If your company is hiring drivers in Canada, you likely have unique needs. Those drivers may be using your vehicles, displaying your brand on their vehicles, carrying material merchandise or carrying the most precious merchandise of all, people. This means that, when hiring drivers, your top priority should be public safety.

If you are hiring drivers, whether you hire 5, 50 or 1000 per year, you should be getting a:

1.  Driver’s abstract
2.  Criminal record check
3.  Social media background check

Every single time!

Number one on this list, a driver’s abstract, is usually a given. It’s where most companies start the background check process.

However, you wouldn’t believe how often we see organizations only perform a driver’s abstract on new drivers. Organizations who hire drivers and rely on driver’s abstracts alone are opening themselves up to potential liability.

Is bad driving the only risk your drivers could represent to the public? Does bad driving play a role in loss prevention? The answers are “no” and “no”.

This is why driver’s abstracts should always be coupled with a criminal record check and a social media background check. Driver’s abstracts will only validate driving history, but bad driving isn’t the only threat that a driver can present to your organization or the public.

  • A criminal record check will reveal if your driver has a criminal history. This is key because, depending on the outcome, this background check alone may cause you to change your hiring decision.
  • A social media check can reveal problematic behaviour, such as substance abuse, violence, illegal activities, hate speech, etc.

Hiring drivers new to Canada? Did you know that you can obtain a criminal record check internationally? Also, social media has no borders, so a social media background check will pick up the described activities no matter where the person lives or lived.

When you have these three checks you have truly checked all your bases.

1.  Driver’s abstract to validate driving history
2.  Criminal record check to validate criminal history
3.  Social media check to validate character

With the latest technology, it is easy and inexpensive to obtain the above three checks, not to mention fast when you work with the right background check provider.

Unless you require Vulnerable Sector Checks because your drivers are transporting vulnerable people, ideally you should be looking to perform all background screening in one place.

Enhancing and centralizing your background check screening is the best way to make hiring drivers easier. Be faster, more agile and make the best hiring decisions.

For more information and tips about making the process of hiring drivers easier, please visit: www.tritoncanada.ca.