As we’ve talked about, the focus of brokerage operation is on pricing and on-time performance, not the safety level of the carrier the broker is putting on the roadways. So, what could Pimp Daddy have done to screen its carriers that it did not do? Actually, there are several easy to access and wholly reliable tools in their arsenal to screen their carriers – but did they choose to use them? Here are a few examples:
- Go online to the FMCSA’s website and check the carrier’s BASIC scores before hiring it to haul the load.
- Use an outside service such as Carrier411 to provide updated information about the Carriers it uses, including real-time information regarding BASIC scores.
- Use real-time information about BASIC scores as part of the carrier’s computer program as a screening mechanism prior to hiring the carrier.
- Require all carriers to have no alert statuses on any BASIC category in order to be eligible for loads.
- Communicate with carriers and monitor what steps were being taken by the carriers to comply with Federal Safety Standards.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship how the carrier plans to comply with Federal regulations regarding hours of service.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship how the carrier plans to comply with Federal regulations regarding falsifying logs.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship how the carrier plans to comply with Federal regulations regarding use of alcohol or controlled substances.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship how the carrier plans to comply with Federal regulations regarding driver training.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship how the carrier plans to comply with Federal regulations regarding equipment and maintenance.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship whether the carrier uses owner-operators.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship whether the carrier has ever been fined by the FMCSA/DOT for noncompliance.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship whether the carrier has ever been subject to disciplinary action by a State or Federal agency.
- Ask upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship whether the carrier has ever had a safety rating or proposed safety rating other than “Satisfactory.”
- Check upon initially signing up the carrier and then during the relationship to ensure the carrier has adequate safety management controls in place.
- Maintain records to ensure the carrier was not manipulating its business practices to avoid poor safety ratings and/or safety scores.
Of course, not every broker uses the same methods, so you need to discover how the broker in your case went about qualifying the carrier involved. You might find a responsible broker who did check the B.A.S.I.C. scores and followed up with further inquiry, which may or may not have reasonably justified using the carrier despite the B.A.S.I.C. score involved. In many cases, however, the broker simply will not have checked the B.A.S.I.C. scores at all. Either way, you need to know what the broker did, or did not, do in your case. Knowing this will guide you in formulating your “Rules of the Road,” which we will discuss in our next article.
In the meantime, if I can help you put together the best case for your client injured in a trucking accident that involved a truck broker, please give me a call.
