Welcome to the tenth and final article in this series on trucking safety systems! This series took a dive into the components of trucking company safety systems and it will end with an article further describing the role of external safety auditors and their relationship with carriers.

An expression so common in auditing communities that I cannot ascertain the original source is “In God we trust; everyone else will be audited”. While humorous, this expression hints at an adversarial relationship between the auditing community and the community they audit.

This should come as no big surprise. Auditors are generally responsible for making sure people and organisations are doing what they are supposed to be doing and what they said they were going to be doing. Having someone check up on you can send a message of mistrust. Trust is important in relationships, and to have someone accuse you of not being trustworthy can feel deeply disheartening - even if the accusation is weakly implicit.

If people were completely honest and compliant at all times, there would be no need for audits. Alas, this is not the case, and so auditors serve a vital purpose in ensuring compliance with the laws that society deems important. Compliant behaviour and operations do not need to worry about audits; however, not worrying is always easier said than done.

From my experience in transportation safety, audits frequently dominate discussions when safety professionals gather. Auditors are often revered as gatekeepers: individuals who have tremendous power and godly insight into the world of safety and compliance. And in many ways, this reverence is just and deserved: the auditors I have known have been experts in their field, and since they represent the law they do operate from a position of power.

But, the mystery around an auditor’s role serves no useful purpose and should be dispelled. Auditors are professionals with a job to do, and learning more about what they do and where they fit in the bigger scheme of carrier safety systems can help audits feel less intimidating without downplaying their importance.

So with that, let’s talk about auditors.