What New Truck Drivers Need To Know About the FMCSA Pre-Employment Screening Program:
The pre-employment screening program allows commercial drivers, carriers, and other industry service providers access to individual drivers' safety records from the FMCSA.
What information does the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) contain?
PSP record contains a driver’s most recent 5 years of crash data and the most recent 3 years of roadside inspection data from the FMCSA Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) database. The record displays a snapshot in time, based on the most recent MCMIS data load to the PSP system. A new snapshot is uploaded approximately once per month.
Why is the PSP necessary?
In response to a mandate by Congress in 2005, the FMCSA developed the system to make safety performance information electronically available for pre-employment screening purposes. The FMCSA believes that making this driver data available to potential employers, industry service providers, and drivers will improve the quality of safety data and help employers make more informed decisions when hiring commercial drivers, as well as speed up access to this same information. Since carriers are going to do background checks, this helps speed up the process, ultimately getting your pass or fail quicker.
About the PSP: The PSP is a voluntary program, for both carriers AND drivers, and any carrier request requires the driver's consent. Drivers may purchase their own records at any time, currently costing $10 each.
Data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) is uploaded to the PSP system approximately once a month. This is a 'MCMIS data snapshot'. The date of the most recent MCMIS data snapshot is available on the bottom of your PSP record. Reporting times vary by state. If you do not see a crash or inspection that you expected to see, then you may consider accessing your PSP record again approximately a month after the snapshot date printed on your PSP record.
Where does the information in the PSP come from, and what does it contain? Your state motor vehicle record information is not available through PSP. A PSP record only contains MCMIS inspection and crash information, uploaded to MCMIS by FMCSA federal staff and state partners. The PSP report does not include citations, warnings, or tickets.
Crash and roadside inspection data are submitted to FMCSA and stored in the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). PSP reports consist of commercial motor vehicle driver information from the federal MCMIS database. A PSP report displays a driver’s 5-year crash history and 3-year roadside inspection history. This includes all serious safety violations that are cited during an inspection. Conviction information is not included on the PSP report.
The state motor vehicle record information is not available through PSP. A PSP record only contains MCMIS inspection and crash information. Motor carriers and drivers must continue to request state motor vehicle records from the state's motor vehicle department.
Is The PSP Effective At Making The Carriers and Roads Safer?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) conducted a study to evaluate PSP's safety impact. The study results showed that companies regularly using PSP have, on average, reduced their crash rates by 8% and their driver out-of-service rates by 17%. The entire Safety Analysis and Industry Impacts of the Pre-Employment Screening Program is available here.
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