Transportation and logistics companies need to track nearly everything they do to ensure adherence to government regulations and industry standards. Fleet managers and freight brokers rely on tracking compliance to generate real-time ETAs and meet electronic logging device (ELD) mandates.
Technology can help you improve carriers’ compliance with your requirements. Learn how you can increase tracking compliance, and why it’s essential for your business.
What is tracking compliance?
Complying with health and safety requirements is vital for transportation and logistics companies. It ensures that a company maintains its legal operating status.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires carriers to adhere to regulations related to:
- Hours of service (HOS)
- Drug and alcohol testing
- Electronic logging devices
- Driver medicals
- Hazardous materials transportation
The FMCSA isn’t the only government agency regulating motor carriers. Transportation companies must also adhere to International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) filing requirements and Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) health and safety laws.
Through compliance tracking, carriers can mitigate the risk of receiving agency fines. It also improves driver health and safety, and protects company reputations.
Along with helping carriers follow necessary laws and regulations, real-time GPS tracking can offer valuable business benefits. Having up-to-date shipment information can improve customer transparency while enabling you to make educated optimization decisions.
How does tracking compliance work?
Traditionally, drivers and back-office workers ensured compliance with relevant laws and industry standards through tedious paperwork and driver check-ins. These efforts were inefficient and left room for human error. So how do modern freight brokers and companies ensure compliance?
Modern tracking solutions manage everything from freight location to safety scores. These technologies help compile performance data, and enable managers and freight brokers to receive up-to-the-minute load updates.
Tracking compliance technology integrates driver information, vehicle performance data, GPS tracking and other essential information all in one place. Armed with this complete overview of your operations, you can track your compliance with transportation regulations and internal key performance indicators (KPIs).
One major part of monitoring compliance is GPS load tracking. Customers expect real-time shipping updates, and the data collected can help ensure efficient operations. By encouraging drivers to adopt and use tracking technology, you gain more control over the quality and safety of your services.
4 steps to increase tracking compliance
By following these four steps, you can improve your tracking compliance to ensure legal and efficient operations.
Require digital load tracking
Digital load tracking helps trucking companies and freight brokers manage cargo at every stage of the shipping process. There are countless benefits to digital load tracking, including better compliance with safety and legal requirements within the freight industry.
Load tracking also helps achieve more efficient staffing, higher profit margins and reduced driver dwell time. End customers expect real-time shipment tracking ETAs for their orders. Shippers choose to work with carriers that offer digital load-tracking apps so they can offer the service to customers.
Provide transparency
Freight visibility and load transparency between a freight company and its carriers helps ensure tracking compliance. Through honest conversations between dispatch and drivers, you can promote regulatory compliance throughout your organization. When carriers understand the importance of load tracking for customer satisfaction and adherence to industry standards, they are far more likely to meet your company standards.
Work with carriers following compliance guidelines
Sometimes drivers or carriers are reluctant to adopt new technologies or policies. You can meet freight visibility requirements by choosing carriers willing to incorporate your digital load-tracking processes. Also, working with drivers committed to following compliance guidelines improves the quality of your service offering.
Use tracking apps
Tracking apps and other transportation management systems make it easy for freight brokers and trucking fleets to guarantee compliance. These freight technologies reduce the risk of human error while completing legally mandated reports and help improve the carrier-shipper relationship. Along with compliance tracking, these software solutions can help you optimize routes, find loads, locate truck stops and generate real-time shipment ETAs.
Increase tracking compliance with freight technology
Implementing the right tracking technologies helps you ensure regulatory compliance and customer satisfaction while optimizing business operations. You should take steps like requiring digital tracking, offering shipping transparency, working with compliant carriers and using tracking apps and software.
FAQ
The best way to monitor compliance in the freight industry is by using freight apps and software with tracking features.
Compliance management ensures that an organization meets all relevant laws, safety standards and industry guidelines.
Compliance procedures refer to the steps that a company takes to ensure it adheres to the laws, regulations and industry standards.
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