Don’t Just Prepare for DOT Audits, Avoid Them
Preparing for a DOT audit seems like a good idea, but an even better idea is to avoid audits altogether by preventing violations that are likely to trigger an audit.
This requires you to put safety management controls in place that improve compliance with the applicable regulations. The FMCSA’s Safety Management Cycle (SMC) helps you accomplish this through a systematic evaluation of your fleet and operations in the following six areas:
- Policies and procedures
- Roles and responsibilities
- Qualification and hiring
- Training and communication
- Monitoring and tracking
- Meaningful action
By conducting a self-audit of these company functional areas within in each of the seven CSA BASICs, you can identify opportunities to prevent violations which, in turn, helps you prevent an audit.
This process is now far easier to undertake with a new, no-cost resource from J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.
Assess and Reduce Your Audit Risk with J. J. Keller’s FREE DOT Audit Workbook: Assess Your Risk in the 7 BASICs
The 44-page, hands-on workbook, which was created by J. J. Keller® Transport Management Editor Richard Malchow, takes you through the SMC steps in all seven BASICs to help you assess and improve your compliance program.
The DOT Audit Workbook includes:
- An overview of the SMC, with examples of the six steps
- An overview of the CSA program
- An explanation of how roadside inspections impact your CSA scores
- A chapter for each of the seven CSA BASICs with an overview of that BASIC and fill-in-the-blank assessment questions based on the six SMC steps
“Fleets need an easy-to-use tool that helps them assess and improve the areas identified by the FMCSA as necessary to run a safe and compliant operation,” said Malchow. “I chose a workbook format because it quickly and easily allows fleets to identify and address gaps within each area of their organization so they can proactively reduce the risk of an audit. Plus, by addressing these areas, fleets will also experience an improvement to fleet operations, in addition to reducing risk.”
Serving more than 600,000 customers, including 90% of the Fortune 1000® companies, J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. is the nation’s leading provider of regulatory, safety and compliance solutions. Organizations of all sizes rely on our expert insights to help create safe work environments and simplify the complexities of regulatory compliance. Our diversified portfolio of solutions and services including online management tools, publications, training, forms, supplies, consulting and professional services is trusted to safeguard workers, reduce risk and build operational confidence. As a privately-held, family-owned company since 1953, we are committed to helping protect lives every day. www.jjkeller.com
