Glossary

Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP)

The Pre-Employment Screening Program, PSP, is an FMCSA service that gives motor carriers access to an individual driver's federal safety history for hiring decisions. With the driver's written consent, a carrier can pull a report showing that driver's crash records from the past five years and roadside-inspection records from the past three.

Driver level, not carrier level

PSP is about the person behind the wheel, not the company. That makes it different from the carrier-level records that drive most vetting: a carrier's authority, insurance, out-of-service rate, and CSA data describe the company, while a PSP report describes a driver's individual inspection and crash involvement. The two answer different questions.

Who uses it and how

PSP is used by carriers screening driver applicants, and it requires the driver's consent, so it is not a tool a broker uses to vet a carrier. The data it draws on, roadside inspections and crashes, is the same federal safety data that appears in aggregate on a carrier's record. Entries a driver believes are wrong can be challenged through DataQs, the same correction system that applies to a carrier's records. fleetfax works at the carrier level and does not pull driver PSP reports.

How it differs from carrier vetting

A broker vetting a carrier and a carrier screening a driver are answering different questions from overlapping data. The carrier's out-of-service rate, authority, and CSA figures describe the company as a whole; a PSP report isolates one driver's own inspections and crashes. A carrier with a clean company record can employ a driver with a rough individual history, and the reverse is also possible, which is why the two checks do not substitute for each other. PSP requires the driver's consent and is a hiring tool for carriers, not something a broker can pull on a carrier. fleetfax operates at the carrier level and does not access driver PSP reports.

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