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The safety performance history records request is sent to a driver’s DOT-regulated employers in the prior three years. The request includes the dates of employment and DOT accidents along with any other incidents that a carriers wishes to share.
All carriers that have hired or are hiring a driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle as defined in 390.5 are required perform a background investigation with a driver’s DOT-regulated employers in the past three years. Both the prospective and current or former employers are required to document the requests for employment history verification on the driver applicant.
Previous employers who receive requests for safety performance history information must keep records of those requests and their responses. In particular, employers must keep for one year a record of each request received from prospective employers, and a record of any response that was sent, including the date, the party to whom it was released, and a summary identifying what was provided. In addition, employers must keep requests for correction of erroneous information and rebuttals received from former employees.
Prospective employers must keep a confidential Driver Investigation History (DIH) file containing all records related to the investigation into the safety performance history of a new or prospective driver. At a minimum, this includes:
The FMCSA does not require that safety performance history records be kept for drivers who are not hired. However, as with any vetting tool, employers must follow state and federal employment laws on retention of documents on applicants that were not hired.
To protect drivers’ privacy and security, the driver investigative history (DIH) file must be maintained in “a secure location with controlled access.” Employers must take “all precautions reasonably necessary to protect the driver safety performance history records from disclosure” to unauthorized persons. Access to the data must be limited to those who are directly involved in the hiring decision or who otherwise control access to the information. Information in the DIH file must only be used in the hiring decision.
Safety performance histories must be retained for as long as the driver is employed by the company and for three years after that.