Your Abstract’s Inspection Section: Verifiable Experience and Telling Your Story

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There is a lot of talk in the trucking industry about the driver shortage, and I am not minimising this concern.  However, the best jobs in the industry often have many applicants, and simply holding the right license may not be enough to land you the position you want. 

Additionally, many companies may not be as interested in your resume as they are your driving record.  More specifically, a trucker’s commercial driver’s abstract is part of the hiring process and you should be able to read, understand, and explain your abstract to all current and future employers. 

Keeping your abstract in good condition – no demerits and only clean inspections – means driving by the rules and performing well at Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) inspections.  But this does not mean an absence of inspections is the best; instead, drivers should value a lengthy record of clean (ie. – passed) inspections. 

If you think the best way to keep your abstract clean is to avoid CVSA officers at all costs, I disagree.  I argue that positive interactions with these folks are actually better than no interactions at all. 

Verifiable Experience 

Verifiable experience is the work experience you have that can be confirmed by a third party. 

You may be able to tell an employer where you have worked in the past, but trucking companies typically require more than your word.  When you go to apply for a job, you want to be able to explain to the recruiter the highlights of your past and back it up with verification. 

This is where a record of violation-free CVSA inspections on your abstract comes in handy.  If you can show a potential future employer a clean Level 1 inspection dated back five years, you can verify you have been working in the industry at least that far back. 

If your inspection record is full of clean inspections, you are not only demonstrating you have a record of working in the industry but you are also showing you have a record of working safely and compliantly.  This is why a new driver should not simply try to avoid getting inspected; by keeping everything – truck, paperwork, and you – in legal condition and bagging a few clean inspections, you have armed yourself with safe, verifiable work experience. 

Explaining Your Inspection Record 

What do you do if you have a long record of inspections but they are full of violations?  Learn how to explain them accurately. 

A professional driver is 100 per cent responsible for the equipment they are operating.  This means any and all violations on the vehicle, in your permits and logbook, and in your load securement are all the driver’s responsibility to identify and have corrected before departing on a trip. 

However, there are situations in which the driver has little or no control over violations.  For example, consider the scenario below of a flat tire being detected by a thermal camera. 

Example 

Some scales have thermal cameras and these tools allow officers to find problems with a truck/trailer without even stopping the vehicle.  In the case of one tire in a dual set being flat, the tire bearing the extra weight will get hotter than the other tires on the vehicle and the thermal camera will be able to detect this defect. 

Let’s say a driver stopped to perform an en route vehicle inspection about 100 kilometers before the scale.  They found nothing wrong that morning during the pre-trip, and at this stop everything – including the tires – is fine.  However, as they pull back onto the highway, an inside dual tire picks up a nail and starts to quickly leak. 

By the time the truck gets to the scale the tire with the nail is completely flat: an out-of-service condition.  The truck is stopped, an inspection is done confirming the flat tire, and the driver now has an out-of-service inspection on their record. 

I would say in this case the driver did nothing wrong and they were a victim of bad luck.  However, this inspection will now be on their record indefinitely. 

In the example above, the driver will now have to be able to explain this out-of-service to all future employers.  If an employer has a rigid “no previous out-of-services” hiring policy, then this driver is out of luck.  But hopefully, most companies are not so short-sighted and will give the applicant an opportunity to explain if they are otherwise a good choice for the position. 

Many times drivers are pressured by external forces to operate with defects such as broken lights, overweight loads, and improper permits.  Sometimes new drivers may be unaware of permit requirements due to a lack of training and get caught out-of-compliance thinking everything was okay. 

Whatever the reason, if you have a less-than-perfect inspection record on your abstract, make sure you can explain why.  Even if the reason for a violation is you failed to do a proper inspection, hopefully you can see what errors you made and can explain what steps you have taken to improve as an individual. 

In summary, a commercial driver’s abstract is an imperfect way of learning about an applicant.  As a driver, you need to consider how future employers will look at your abstract and see your positive performance at the scales as verifiable experience you can market for future jobs. 

Dave Elniski

Safety Officer

Caveman Transport Ltd.