Originally published in CCJ on February 8, 2021. Republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Like so many other businesses who were forced to reinvent how they conducted themselves in 2020, the pandemic impacted how the U.S. DOT and its state enforcement partners conducted safety audits of trucking companies last year.

More than half of the 10,999 compliance reviews of carriers conducted last year were offsite reviews. As noted by Taylor & Associates partner Lesley Sachs in a recent CCJ article, even if and when the pandemic subsides, the trend toward offsite compliance reviews is likely here to stay.

“FMCSA was putting this infrastructure in place and testing [offsite audits] even before the COVID pandemic,” she said. The need for physical distancing amid the pandemic “presented an ideal time,” she said, for the agency to turn to offsite reviews as a primary tool in its kit. “If the tool is working,” Sachs said, “they’ll continue to use it beyond COVID.”

Carriers should be ready to produce requested documents and files within 48 hours if they are contacted for an offsite audit. Want to know more? Contact Partner Lesley Sachs for more information on navigating the review process.

Read the full CCJ article here.