Good employees are hard to find. In today’s business environment, finding someone with a commercial driver’s license to operate a semi is even harder. However, Fred Whitford believes that’s no reason to hire the first person who appears in your driveway.

“Yes, you needed help yesterday, but you’ve got too much at stake,” says Whitford, director of Purdue Pesticide Programs. After developing expertise in traffic laws and safety regulations, he sometimes offers his opinion in cases involving accidents with farm trucks.

“Drivers you employ are an extension of you,” Whitford explains. “Whatever the drivers do in your trucks makes you at least partially responsible for their actions.

“Researching backgrounds of your drivers increases probability that you put someone behind the wheel who will represent you while conducting your business. The legal system calls it ‘exercising reasonable care and due diligence.’

“What people have done in the past they will often do again in the future. That’s why we’re concerned about drivers who were convicted driving high on drugs or alcohol or are repeat speeding offenders.”

Ask these questions

Asking the prospective employee questions is critical. Your insurance company will also do its own investigation into the driver’s background. Here are nine questions to ask:

Related:Farm truck driver shortage getting worse

1. Has your driver’s license been suspended, revoked or modified in the last five years? It’s better to know now rather than later, Whitford insists.

2. Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If the person says yes, ask for dates, charges, places, courts and actions taken. Court-martial proceedings count, too.

3. Any traffic offenses? Ask if they’ve pled guilty to or been convicted of any traffic-related offenses within the last five years. Make it clear you want to know about all traffic tickets.

4. Do you have a valid driver’s license? This may seem obvious, but you never know! Ask anyway, Whitford says. Ask for the driver’s license number, too.

5. Do you have a valid CDL? Ask for their CDL number. If they don’t have a CDL, ask if they would be willing to get one. Whitford notes that even though it may not be required if the farm is exempt, it is more evidence of due diligence. Getting a CDL also requires a department of transportation (DOT) physical. Who pays for CDL training may be negotiable.

6. Have you held driver’s licenses in other states? Make sure you check on any past problems that might have arisen elsewhere, Whitford says.

7. Can I have permission to verify? Ask for permission to verify information on their employment application through a thorough check of criminal and Bureau of Motor Vehicles records. Your insurance provider may be able to check BMV records and share information with you. Make sure they understand you will follow up with references provided on the application.

8. Will you submit to a drug and alcohol test? Ask if they understand they may be required to submit to a preemployment test for drugs and alcohol as permitted by law. Many farms have zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol, Whitford says.

9. Have you falsified or failed to provide information? Falsification or failure to provide information may be reasons to deny or terminate employment, and the prospective employee should be aware, Whitford says.

For more information on hiring tips, check out Farm Truck Accidents: Considering Your Liability Management Options.

Indiana exemptions to CDL requirement

Farmers and their employees in Indiana do not need a CDL to drive a semi or straight truck hauling goods to and from the farm. Once you start hauling commercially, those same drivers must have a CDL just like all other commercial truck drivers.

“Get your information firsthand from a reliable source, like a motor carrier officer with Indiana State Police,” Whitford says. “Don’t rely on what a neighbor tells you. There are both federal and state laws, and not everyone interprets them the same way. It can get confusing very quickly.”

When talking with the Indiana State Police, tell them you’re asking about transportation regulations regarding your farming operation. What is required for farmers is different than what the law requires for commercial motor carriers, including ag retailers.

Once someone pays a farmer to haul grain or inputs, exemptions no longer apply. As some interpret the rules, if you are paid “fully” for hauling grain, for example, then the law refers to it as operating for hire. However, there are exceptions. Receiving fuel or being reimbursed for expenses is not referred to as “for hire.”

Whitford adds a word of caution for those who don’t take this subject seriously. “Those who haul commercially without CDLs on farm plates without business insurance risk everything they own if an accident occurs,” he says.

Here are more key points:

DOT number. Farmers also do not need a federal DOT number in Indiana to haul their own grain or inputs. Again, it all changes once you haul for hire or cross state lines. If you cross state lines, you need a DOT number and information on the sides of the semi or straight truck.

Crossing state lines and CDL. Both Indiana and federal laws grant exemptions to cross state lines without a CDL if you are within a 150-air-mile radius of your farm and hauling your own grain or inputs. Beyond the 150-air-mile radius, you become a commercial trucker.

License plates. You can operate semis and straight trucks for farming in Indiana on a farm plate, which is roughly half the cost of a commercial plate. If the same truck used on the farm is used to haul grain for hire, you must purchase commercial plates, Whitford says.

Farm designation. If you use trucks for both farm and commercial, fill out and carry a Certificate of Designation as a Covered Farm Vehicle. Distributed by the Indiana Department of Revenue, it verifies that you’re entitled to exemptions when operating as a farmer, Whitford says. When operating commercially, covered by a commercial plate, you’re OK, but drivers must have a CDL and follow the same rules as commercial truckers, he adds.

State fuel taxes. In Indiana, farmers are not subject to paying International Fuel Tax Agreement taxes as long as they do not cross state lines. “That’s not true in some states, including Ohio and Illinois, where you’re required to make quarterly reports,” Whitford says. If you cross state lines, you’re required to have an Indiana fuel tax certificate. Illinois and Ohio authorities will ticket truck drivers traveling in their states without a fuel tax certificate, Whitford adds.