Last year, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) released a report stating that Canada needs more and better training for truck drivers, and that new drivers who haven’t received adequate training are making the country’s roads less safe. Meanwhile, transportation and logistics companies are under pressure to find people when the country has been dealing with a shortage of long-haul drivers for several years now.

The IBC report found that drivers with less training and fewer years in the driver’s seat, in particular, were more likely to be involved in collisions compared to those with more training and experience. This costs you time and money – and can damage your reputation in a snap.

Any drivers you bring on need to be trusted to protect both the public as well as property. You need to be able to review, as soon as possible, a person’s background to see if they’re a viable candidate, one who won’t put your company and the public at risk. Thankfully, three critical checks can help you do that.

3 Background Checks You Need for Truck Drivers

In our opinion, there are 3 very important checks to do when you’re considering a new driver:

1.  Criminal background check. This one goes without saying. You need to know if any problematic behaviour in a candidate’s past is going to come back to haunt you. For example, a criminal charge could limit where a person can drive (across the border), making your scheduling that much more difficult. You also want to be sure that things like theft are not going to be an issue.

2.  Drivers abstract. Again, this one is common sense. If you’re hiring someone to drive for your company, you need to ensure that they’re safe to do so. You don’t want to put your company or other people out on the road at risk. Your reputation is everything, so you need people with clean records behind the wheel. A drivers abstract will give you a breakdown of the past 3-10 years so that you can feel confident the driver takes safety seriously.

3.  Social media background check. This may seem a bit out of the ordinary, but trust us, more and more trucking companies are choosing to collect social media background checks on potential new hires, and for good reason. While a criminal background check and a driver abstract will tell you official information – things that are logged with the government or other official bodies – a social media check will give you a glimpse into the more formal world the candidate chooses to share. For example, a criminal background check or driver abstract may not show a drinking or drug issue unless the candidate has been arrested for it in the past, but that could be detrimental to your business.

At Triton, we can appreciate the time crunch and know the pressure you’re under to get new hires in the seat as soon as possible. With our secure online platform, you can access accurate, up-to-date background checks in as little as 15 minutes, 24/7. Additionally, we provide international checks so it doesn’t matter where your candidates are from – we can check their status. Triton has you covered. Find out more by visiting www.tritoncanada.ca today.