Do you want to ensure public safety and prevent accidents in your transportation department?DOT physical is the perfect solution. Most of the time, bus companies, trucking carriers, schools, and other companies rely on CDL (Commercial Driving License) drivers to transport passengers or cargo.
But they must take DOT physicals before hiring them as an employee. If you don’t know about DOT physical or want to know more about it, then you are at the right place. Here is the essential information that you need regarding DOT physical.
DOT Physical Is A Medical Test
In simple words, it’s a medical exam that proves if you are a perfect match to drive commercial motor vehicles or not. Driving commercial motor vehicles (CMV), such as buses, semi-trucks, and other mega vehicles, is a big responsibility. DOT physically ensures that the employee can handle this complex task or not.
The employee must be able to hear sounds properly, see road signs clearly, and stay attentive while driving CMVs. If there is any health-related issue, it can put you and others at risk.
If you want to stay qualified to drive CMVs, you will need a DOT physical test after every two years. During this process, you have to meet all medical standards of the Department of Transportations. After passing it, you will get the medical examiner’s certificate. You can also call this certificate your medical card.
Certified Medical Examiners Perform DOT Physical
To ensure your medical condition for CMV driving, certified medical examiners perform DOT physicals. These DOT doctors keenly check if someone can drive CMV safely or not. Because in transportation, safety is the top priority.
They arrange some physical and mental tests that efficiently check someone’s ability to drive. To ensure transportation driving safety, the medical examiners also pass a certification test and refresh it every five years.
That means you can confidently rest assured in the final results of DOT physicals while hiring the drivers for CMV.
DOT Physical Checks 5 Major Elements
Along with your medical history, the doctor will check your hearing, eyesight, blood pressure, and some other information in the DOT physical.
A DOT physical will check five essential health categories, but the requirement is extensive, depending on the person. So, the following are the significant elements that are included in the DOT exam:
– Vision Test
According to the requirements, the driver must be able to see at least 20/40, with or without glasses. This requirement is fulfilled entirely when the driver has a peripheral vision of at least 70” in the horizontal meridian.
– Hearing test
The driver must be able to hear a “forced whisper” at a distance of 5 feet or less. This standard will be checked with and without the driver’s hearing aid. This shows that the average hearing loss is less than 40 dB in the better ear.
– Blood Pressure Checkup
DOT doctors will check for the driver’s high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat.
– Urinalysis To Ensure Diseases
To ensure diabetes or any other disease, the doctor will take a urine sample to test for the signs of the disease.
– Physical Test
Overall, the doctor will keenly check your physical health to ensure whether you can handle the big driving job perfectly or not.
Essential Medical Test For Safety
So, there you have all the essential information about DOT physical. This medical test ensures the safety of both the driver and passengers. With this test, you can make sure that you are healthy enough to do the job of driving CMVs or not.