Safety & Compliance Governance Policy

Regulatory requirement Company policy Operational best practice Legal / compliance review required

Section 1 — Purpose and scope

1.1 Purpose

This policy is the governing safety and compliance instrument for the employer operating on BackOfficeFleet. It defines accountabilities, required records, and how safety work connects to driver qualification, equipment readiness, load execution, proof, and settlement holds. It does not replace FMCSA, DOT, OSHA, or PHMSA authority, and it does not create a second BOF operating spine.

1.2 Scope

Applies to employees, contractors, and drivers assigned to the employer’s commercial motor vehicle operations, including terminals, customer sites, and over-the-road work. BOF workflows that consume this policy: Safety, Drivers / DQF, Dispatch, Equipment, Documents Vault, and training acknowledgments.

Section 2 — Authority labels

Every requirement in this document is labeled. Do not treat unlabeled company rules as federal law.

Section 3 — Regulatory framework

Regulatory requirement Covered operations remain subject to applicable FMCSA safety regulations in 49 CFR, DOT safety standards, OSHA workplace rules where the employer is the workplace controller, and PHMSA hazardous-materials rules when HAZMAT is actually transported.

3.1 Hours of service and ELD

Regulatory requirement Hours-of-service limits and ELD use follow 49 CFR Part 395, including documented exception cases. Falsifying a record of duty status is prohibited.

Company policy A CMV does not depart a terminal with a known non-functional ELD except under a documented, permitted exception logged in dispatch the same day.

Section 4 — Driver qualification and conduct

4.1 Qualification file

Regulatory requirement Drivers operating CMVs in interstate commerce must hold the appropriate CDL and a current Medical Examiner’s Certificate as required by 49 CFR Parts 383 and 391. The employer maintains a driver qualification file.

Company policy Before first assignment the employer also requires: current MVR review, pre-employment drug/alcohol testing for safety-sensitive roles, and completion of company safety orientation. Record completion on BOF-SAF-FORM-001 Section A and in the DQF.

Legal / compliance review required The company MVR standard used on BOF-SAF-FORM-001 (“no more than two moving violations in 36 months”) is an employer hiring standard. It is not stated here as a federal DQF rule.

4.2 Ongoing driver duties

Regulatory requirement Drivers complete required vehicle inspections and maintain accurate duty-status records.

Company policy Report citation, license action, or medical-status change to Safety within 24 hours.

4.3 Prohibited conduct

Regulatory requirement Operating a CMV with alcohol concentration at or above the DOT safety-sensitive limit, using a prohibited controlled substance, refusing a required test, or using a handheld mobile phone while driving a CMV is prohibited under applicable 49 CFR Parts 382 and 392.

Company policy Falsifying DVIRs, ELD records, or compliance documents, or leaving the scene of an accident, results in immediate removal from service pending investigation.

Section 5 — Vehicle safety and maintenance

Regulatory requirement Commercial vehicles must be in safe operating condition. Out-of-service defects bar dispatch until repaired and documented.

Company policy Drivers complete pre-trip and post-trip inspection using BOF-SAF-FORM-001 Section B or the BOF structured DVIR/pre-trip workflow when that workflow is the system of record for the trip. Do not create a conflicting second inspection authority.

Legal / compliance review required Forward-collision warning, dashcam, and backup-alarm requirements in the quality exemplar are treated as company equipment policy until confirmed as a legal mandate for this fleet.

Operational best practice Log technology failures to Fleet Operations the same day.

Section 6 — Hazardous materials

Regulatory requirement HAZMAT may be transported only by a driver with the required endorsement and, where applicable, TSA security threat assessment, in compliance with 49 CFR Parts 171–180.

Regulatory requirement Releases meeting National Response Center thresholds under 49 CFR §171.15 must be reported as required by that section.

Company policy Notify dispatch and Safety within 15 minutes of discovering a HAZMAT release, then complete the incident report (BOF-SAF-FORM-002 / incident-report template).

Section 7 — Accidents, incidents, and testing

Company policy Accidents involving injury, fatality, or OOS: notify dispatch immediately. Other incidents and near-misses: report the same shift and complete BOF-SAF-FORM-001 Section E or the incident template.

Regulatory requirement Post-accident drug and alcohol testing follows 49 CFR §382.303, including the alcohol (2-hour / 8-hour) and controlled-substance (32-hour) windows and the documentation required when a window is missed. Refusal is treated as a violation under Part 382.

7.1 Drug and alcohol program

Regulatory requirement Safety-sensitive employees are subject to 49 CFR Part 382 testing categories (pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, return-to-duty, follow-up) and Clearinghouse reporting under 49 CFR §382.705.

Section 8 — Training

Regulatory requirement Entry-level driver training applies to persons subject to 49 CFR Part 380 before operating a CMV as required by that part.

Company policy Company safety orientation is required at onboarding and annually. Load-securement refresher is annual for drivers who secure cargo.

Legal / compliance review required HAZMAT awareness “every 3 years” and defensive-driving “every 2 years” are company recurrence targets until 49 CFR 172.704 and any insurer requirements are confirmed for this fleet.

Section 9 — Enforcement

Company policy Violations are classified Level 1 (critical / removal from service), Level 2 (major / written discipline), or Level 3 (minor / coaching). Progressive discipline applies to Levels 2 and 3. Appeals: written notice to the Director of Safety & Compliance within 5 business days. Removal from safety-sensitive duty is not stayed by an appeal when a regulatory prohibition applies.

Company policy Retaliation against good-faith safety reports is itself a Level 1 company violation.

Section 10 — Records, related documents, governance

Related controlled documents: BOF-SAF-SOP-001 (DVIR SOP, review), BOF-SAF-FORM-001 (operational checklist), BOF-DRV-CHK-001 (DQF completeness), BOF-HR-ACK-001 (acknowledgment), BOF-SAF-FORM-002 (incident), BOF-SAF-FORM-003 (accident report), BOF-DRV-003 (accident register, review; supersedes BOF-SAF-FORM-004), BOF-DRV-REC-001–004 (CDL / MEC / MVR / Clearinghouse), BOF-DRV-002 (annual MVR review; supersedes BOF-DRV-FORM-001), BOF-VEH-001 (periodic inspection; supersedes BOF-EQP-FORM-001), existing structured DVIR / ELD / Secure Pickup evidence. Those structured records remain the system of record; these documents do not replace them.

Legal / compliance review required Retention “3 years” and superseded-archive “5 years” from the quality exemplar are not adopted as sole legal clocks. Use the applicable CFR retention table for each record class.

Section 11 — Acknowledgment

By signing, I acknowledge that I received BOF-SAF-POL-001 Version 1.0, understand that regulatory citations are controlling where labeled, and understand that company-policy items are employer rules. Violation may result in removal from service, discipline, or required regulatory reporting.