What is the MCS-150?

The “Motor Carrier Identification Report”, better known as the MCS-150 requests a U.S. DOT number for carriers. This form is filed initially when first requesting a U.S. DOT number.

Based on information provided in the MCS-150 is vital to the placement of your business in the proper grouping for Compliance, Safety Accountability (CSA) scoring purposes. (See About CSA 2010- What is it?)

You are strongly advised to keep your MCS-150 information current by updating it whenever your business changes anything pertaining to the MCS-150. Errors in this form, or failure to keep it updated could result in the wrong designation for your company. This could result in incorrect CSA ratings.

Review Your MCS-150

A MCS-150, and instructions, can be found at fmsca.dot.gov under “Registration & Licensing”. If you currently have a MCS-150 on file, you can find it on-line by going to the FMCSA website. Select “Find A Company’s Status” using your USDOT number and business name or your operating authority number.

Then select “Company Snapshot” under FMCSA Searches about half-way down the page.

Being a new trucking business means that you will be the subject of a “Safety Audit” sometime within the first 18 months of being in business. The audit is likely to be after about three months. Companies are given enough time to record some operating history so that your safety management controls are established.

Audits help carriers identify safety risks. You will be given a 60-day corrective action period. During that time, you will need to correct all deficiencies found during the audit. Passenger transportation and hazardous materials that require placarding are given 45 days to correct deficiencies.

A “Safety Audit” is based on elements critical to basic safety management involving operation in interstate (across state lines) commerce. Motor carriers fail the audit if regulation compliance is found to be lacking.

If this happens, your US DOT registration is revoked until the DOT is satisfied with your corrective actions.

 SAFETY ELEMENTS

Overall the various elements (there are 16) that are reviewed during an audit include:

• Drug and Alcohol Program
• Financial Responsibility (Insurance)
• Driver and Commercial Driver License (CDL) Requirements
• Driver records of duty status (Hours of Service compliance)
• Motor Vehicle out-of-service status
• CMV periodic inspections

All of the safety element regulations can be reviewed in detail in the “Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations” manual that we supply when setting up a new company.

Office Tenders offers all the services you need to stay up to date and have what you need in order to operate legally. We can take care of log book
auditing for you. We do a comprehensive review of the drivers’ logs to ensure they are completing the forms properly and check to be sure they are
not violating the hours of service regulations.

We also specialize in other things such as:

*Fuel Tax Reporting

*DOT random drug and alcohol testing

*Establishing and maintaining Driver Qualification Files

We make sure you are aware and up to date with all DOT regulations as well
as your own state regulations.

Our service is quick and individualized. If you are considering using a service such as ours feel free to give us a call.  References supplied upon
request. We want to make things easier so you can drive away knowing you are on the right road with DOT.

Another service offered by our company is that we supply the required driver training for DOT Drug & Alcohol testing. Although your drivers are no doubt aware that random drug and/or alcohol tests are performed – as a busy company you may struggle with the resources to accomplish the required training and testing on schedule. Not only can we provide the training materials fordrivers, we can also provide the required supervisor training.  This is accomplished with DVD’s and a training book rental. We set your company up at a test location and supply them with the required chain of custody forms.  In addition, we can supply you directly with the required Chain of Custody supplies so a driver can be tested anywhere.  We can also assist with the drug and alcohol testing appointments.  We all know that the DOT is a stickler for details – so making sure you provide the DOT drug testing paperwork correctly will save you a lot of time and trouble.

Fuel tax reporting is an important aspect of your interstate trucking business.  No matter how large or small your business – keeping accurate records will keep you out of trouble. Our reasonably priced service will complete the fuel tax documentation based on the data you provide. Fuel tax reporting requires a supporting breakdown of your fuel purchases by gallon and miles per state per truck.  If you already use a format to keep track of this information – our service will make sure the data is transferred reliably into a summary report and onto your state’s fuel tax report forms.  Once you begin using our service you will find you are able to concentrate more on running your business and making money and less on completing the tedious yet required paperwork.

Another service offered by our company is that we supply the required driver training for DOT Drug & Alcohol testing. Although your drivers are no doubt aware that random drug and/or alcohol tests are performed – as a busy company you may struggle with the resources to accomplish the required training and testing on schedule. Not only can we provide the training materials fordrivers, we can also provide the required supervisor training.  This is accomplished with DVD’s and a training book rental.

We set your company up at a test location and supply them with the required chain of custody forms.  In addition, we can supply you directly with the required Chain of Custody supplies so a driver can be tested anywhere.  We can also assist with the drug and alcohol testing appointments.  We all know that the DOT is a stickler for details – so making sure you provide the DOTdrug testing paperwork correctly will save you a lot of time and trouble.

Finally, creating a system to keep track of driver qualifications could take hours. Our service includes a comprehensive system that includes the driver’s application, previous employer checks, the state motor vehicle record and the other required documents for each driver. Our system also provides a reminder for drivers who need to renew their licenses or update their DOT physicals.
Supervisors who are worried about the ever changing laws will feel confident using our service which is updated any time laws are changed. If saving time and making more money is important to you – consider using our easy, friendly and inexpensive services.

For more information on how this will impact your business, feel free to drop us a call… we don’t charge for good conversation!  (906) 482-3172

http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov/

1. 2009 Company Reviews:
a. 67% of the reviews had acute violations of the Drug & Alcohol program.
b. 90% of the 67% either had no program or failed to randomly test their employees.
c. 7,430 enforcement actions were taken and 49% of those actions included Drug & Alcohol violations of which $11 million in penalties were  leveled.

2. An employee should not be hired until a negative drug result is received. It is a violation and will continue to be.

What can Office Tenders do to help?

A COMPANY is fully in charge of their hiring practices.  We can only sign a new driver up with drug & alcohol testing and/or Driver Qualification Files when contacted by the company.

Companies must make “Pre-employment Drug testing” part of the application process…not something to do after the employee is hired.

3. There is still a lack of good faith effort to check to past history of new employees or not having it done at all.  Documentation of more than 1  attempt to retrieve the information from previous employers for the 3 years period must be kept on file.

WHAT DOES OFFICE TENDERS DO TO AID COMPLIANCE

When a client elects to have Office Tenders do DRIVER QUALIFICATION FILES, we complete the appropriate forms for the employee to sign. The employer must mail the completed forms to previous employers for the past 3 years.

We also provide a checklist that remains with the employer. That checklist, if used properly, is to remind the employer to follow-up if no response is received within 2 weeks of the previous employer receiving the inquiry. Room is provided for documenting the responses received.

“Those driver files, required by the Department of Transportation, either lack necessary documents or have records that were completed incorrectly, the company said in its first annual Commercial Driver Safety Report, released Monday.

“It could be something as simple as missing a signature, or it could be something substantial, like a revoked drivers license,” said Hayley Hitchcock, director of vertical strategy at LexisNexis Risk Solutions.”

Driver qualification files will become even more important to carriers under the DOT’s Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 initiative, Hitchcock was quoted saying…

“Where DQFs really come into play is in an audit,” said Hitchcock.

“We recommend the industry go through the process of completing an internal risk assessment, especially if they are a very paper-based organization.”

Office Tenders specializes in helping people in trucking with state and Federal DOT paperwork for commercially licensed drivers.  We understand that DOT paperwork can be a nightmare and many that spend the time doing it themselves lose time, and needless energy.  All of our clients recognize quickly that we’re affordable and know everything there is to know about regulations and guidelines.  Focus on growing your business and let us do the rest.

For the full article.

A review of Part 391 will help you quickly determine if you are ready for a Department of Transportation (DOT) audit.  The following items are required to be in the DQF:

• Application for employment
• Previous 3 years employer inquiries & responses
• Initial state motor vehicle record (MVR)
• Annual MVR
• Copy of current Commercial Driver License (CDL)
• Road test (if required for type of vehicle to be driven) or acceptable equivalent
• Initial supervisor review of driving record
• Annual supervisor review of driving record
• Current medical examiner’s card
• Statement of current single, or multiple, employers and hours driven the previous 7 days before first driving for your company
• Record of training and/or materials a driver receives

Office Tenders, Inc. can assist you with Driver Qualification Files and Drug/Alcohol Testing.  We establish your DQF files and have a tickler system that reminds you of annual updates as needed.  We can audit existing files and bring your files into compliance.

Feel free to contact us to discuss your particular needs.  Call 1-800-954-3414 or (906) 482-3172

www.officetenders.com