FMCSA Accident Register Requirements: Why Zero Accidents Does Not Mean You Skip This Document
The accident register is the most frequently misunderstood document in the New Entrant Safety Audit. Carriers with zero accidents assume they have nothing to maintain. Carriers with a fender-bender assume insurance handles the paperwork. Both assumptions get cited. The accident register is a regulatory document under 49 CFR 390.15 that must exist whether you have had accidents or not. Here is exactly what the rule requires and how to maintain it.
What a DOT-recordable accident is
Not every accident is DOT-recordable. The definition in 49 CFR 390.5 covers any accident involving a commercial motor vehicle operating in interstate or intrastate commerce that results in at least one of the following:
- A fatality
- Bodily injury to a person who, as a result of the injury, immediately receives medical treatment away from the scene of the accident
- Disabling damage to one or more vehicles requiring tow-away from the scene
A minor scrape in a parking lot with no injury and no tow is not recordable. A jackknife that requires a wrecker is. A collision where one driver is taken to the hospital is recordable even if the truck drives away.
What goes in the register
Section 390.15(b) requires the register to include, for each recordable accident in the past three years:
Date of accident
Month, day, year.
City or town and state
Where the accident occurred.
Driver name
Of the driver involved.
Number of injuries
Persons receiving treatment away from the scene.
Number of fatalities
Persons killed as a result of the accident.
Hazardous materials
Whether hazardous materials, other than fuel from the truck's tank, were released.
Copies of accident reports
The carrier must also keep a copy of all accident reports required by state or other governmental entities. If the police produced a crash report, that goes in the accident file. Internal accident investigation reports go in the file. The carrier's notes from interviewing the driver go in the file.
Why zero accidents still requires a register
FMCSA does not infer that the absence of a register means zero accidents -- they infer that the absence of a register means no recordkeeping. A new carrier who has had zero recordable accidents in 12 months should produce a register that says exactly that: a one-page document titled Accident Register with the carrier's name, the period covered, and a notation that there have been no DOT-recordable accidents in the period. That document is the safety management control. Without it, the carrier cannot demonstrate they would record an accident if one occurred.
Post-accident drug and alcohol testing
When a recordable accident happens, post-accident drug and alcohol testing decisions are immediate. Under 49 CFR 382.303, the carrier must test the driver for alcohol within 8 hours and for controlled substances within 32 hours if:
- There was a fatality
- The driver was issued a citation for a moving violation and a vehicle was towed
- The driver was issued a citation and any person was treated for injuries away from the scene
If no test is conducted, the carrier must document why -- typically by completing a post-accident non-test rationale form that explains why the test could not be completed within the required window. That documentation goes in the accident file.
Retention period
The accident register covers the past three years. Individual accident files (reports, investigation notes, post-accident test results) are kept for three years from the date of the accident. Some carriers keep them longer because liability claims can stretch beyond three years -- but three is the federal minimum.
Common audit findings
- Register does not exist at all
- Register exists but does not include all required data fields
- Recordable accident from 18 months ago not in the register because the carrier assumed insurance handled the documentation
- Post-accident drug and alcohol test results missing from the accident file
- Police report missing from the file
- Carrier confused about which accidents are recordable -- includes parking-lot fender-benders that should not be there, omits a tow-away that should be
Building the accident register from day one
Open the register the day your DOT number activates
A single page or spreadsheet titled Accident Register, dated, with the carrier name and a header for each required field.
Set a written accident response procedure
Driver notifies dispatch immediately, dispatch determines whether the accident is recordable, dispatch initiates post-accident testing if criteria are met.
Open an individual accident file for every recordable event
Even one-truck owner-operators -- the file structure is the same.
Update the register within 30 days
Of any recordable accident.
Retain for three years
Both the register and the underlying files.