The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is the regulator for the transportation industry, and it applies to all trucking companies, regardless of their size. The regulations and standards 
that it lays down apply to all companies, including fines for rule-breaking. The FMCSA oversees the safety performance of carriers, through roadside inspections and crash investigations. The fines and compliance requirements are complex and strict enough that big transportation companies often hire compliance experts and set up a ‘safety department’ whose primary responsibility is ensuring that their company meets the FMCSA standards.
However, this is not a practice that is feasible for smaller transport companies – even though the liabilities and rules remain the same for both small and large transportation companies. As such, smaller and medium sized transportation companies are at a disadvantage – they are far more likely to find themselves on the wrong side of compliance issues, mostly because without expert guidance the rules and regulations can be difficult to adhere to. Furthermore, since Department of Transportation (DOT) audits and fines can be prohibitive, these small and medium companies often find themselves at a financial disadvantage against their bigger counterparts.
In instances where there is no specific department or expert exists in transport companies, a good solution to their problem and disadvantage is to become so familiar with the FMCSA regulations that all their systems are geared towards compliance. If administrators are aware of the driver qualification files and requirements in a clear fashion, they won’t end up inadvertently breaching the rules and regulations. These rules and requirements cover almost every aspect of their work – from driver qualification requirements and past employment verification to accident reporting, roadside inspections and driver orientation and procedures.
If a transport company sets up a good safety and compliance management system, they would be able to achieve compliance without having to undergo the expense of hiring and creating a safety department. One of the best ways to do this would be to take expert advice – like from Mark Dixon, who specializes in getting small and medium sized transportation companies compliant – from AudioSolutionz’s live webinar on January 28th, which will instruct transport companies on compliance preparation.
