Title 49 CFR § 385.3
Safety Management Controls

Federal regulations governing motor carrier safety fitness and compliance requirements for interstate commerce operations

Regulatory Requirement: Per 49 CFR § 385.3 and 49 CFR § 385.7, all companies engaged in interstate commerce must have in place a series of Safety Management Controls, which are the systems, policies, programs, practices, and procedures used by a motor carrier to ensure compliance with applicable safety regulations.

What Are Safety Management Controls?

Safety management controls are the systems, policies, programs, practices, and procedures used by a motor carrier to ensure compliance with applicable safety and hazardous materials regulations which ensure the safe movement of products and passengers through the transportation system, and to reduce the risk of highway accidents and hazardous materials incidents resulting in fatalities, injuries, and property damage.

Core Components

Effective safety management controls include:

Why Safety Management Controls Matter

Having a company safety policy is the first step in creating effective Safety Management Controls. However, if a safety policy is not enforced, it will serve no value to the company and will not assist in FMCSA Audits or Compliance Reviews.

The Impact of Enforcement

If a company can demonstrate actionable enforcement of its safety policies, this will assist the company as it seeks to improve its safety scores and/or its safety rating during:

FMCSA Safety Ratings

The FMCSA assigns safety ratings based on the adequacy of a motor carrier's safety management controls. Safety management controls are adequate if they are appropriate for the size and type of operation of the particular motor carrier.

Satisfactory

A motor carrier has in place and functioning adequate safety management controls to meet the safety fitness standard. This is the desired rating for all motor carriers.

Conditional

A motor carrier does not have adequate safety management controls in place to ensure compliance with the safety fitness standard that could result in safety violations.

Unsatisfactory

A motor carrier does not have adequate safety management controls in place and has resulted in safety violations. May result in prohibition from operating.

Compliance Reviews and Safety Audits

Safety Audits

A safety audit is an examination of a motor carrier's operations to provide educational and technical assistance on safety and the operational requirements of the FMCSRs and applicable HMRs and to gather critical safety data needed to make an assessment of the carrier's safety performance and basic safety management controls. Safety audits do not result in safety ratings.

When Safety Audits Occur

Compliance Reviews

Compliance reviews are more comprehensive on-site examinations of motor carrier operations, records, and facilities to determine compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) and Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMRs). These reviews result in safety ratings.

What Gets Reviewed During Audits

FMCSA evaluates motor carriers on multiple regulatory factors to determine the adequacy of safety management controls:

Factor 1: General Requirements (Parts 387 & 390)

Factor 2: Driver Requirements (Parts 382, 383 & 391)

Factor 3: Operational Requirements (Parts 392 & 395)

Factor 4: Vehicle Requirements (Parts 393 & 396)

Factor 5: Hazardous Materials (Parts 171, 177, 180 & 397)

Factor 6: Accident History

Acute and Critical Violations

Acute Regulations

Violations of acute regulations directly and immediately affect safety. Noncompliance with acute regulations is quantitatively linked to inadequate safety management controls and usually higher than average accident rates. Examples include:

Critical Regulations

Critical regulations are those identified where noncompliance relates to management and/or operational controls and are indicative of breakdowns in a carrier's management controls. Patterns of noncompliance (more than one violation) include:

Implementing Your Safety Policy

Employee Policy Options

Disciplinary Actions for Violations

Your safety policy should include customized disciplinary actions that will result from violations of the safety policy. Ensure that the actions chosen are those that you are willing to ENFORCE with company drivers, otherwise they will present no benefit to the company.

Safety Incentives

Companies that give bonuses to drivers for clean inspections give drivers a reason to be even more thorough during DVIRs (Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports). Clean inspections help improve safety scores, which benefits the company overall.

Enforcement is Essential

Critical Reminder: While having a safety policy on file is an important step toward safety compliance, it is the enforcement of the policy that may have an impact on safety scores should an FMCSA Audit or Compliance Review take place.

Get Your FMCSA-Compliant Safety Policy

Our Motor Carrier Safety Policy is updated for 2026 and includes all required safety management controls, templates, and implementation guidance.

Request Safety Policy Chat with Specialist

Important Disclaimer

Federal Applications Processor Hoffenmer offers safety policy templates to companies as a resource for their Safety Management Controls. However, Federal Applications Processor Hoffenmer cannot and will not guarantee that this policy will be sufficient to cover all aspects of safety management, nor that this template will assist with a company's safety scores or safety rating.

A company using this policy is fully responsible for reading the contents of this policy and enforcing the guidelines as set forth. By accepting this safety policy, a company agrees to hold harmless Federal Applications Processor Hoffenmer, its subsidiaries and agents for any harm incurred by the acceptance of this policy, or its use or lack thereof.