the fast growth of the industry and the rising number of shipping options, carriers that are not in compliance with the FMCSA are increasing. Thereby causing a number of carriers to fail FMCSA or DOT compliance tests on road inspection or the FMCSA safety audit which results in having high FMCSA safety scores.
This score affects carriers' relationships with insurances, brokers, drivers as well as direct shippers.
What are the effects of a high FMCSA safety score?
A high score results in having a high insurance premium
High insurance means no drivers and owner-operators want to work with those carriers since most drivers pay their own insurance or share insurance expense
A high score also results in low loads due to a shaky relationship with brokers.
Low loads mean carriers, as well as drivers, are not making money. And since the FMCSA score almost certainly affects only the carriers, this results in shipping or trucking companies forcing their drivers to change or work for other carriers with good FMCSA standing.
Within every management system in an organization there exist smaller and more focused systems for better functioning of said organization. One such system is the safety system. This is a method used to manage the health and safety outcomes for the organization in which it exists. Safety management roles for carriers are basically to implement the FMCS safety guidelines. Guidelines such as:
Up-to-date records/ documents (for example date CDL)
Implementing and enforcing the company policy (e.g driver hiring policy, driver disciplinary policy)
Coordinating HOS
Preventive maintenance
Inspection policy and implementation
Updated Audit and Tax dues ( e.g. IFTA tax..) and,
Driver's safety (e.g. random alcohol and drug test) to minimize the risk of violation and accidents
It is not easy keeping up with FMCSA standards and as a carrier, it gets too stressful doing that and also performing these duties listed above. Well, you would not have to worry or go through the stress anymore. With the right software service to follow these guidelines and compliances, your carrier would run like a well-oiled machine. And ZTrucking is the right carrier-tailored software company for you.
The use of automated services to help enforce these guidelines for carriers is the best choice for carriers and affiliating trucking companies. One such service is ZTrucking. ZTrucking is essentially a SaaS (Software as a Service) and its main objective is to streamline carriers’ safety and operational tasks. We help carriers to follow FMCSA compliance and provide solutions to schedule preventive maintenance, auditing, and implementation of company policy on employees and drivers. We provide solutions to give carriers smart document recording platforms and tools for scheduling repetitive and recurring expenses. Our software will be tailored to your organization's specific operational needs for the safety systems to work most effectively.
ZTrucking automates the compliances and safety systems by providing a way to integrate them into an all-in-one system for the trucking companies. Compliances such as FMCSA guidelines on file recording & storage, preventive maintenance, operational recording, driver compliance, alcohol/drug compliance, etc. All these compliances are automated along with the HOS which are provided by the ELD companies ZTrucking partners with.
Here's a detailed view of some of the Safety and Compliance guidelines offered by ZTrucking.
Automatic Safety and Compliance Monitoring for All Assets
Based on the FMCSA's driver qualification requirements and your driver training regimen we can help you build an automated driver compliance system tailored to your trucking fleet. Added to this we can also track driver performance and help identify all problems quickly and efficiently. These are all integrated and work within the same system. Because by integrating all of your onboarding activities including driver qualification forms, training, and policies within one online system, you make it easier and faster for your drivers to complete their applications and everything required of them to begin work immediately. Not only that, but you also get to continuously track your drivers in the process of their registration so that you know exactly where they are in the process without ever having to wait for a report.
Using your company's existing procedures on onboarding, training, and safety monitoring, the ZTrucking system automatically assigns, notifies, and monitors all prescribed compliance activities. This includes alcohol compliance, drug compliance, along with our operational compliance. This system helps to make sure that your drivers are all qualified, trained adequately, and operating legally and as safely as possible.
Up-to-date Records/Document Storage
Document preparation, recording, and management are time-consuming and rigorous efforts. It requires an accurate touch to gather, document, and store all necessary information. Our smart document recording is not limited to drivers and company. They also include other assets like vehicle, personnel, contacts and brokers. All of these files and documents are stored and indexed. Part of ZTrucking's services is to provide all of the necessary document preparation, filling out, maintaining, and research on driver applicants which will end just leaving you the company with only the decision to evaluate and hire the drivers that meet your requirements. This is according to minimum compliance with the FMCSA. Not forgetting our electronic file management system which puts all of the important company documents right at your disposal at any time of the day, 24/7, with just a click of the mouse.
ELD HOS (Hours of Service) Management
The FMCSA requires carriers to monitor the Hours of Service compliance of their drivers using ELDs regularly and to take appropriate action to correct any non-compliant behavior. This is a high target for scrutiny by the FMCSA and other regulating bodies like DOT.
Preventive Maintenance
ZTrucking also provides tools to schedule preventive maintenance, which is integrated with the driver's app as well as the Safety Admin so they can monitor and follow up with drivers to perform their duty and do the maintenance according to the scheduled preventive maintenance. This is great for carriers and trucking companies as it will enable them to focus on running the day-to-day of their fleets and business offerings rather than losing time on maintaining vehicles and equipment. This would help improve vehicle uptime, reduce vehicle risk, give your company good CSA scores, improve fuel mileage, provide customer satisfaction and contribute to an overall lower cost of ownership. By having and working with a team of technicians, maintenance managers, commercial vehicle inspectors, and compliance auditors ZTrucking will ensure that your fleet's maintenance will be automated and up to par with the FMCSA's safety and compliance standards.
A summarized list of the tools offered by ZTrucking. They can be used to record and track the automation of some of the services listed above, as well as automate them. Of course, they are by FMCSA's safety and compliance standards. These tools include the following:
Document Compliance: Identifying missing FMCSA required documents (e.g. driver CDL, drivers' medical card, Vehicle IRP)
Truck Inspection Compliance
Driver Disciplinary Summary
Alcohol And Drug Test Compliance
Trailer Inspection Compliance
Invoice Summary
Driver Employment Compliance
Truck Maintenance Schedule
Fleet and Expense Summary
Traffic Violations
Trailer Maintenance Schedule
Accident Violations
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