Did you know that a trucking company can be held liable for a truck accident if it was negligent in the hiring or training of its truck drivers? Of course, trucking companies cannot always be held liable for negligent or inadequate hiring and training, but with the help of a Los Angeles trucking accident attorney by your side, you may be able to establish a trucking company’s fault after evaluating all facts in your particular case.
The truth is that the vast majority of victims of truck accidents neglect the importance of establishing the truck company’s liability regarding hiring and training the truck driver involved in your crash.
What is the negligent hiring of truck drivers?
But what constitutes negligent hiring or training of truck drivers? When can you hold a truck company liable for inadequate recruiting? And why do trucking companies fail to exercise reasonable care when hiring drivers if they are aware that failure to do so may expose them to liability? These are the questions we asked our experienced truck accident attorney at the Law Offices of Howard Kornberg.
Let’s start with the last question. First and foremost, hiring truck drivers is not exactly a cheap endeavor. In order to hire a truck driver while complying with all federal and state regulations, a trucking company is expected to invest a sizeable amount of money.
Our experience and knowledge lawyers are going to explain what really goes into the process of hiring truck drivers and what the most common mistakes made by trucking companies that may expose them to liability in case of truck accidents in California:
Mistakes made by trucking companies when hiring truck drivers
Job applicants lie during job interviews. And the trucking industry is no exception. Failure to see through those layers of lies amounts to negligence on the part of the employer.
More often than not, human resources departments of trucking companies do not have a single person with experience with driving a truck. If that is the case, a trucking company is advised to let one of their current drivers interview a job applicant to ensure that the latter has sufficient knowledge and experience to work for the company.
Failure to do so may result in the hiring of a person who does not have the experience, skills, and/or knowledge required to be operating a truck for a maximum of 11 consecutive hours in a day.
Checking the potential truck driver’s skills and knowledge
As you may know, actions can tell a thousand words. In addition to sitting and talking about a potential driver’s prior experience and knowledge, a trucking company is required to check the applicant’s basic skills during a second job interview.
Operating a truck is no joke. In order to operate the vehicle safely, a truck driver must know:
- When and how to back up;
- How to accelerate smoothly through the gears;
- How to maintain and inspect a truck before embarking on the trip;
- How to hook and unhook a trailer;
- How to load and unload cargo, among many other essential things.
Conducting background checks when hiring a truck driver
Failure to conduct a proper background check when hiring truck drivers is one of the most common reasons why trucking companies in California are sued after truck accidents.
A non-negligent trucking company is expected to run the applicant’s Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) profile before offering him or her a job contract. In addition to that, it is paramount that a trucking company runs a motor vehicle report on its potential drivers. Trucking companies should think twice before hiring drivers who have had prior accidents, tickets, citations, convictions, and other safety-related incidents.
On-the-job evaluations after hiring
Just because a truck driver seems like the right choice during the hiring process in no way does it mean that he or she does not require on-the-job evaluations to ensure that the trucking company has hired the right person. On-the-job evaluations are required within the first two weeks after the truck driver completed training.
Let our Los Angeles truck accident attorney evaluate your particular case and determine whether or not the trucking company’s hiring of the at-fault driver was negligent or improper. Contact the Law Offices of Howard Kornberg to schedule a free consultation. Call our offices at 310-997-0904 today.
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