Pre-Screening at the Push of a Button (or Click of a Mouse)
Posted by Karen Thomas on Mon, Mar 08, 2010 @ 11:35
Less than six months ago, a small technology firm out of Seattle Washington was awarded with some big news. Last October, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), awarded NIC Technologies, LLC, the contract for a National Motor Carrier Pre-Employment Screening System. That very screening system is making news of its own recently. In a joint effort, NIC Technologies and the FMCSA have launched its first online pre-employment screening process designed to assess individual operators' crash and serious safety violation inspection history as a pre-employment condition.
The FMCSA is the gatekeeper for crash-related data. Federal legislators prompted the FMCSA to make this information available - and easily available. What's the quickest route to information these days? The internet of course. Not only can employers of commercial drivers obtain crash-related data online, drivers can obtain their individual history as well. Drivers though do have to provide written consent in order to enable employers to access their records.
The cost is a $10 subscription fee paid yearly (less than most credit cards charge.) The cost-benefits though can't be quantified.
The FMCSA published the following questions and answers further explaining the program:
What information will the Driver Information Resource record (DIR) contain?
Driver Information Resource records purchased through PSP contain the most recent 5 years of crash data and 3 years of roadside inspection data from the FMCSA MCMIS system.
Is information from traffic tickets going to be posted prior to the court date or will the information only be posted if there is a conviction?
No. The PSP only contains MCMIS information.
Why did FMCSA develop the PSP?
Developing a system to make safety performance information electronically available for pre-employment screening purposes was mandated by Congress in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, Title 49 U.S. Code, section 31150 Public Law 109-59 Section 4117. FMCSA believes that making this driver data available to potential employers and operator-applicants will improve the quality of safety data and help employers make more informed decisions when hiring commercial drivers. The PSP provides more rapid access to commercial driver safety performance information than was previously available under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or Privacy Act requests.