The Relevance of Background Checks in Transportation

Steer your hiring process in the right direction with background checks!

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has many regulations relating to the transportation industry, and background checks are just one facet of best practices to follow to ensure a reliable and safe hire. 

At NationSearch, we want to help you protect your company and the public with safe and trusted employees. Join us in today’s post as we navigate the relevance of background checks to the transportation industry. 

Truck drivers are vital to our economy because they’re responsible for moving essential products across the country — making modern life much more enjoyable — in a very short time span. They’re known for logging long hours and working weeks at a time with no real days off. 

While this is, quite honestly, just an aspect of the job, the trucking industry is trying to make truck driving a more safe and robust career for those on the road. The very first place to begin is hiring quality people because the smallest accident can lead to millions of dollars lost to hazardous materials being dumped, causing an ecological crisis, including lives lost.

As a part of the transportation industry, you can’t afford to get it wrong when it comes to hiring. Not only does your company and the individual need to comply with DOT regulations, but they need to meet the standards necessary to operate a truck.  Additionally, your company needs to have some peace of mind knowing you’ve done your due diligence on the individual you are entrusting with your company assets.

Compliance within the industry – The trucking industry operates in association with entities such as the DOT and FMCSA, and our background screenings can ensure you hire people that are approved to work in this industry. 

Consent within the law – At NationSerach, we comply with the FCRA which sets into motion federal rules and regulations for conducting background searches on potential employees and new hires. You can rest assured that your background screening process stays up to date in its practices and always follows the law. 

Better hires – No one can complain about hiring better people for the job, and, after all, this saves your company money from having to hire and train new truck drivers time and time again. Our customized transportation screening packages can help you narrow down exactly the kind of person you want to hire, at the same time weeding out the people who don’t work. 

Safety – You don’t want just anyone getting behind a big rig, becoming a truck driver involves a lot of moving parts, chiefly, safety. A background screening can help ensure the safety of the cargo and your company, in addition to keeping the other drivers on the road safe. You can screen driving records and other convictions such as drug and alcohol-related charges. It’s also important to consider routine screenings because background checks only give you a snapshot in time and not an ongoing, real-time glimpse. 

Background checks are imperative to the trucking industry, helping keep everyone on the road and in your company protected. 

Car sales is just another sector of transportation where background screenings are extremely relevant. Not only are they working directly with the general public day in and day out selling vehicles, but they also have access to sensitive information. 

There are many benefits car sales employers can benefit from when it comes to their background screening and hiring processes. Let’s examine them below.

Reduced Turnover

Turnover can be a glaring issue in the car sales industry because if you’re not hiring the ideal candidate the first time, your costs and the employee turnover rate skyrockets. And while there are many factors that play a role in why employees leave or are fired, background checks can help employers avoid hiring dishonest employees with a criminal history. 

If you don’t prevent hiring bad employees it can lead to higher insurance premiums, an increase in theft, absenteeism, accidents, falsified worker’s comp claims, and decreased productivity — all of which are eating away at your bottom line.   

Negligent Hiring Prevention

Negligent hiring doesn’t just allude to a bad hire, but it has legal implications. If you hire an employee with a criminal history and they end up harming a customer or stealing from another employee, it falls on you and can result in a lawsuit because you didn’t implement a background check, and failed to expose this crucial information. 

Improved Safety

When you can keep potentially harmful employees from your car lot, everyone wins. Your employees don’t have to second guess whether or not the employee can be trusted and your customers can feel safe knowing that their personal information is protected. 

Reduced Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Drug and alcohol screening is important, especially when vehicles are involved. Not only does this behavior become a liability but it puts everyone in danger. Substance abuse screening can help decrease absenteeism, tardiness, attitude issues, employee turnover, crime, violence, low productivity, and beyond. 

Getting a glimpse into their records can prevent hiring a person with red flags. 

The transportation industry is broad, with trucking and car sales just being a small, but significant part of it. At the end of the day, background screenings help you hire the best people for the transportation industry — those who can safely operate trucks and deliver cargo safely and efficiently, and others in car sales that can safely interact with the general public and other employees while being trusted with sensitive customer information.  

The transportation industry and your business need NationSearch!

At NationSearch you can expect rapid turnaround times on screenings, filling positions sooner, in addition to staying in compliance with the FCRA. We offer the leading background screening services tailored to the transportation industry such as motor vehicle records that includes a driver history and a standard criminal background check. 

Dot your I’s and cross your T’s when it comes to employee background screenings from NationSearch!

Get our comprehensive transportation screening service today!