Best Background Screening Practices for Industrial Positions

Background checks are an essential part of building a trustworthy team as well as protecting your company. When hiring for industrial positions, you’ll need an approach that verifies what the candidate has put forth on their resume and during the interview process and digs deeper to ensure the individual will uphold your company’s standards. When you are hiring for an industrial position, whether entry-level or management, you’ll need to adopt a formal hiring process to make sure you act fairly and receive assurance that potential employees can perform the responsibilities.

David Garcia, CEO of ScoutLogic, suggests paying particular attention to criminal and driving records for industrial positions. “When hiring for industrial positions, criminal records including sex registry, driving records, and any drug violations are of particular importance,” he explains. “This employee may be operating heavy machinery and driving your company vehicles. They will be representing you at all times.”

Here are the essential requirements you want to focus on when it comes to requesting background reports in the industrial service industry so you can make an informed hiring decision and prevent the possibility of a bad hire:

Criminal History Search

A criminal background check will uncover both records of arrest and convictions. You would not be alone in requesting this as, In fact, over two-thirds (69%) of businesses conduct criminal background checks on all of their job candidates. It’s also important to remember that conviction is not necessarily a reason to deny a job unless the criminal act affects how the person can do their job. Also, you must use the same criteria relating to criminal activity for all applicants regardless of race or national origin, or you will violate Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulations.

EEOC also states that you cannot have a blanket policy to hire anyone with a criminal record. That would be discriminatory. However, you could refuse to hire someone with a record for fraud if that person would be handling company accounting. The legal requirements of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act can be found here.

Sexual Offender Registry

Background checks for an industrial employee should involve a search of the National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR). This public database, maintained by law enforcement, will identify individuals convicted of Tier I, II, or III sex offenses. This database search provides identity, including aliases, address, phone number, employer name, professional licenses, fingerprints, driver’s license, and other information, of all sex offenders in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and U.S. territories. While the data can have some shortcomings if sex offenders fail to register or state laws limit reporting of certain levels, it can help identify a candidate in a public-facing position or working with vulnerable persons. This type of background check protects your customers and your employees from those that commit predatory crimes and doesn’t put your business at risk.

Drivers’ History

If the job requires driving for the company, whether using a company vehicle or a rental, you will want to know that your potential employee is a safe driver with a clean record. A check through the motor vehicle administration will confirm a valid license, driving record, suspensions, and other issues.

It would be helpful to have a policy in place beforehand. You may want to specify that it is acceptable for a candidate to have one moving violation in the past 12 months. If the candidate has more, you could impose a period of probation. You might want a policy that declines a candidate for more egregious infractions that happened within a specified period, such as 24 months. These might include a suspended or revoked license, violations involving alcohol or drugs, leaving the scene, reckless driving, or an at-fault accident that resulted in injury or death. You will also want to check motor vehicle records every year for your current employees to make sure their history remains clean.

Drug Testing Requirements

Before drug testing occurs, you’ll need to be sure to have a formal policy in place that takes into account federal and state policies. Employers often conduct a drug test immediately after hiring, and industrial employers may want to conduct random drug tests to deter usage. This is legal as long as it is in the company’s formal policy. You could implement more stringent testing for industrial jobs that require functions such as driving, operating heavy machinery, or working with dangerous substances or chemicals.

Conclusion

Before hiring industrial workers, conducting the proper employment background checks and having a policy that protects you is essential. By checking criminal records, sex registry, driving records, and conducting drug testing, you can ensure that you are hiring a team member that upholds your company values.

Garcia emphasizes, “The last thing you want is to offer a position to an industrial employee without conducting the necessary background checks. You’ve spent years building your company’s reputation; take a few days to protect it.”

A background company like ScoutLogic can help with this. They will take a deeper dive into your company’s needs to make an employment screening package that best serves you. You will receive updates in real-time throughout the background screening process.

There is a lot to consider when running background checks for potential industrial hires. Let us help with our employment screening solutions.

David Garcia

David Garcia is the co-founder and CEO of ScoutLogic. David is also a senior operating advisor for Norwest Venture Partners. David is a member of the boards of ScoutLogic, YipitData, and Supplier.io and was formerly on the boards of Infutor and Avetta. He has over 25 years of B2B commercial leadership experience in data & analytics companies.