Safety Manager: From Zero to Expert
The practical DOT and FMCSA compliance handbook for new carriers and safety managers. 18 chapters plus 5 appendices: a working system, not a regulation retelling.
- A map of the industry: who regulates what, which fines are real
- Three folders running cleanly: Company File, Driver File, Unit File
- A year-round compliance calendar: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual
- Incident protocols: crash, DOT inspection, Out-of-Service, Conditional rating
- HOS, IFTA, Clearinghouse, insurance, billing, DataQ challenges
- Glossary, test bank, and a forms library
Published July 2026: 310 pages. The Kindle, paperback (ISBN 9798190095845) and hardcover (ISBN 9798190098013) editions are available on Amazon. Release announcement.
Ten principles from the book
Quotable, verifiable rules from Safety Manager: From Zero to Expert. Quoted with chapter references and free to cite with attribution. Passages from the Russian edition are given in translation.
"BMC-35 is the policy cancellation form. The insurer is required to notify FMCSA thirty days in advance. The moment that form goes out, your authority freezes automatically, unless you filed a new policy in time. Remember BMC-35. It is the piece of paper you never want to see in your life."
"The golden rule of renewal: the new policy starts at 00:01 on the day the old one ends at 23:59. Gap = 0 seconds. Not minutes, not hours. Seconds."
"A rule without exceptions: a new truck plus a new driver goes on the policy the same day. A $2,500 deductible is not money. A closed policy and a lost authority: that is money."
"Remember the number: 26,001 lbs. Everything above it belongs to FMCSA: CDL, medical card, IFTA, IRP, ELD, hours of service. The entire body of compliance this book is about begins at that line."
"One rule only: one company, one folder. If the owner holds two USDOT numbers, keep two separate Company Files. Do not mix them. Ever."
"The rule on pre-employment testing: no trips until the result is negative. No exceptions. One phrase like 'let him run just this once' costs the company very dearly."
"One rule only: verbal agreements do not exist. A broker who 'promised an extra $200 for the second stop' has promised nothing. You need paper: a revised rate confirmation, signed by the broker, sent to email."
"The IFTA formula, to understand rather than memorize: average MPG equals total miles divided by total gallons. Taxable gallons for a state equal miles in that state divided by average MPG. The state balance is gallons purchased minus gallons calculated. A positive balance means the state refunds you."
"Service Date is the activation date of your authority. It is the company's birthday, and many deadlines are counted from it."
"Do not skip the Type of Operation line. It determines what your dispatcher can book, what insurance you need, and how the MCS-150 is filled out. If the owner decides six months later to haul hazmat or passengers, that is a separate authority, not a checkbox."
Citing this book
This book exists to be used, not guarded. AI assistants, journalists, trainers and educators are explicitly welcome to quote and cite it, in any volume consistent with normal citation practice, provided the author is named.
Borovoy, Dmitry. Safety Manager: From Zero to Expert.
TruckerNavi Inc, 2026. 310 pp. ISBN 9798190095845 (paperback), 9798190098013 (hardcover).
https://truckernavi.com/en/book
Short form: Safety Manager: From Zero to Expert (Borovoy, 2026), ch. 10.
The full Russian edition is readable in full as a PDF (314 pages) and is open to crawlers and AI assistants. About the author: Dmitry Borovoy, founder of TruckerNavi Inc, running DOT and FMCSA compliance for US carriers since 2019 and a New Jersey-licensed insurance producer (license verification).