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Accident

* A motor carrier must make all records and information pertaining to an accident available to an authorized representative or special agent of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an authorized State or local enforcement agency representative or authorized third party representative, upon request or as part of any investigation within such time as the request or investigation may specify. A motor carrier shall give an authorized representative all reasonable assistance in the investigation of any accident including providing a full, true and correct response to any question of the inquiry.

* For accidents that occur after April 29, 2003, motor carriers must maintain an accident register for three years after the date of each accident. For accidents that occurred on or prior to April 29, 2003, motor carriers must maintain an accident register for a period of one year after the date of each accident. Information placed in the accident register must contain at least the following:

(1) A list of accidents containing for each accident:
(i) Date of accident.
(ii) City or town, or most near, where the accident occurred and the State where the accident occurred.
(iii) Driver Name.
(iv) Number of injuries.
(v) Number of fatalities.
(vi) Whether hazardous materials, other than fuel spilled from the fuel tanks of motor vehicle involved in the accident, were released.

(2) Copies of all accident reports required by State or other governmental entities or insurers.

Driver Investigation Histories

After October 29, 2004, each motor carrier must maintain records relating to the investigation into the safety performance history of a new or prospective driver. This file must be maintained in a secure location with controlled access.

The motor carrier must ensure that access to this data is limited to those who are involved in the hiring decision or who control access to the data. In addition, the motor carrier's insurer may have access to the data, except the alcohol and controlled substances data. This data must only be used for the hiring decision.

The file must include:

* A copy of the driver's written authorization for the motor carrier to seek information about a driver's alcohol and controlled substances history as required.

* A copy of the response(s) received for investigations required from each previous employer, or documentation of good faith efforts to contact them. The record must include the previous employer's name and address, the date the previous employer was contacted, and the information received about the driver from the previous employer. Failures to contact a previous employer, or of them to provide the required safety performance history information, must be documented.

* The safety performance histories received from previous employers for a driver who is hired must be retained for as long as the driver is employed by that motor carrier and for three years thereafter.

Records on Past Employees

All motor carriers must keep:

* An investigation of the driver's safety performance history with Department of Transportation regulated employers during the preceding three years.

* A copy of the driver record(s) obtained in response to the inquiry or inquiries to each State driver record agency must be placed in the driver qualification file within 30 days of the date the driver's employment begins and be retained. If no driving record exists from the State or States, the motor carrier must document a good faith effort to obtain such information, and certify that no record exists for that driver in that State. The inquiry to the State driver record agencies must be made in the form and manner each agency prescribes.

* Replies to the investigations of the driver's safety performance history, or documentation of good faith efforts to obtain the investigation data, must be placed in the driver investigation history file, after October 29, 2004, within 30 days of the date the driver's employment begins. Any period of time required to exercise the driver's due process rights to review the information received, request a previous employer to correct or include a rebuttal, is separate and apart from this 30-day requirement to document investigation of the driver safety performance history data.

* The investigation may consist of personal interviews, telephone interviews, letters, or any other method for investigating that the carrier deems appropriate. Each motor carrier must make a written record with respect to each previous employer contacted, or good faith efforts to do so. The record must include the previous employer's name and address, the date the previous employer was contacted, or the attempts made, and the information received about the driver from the previous employer. Failures to contact a previous employer, or of them to provide the required safety performance history information, must be documented.

After October 29, 2004, previous employers must:

* Respond to each request for the DOT defined information within 30 days after the request is received. If there is no safety performance history information to report for that driver, previous motor carrier employers are nonetheless required to send a response confirming the non-existence of any such data, including the driver identification information and dates of employment.

* Provide specific contact information in case a driver chooses to contact the previous employer regarding correction or rebuttal of the data.

* Keep a record of each request and the response for one year, including the date, the party to whom it was released, and a summary identifying what was provided.

* The release of information under this section may take any form that reasonably ensures confidentiality, including letter, facsimile, or e-mail. The previous employer and its agents and insurers must take all precautions reasonably necessary to protect the driver safety performance history records from disclosure to any person not directly involved in forwarding the records, except the previous employer's insurer, except that the previous employer may not provide any alcohol or controlled substances information to the previous employer's insurer.

* Within five business days of receiving a rebuttal from a driver, the previous employer must: (i) Forward a copy of the rebuttal to the prospective motor carrier employer; (ii) Append the rebuttal to the driver's information in the carrier's appropriate file, to be included as part of the response for any subsequent investigating prospective employers for the duration of the three-year data retention requirement.

What Prospective Employers Must Investigate

(Note: If a driver applies for a different position within a company, the employer must fulfill the roles of both previous and prospective employer.)

* The prospective motor carrier must investigate, at a minimum, the information listed in this rule from all previous employers of the applicant that employed the driver to operate a CMV within the previous three years. The investigation request must contain specific contact information on where the previous motor carrier employers should send the information requested.

* Prospective employers must investigate and verify general driver identification and employment verification information, including:

* The data elements as specified above for accidents involving the driver that occurred in the three- year period preceding the date of the employment application.

* Any accidents the previous employer may wish to provide that are retained pursuant to the employer's internal policies for retaining more detailed minor accident information.

* In addition to the investigations required by this rule prospective motor carrier employers must investigate the information listed below from all previous DOT regulated employers that employed the driver within the previous three years from the date of the employment application, in a safety- sensitive function that required alcohol and controlled substance testing specified by 49 CFR part 40.

* Whether, within the previous three years, the driver had violated the alcohol and controlled substances prohibitions.

* Whether the driver failed to undertake or complete a rehabilitation program prescribed by a substance abuse professional (SAP) If the previous employer does not know this information (e.g., an employer that terminated an employee who tested positive on a drug test), the prospective motor carrier must obtain documentation of the driver's successful completion of the SAP's referral directly from the driver.

* For a driver who had successfully completed a SAP's rehabilitation referral, and remained in the employ of the referring employer, information on whether the driver had the following testing violations: (i) Alcohol tests with a result of 0.04 or higher alcohol concentration; (ii) Verified positive drug tests; (iii) Refusals to be tested (including verified adulterated or substituted drug test results).

* A prospective motor carrier employer must provide to the previous employer the driver's written consent for the release of the information. If the driver refuses to provide this written consent, the prospective motor carrier employer must not permit the driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle for that motor carrier.

* The prospective employer must expressly notify drivers with Department of Transportation regulated employment during the preceding three years--via the application form or other written document prior to any hiring decision--that he or she has the following rights regarding the investigative information that will be provided to the prospective employer: (i) The right to review information provided by previous employers; (ii) The right to have errors in the information corrected by the previous employer and for that previous employer to re-send the corrected information to the prospective employer; (iii) The right to have a rebuttal statement attached to the alleged erroneous information, if the previous employer and the driver cannot agree on the accuracy of the information.

* Before an application is submitted, the motor carrier must inform the applicant that the information he/she provides may be used, and the applicant's previous employers will be contacted, for the purpose of investigating the applicant's safety performance history.