DOT Compliance  Program

(download pdf for DOT program)

Executive Summary
Gregory & Howe implements custom designed, fully management solutions and will fulfill all of the deliverables that are required by the CLIENT.

Gregory & Howe, Inc is a “Management Company” that has been managing Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs as well as DOT Compliance Programs throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands since 1989. Our customer base ranges from large companies with several hundred locations, municipalities and trade associates to small privately held businesses.

In 2003 Gregory & Howe, Inc entered into discussions with a company that had distribution centers throughout the United States.. That company had a “Conditional” safety rating and was looking to outsource all of the DOT/FMCSA requirements.

Gregory & Howe developed a full service web based DOT/FMCSA Compliance Program that provided access to audited safety records On-Line, 24 hours a day / seven days a week. This client was subsequently the subject of a Federal DOT Compliance Review and by utilizing the Gregory & Howe’s program, they successfully achieved a “Satisfactory” safety rating.

Gregory & Howe will develop, implement and manage a DOT Compliance Program that will streamline, centralize and make more efficient compliance with the FMCSA requirements. The extent to which Gregory & Howe centralizes these requirements is a determination to be made by the CLIENT. Once a candidate has been selected the entire process from reporting drug test results, conducting background checks, coordinating and monitoring DOT physicals and the reporting to ALL CLIENT responsible parties can be coordinated by Gregory & Howe.

ENFORCEMENT EVOLUTION

The FMCSA has over the last few years been developing and implanting an automated data driven system that calculates the safety fitness of motor carriers; this system, Motor Carrier Safety Measurement System or “SafeStat” represents a paradigm shift to the utilization of electronic data to determine and track motor carriers compliance with the DOT/FMCSA regulations, calculate safety ratings and help to determine when a Compliance Review is necessary. It is also used by the insurance industry to track and evaluate companies’ safety rating and consequently insurance premiums.

The FMCSA released the results of a multi-year study known as Large Truck Crash Causation Study which reviewed a nationally representative sample from over 120,000 truck crashes from 2001-2003 and determined that drivers of large trucks and other vehicles involved in truck crashes are ten times more likely to be the cause of the crash than any other factors, such as weather, road conditions or vehicle performance. As a result of the Large Truck Crash Causation Study the FMCSA has placed the primary focus of their compliance efforts on driver safety compliance. This specifically includes the Driver Qualification File, Driver Daily Inspection Reports, Hours of Service and Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs.

As a result of these two projects the FMCSA has recently announced a major new enforcement initiative know as Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010). This initiative will significantly expand the impact of the compliance and enforcement efforts conduct off-site investigations and update companies’ safety ratings every 30 days on an on-going basis and include driver safety data with the authority to suspend operations. CSA 2010 will begin testing in January 2008 in Colorado, Georgia, Missouri and New Jersey.

In Conclusion:

The Federal Motor Carrier Administration has determined that strict enforcement of the FMCSA’s safety regulations is the most effective way to reduce serious accidents and fatalities.

Alternatives:

One alternative is to have competent fully trained employees vigilantly monitoring all safety compliance regulations and records. This is not merely an IT issue, it is an on-going training and staffing issue.

The other alternative is to outsource; Gregory & Howe, Inc can provide continuity of administration in one centralized location, 24/7 access to all records and on-going support, all for significantly less cost than administering the program in-house.