What Is the New Entrant Safety Audit?

A man holding a clipboard inspecting a truck.

The new entrant safety audit is a requirement of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to make sure your trucking company follows all set safety standards. All trucking companies within their first 12 months of operation can expect to be audited based on these criteria:

Alcohol and drug violations
Driver violations
Operations violations
Repairs and inspections violations

Here’s a list of questions you can ask yourself to make sure you’re ready to pass your DOT audit.

Alcohol and Drug Violations

An important part of running your trucking company is making sure you’re following all of the drug and alcohol rules. Whether it’s being part of a drug and alcohol consortium or providing the necessary supervisor training, you want to have a DOT-approved system in place.

Do you have a drug and alcohol test system in place?
Are you part of a random drug and alcohol testing group or do you have it organized for your business?
Do you have a driver who refused to take the appropriate drug and alcohol test?
Are you using a driver who has tested for alcohol at .04 or greater?
Do you have a driver who has tested positive on a drug test or has altered the results?

Driver Violations

Make sure you have accurate driver qualification files. Are you aware if their CDLs are active? If not, you could get in trouble during your audit.

Do your drivers have active CDLs?
Is your driver qualified?
Is your driver medically qualified?

Operations Violations

Operations violations are the things every trucking company needs to worry about: insurance and driving logs. With the implementation of the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate, it’s even more important to make sure you’re using an approved ELD.

Do you have the required insurance?
Are you accurately tracking hours-of-service (HOS) records?

Repairs and Inspections Violations

You have to maintain your equipment to stay compliant during the DOT audit. Make sure you have records of any previous equipment inspections. Your drivers can also report problems they notice with their equipment, as well.

Are you using a vehicle that was put out-of-service before making the necessary repairs?
Is your company performing OOS repairs reported in driver-vehicle inspection reports?
Are you using a motor vehicle that’s inspected annually?

What Happens During a New Entrant Safety Audit?

A DOT audit will be done by an official auditor either at your business or online by submitting the appropriate documents to the FMCSA. Once you submit the paperwork, your auditor will go over the audit with you and explain ways to improve your company’s safety management.

Depending on how well you’ve prepared your paperwork, an in-person DOT audit can take anywhere from an hour and a half to four hours.

How to Prepare for a DOT Audit

Whether you’re expecting your new entrant safety audit or any other DOT audit, you want to have all the paperwork in place before they come to inspect. You’ll want paperwork that outlines how your company adequately follows all safety regulations set by the FMCSA.

One of the best ways to prepare for your audit is to purchase our DIY nine-folder system that helps you compile all the paperwork that answers the questions above to prove to the FMCSA you are adequately following all the required regulations.

Get Our Audit Assistance Package

What Are the Possible Results of a DOT Audit?

Once you finish the audit, you can receive one of three ratings:

Satisfactory

You successfully passed your new entrant safety audit. The FMCSA didn’t find any violations that result in an automatic failure. While you passed the audit, you will still be expected to follow all safety protocols you have in place and the FMCSA will continue to monitor your company.

Conditional

Your trucking company passed, but there were a few errors that brought your score down. While you can still keep running, there may be a few roadblocks your company may face. You may experience higher insurance premiums or lower load rates because brokers won’t want to trust you with their business.

If you do get a conditional safety rating, you may want to follow through with a corrective action plan to raise your conditional rating to satisfactory.

Unsatisfactory

You’ve failed the audit. You’ll need to complete the required documentation of a corrective action plan (CAP). The FMCSA wants to see what you plan to do to make sure the safety violations are resolved and won’t happen again. We can help you build one that meets FMCSA’s requirements. Give us a call and we’ll help you get started.

What Triggers a DOT Audit?

Anyone who is considered a new entrant (who has operated their trucking company for less than 12 months) will expect a DOT audit. Your company may also be audited if your have a low CSA score or the FMCSA notices violations of safety protocols during inspections or investigations.

Have More Questions?

If you want to learn more about what’s required to keep your trucking company compliant, give the coaches at Motor Carrier HQ a call. We’re always ready to help walk you through all the regulations you have to follow to be compliant with the FMCSA.

Call Motor Carrier HQ

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