What this is
What is a log review, as distinct from an hours of service violation record?
What is a log review, as distinct from an hours of service violation record?
The log review is the periodic examination of a driver's or fleet's electronic logging device or tachograph output, looking for exceedances, record-quality problems and patterns. The violation record is what gets raised once the review finds something specific; a review with no violations still has to happen, since it is the evidence that nothing needed raising.
What counts as a hard exceedance versus a record-quality problem?
A hard exceedance is a driving, duty or rest limit actually breached: the daily driving limit, the duty window, a missed break, a rest shortfall. A record-quality problem is different in kind: unassigned driving time not reconciled, log edits with no stated reason, or paper records where an ELD was expected. Only the first is a limit violation; the second is what makes the record's honesty questionable.
Who should carry out the review?
The fleet compliance lead, working from the ELD or digital tachograph output rather than the driver's own summary. Reviewing only what the driver reports misses exactly the edits and unassigned time the review exists to catch.
Scope
When is a hours of service log review required?
The log review is a periodic check across a period and, usually, a set of drivers or a route. Using it to record one specific breach, or to investigate a device fault, produces a record that duplicates a more specific template and misses the fields that one is built for.
Use this template when
- The review interval has come round and a set of logs is due to be checked
- A new record is needed; each one gets its own ID in the form HOS-2026-000
- You are running the Fatigue and Shift Work programme and this review is one of its steps
- A route, shift or driver has flagged repeated exceedances needing a periodic look rather than a one-off check
- A linked record needs this one to exist: it links to the worker record and feeds a CAPA when raised
Do not use it for
- Hours of Service Violation Record, which documents one specific breach, rather than a period's worth of logs
- Fatigue Risk Assessment, which assesses fatigue risk from schedule design, night driving and trip length rather than what was logged
- ELD Malfunction Record, which records a device failure and how hours were captured manually while it was down
- Driver Qualification File, which holds licence, medical and training status rather than driving-time records
- Anything outside KnowFleet, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process
Compliance mapping
Which FMCSA 395 requirements does this satisfy?
FMCSA 395 sets the driving, duty and record-keeping duty; it does not prescribe how a periodic review should be structured. The review's defensibility rests on testing the record's integrity, not just the arithmetic against the limits.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| FMCSA 395.3 | Maximum driving time for property-carrying vehicles: the daily driving limit and the duty window it must fall within | Compliance summary |
| FMCSA 395.8 | Driver's record of duty status must be true and accurate, with false certification prohibited | Record quality |
| FMCSA 395.11 | Supporting documents must reconcile with the logged record, including unaccounted-for driving time | Record quality |
| FMCSA 395 subpart B | Electronic logging device requirement and the conditions under which paper records remain valid | Header |
| FMCSA 395.2 | Definitions governing authorised personal use of a commercial vehicle (personal conveyance) and yard moves | Record quality |
| NSC Standard 9 | Fatigue risk management guidance on whether recurring exceedances indicate a designed-in fatigue risk | Patterns |
What it does not cover
- Hours of Service Violation Record, which documents a specific breach and the action taken against it.
- Fatigue Risk Assessment, which assesses fatigue risk from schedule design, night driving and trip length rather than reviewing logged hours.
- ELD Malfunction Record, which records a device failure and how hours were captured manually until repaired.
- Driver Qualification File, which holds licensing, medical and training status, not driving-time records.
- Roadside Inspection Record, which captures an in-person enforcement stop rather than an office-based periodic review.
Global
Hours of Service Log Review requirements by country
Hours of service is prescriptive in a way most safety duties are not: the limits are set in law, which shifts the question from whether a duty exists to whether the record can be trusted.
FMCSA 395, Hours of Service of Drivers
Fixed driving, duty and rest limits, with an electronic logging device mandate and defined exceptions for personal conveyance and yard moves.
Enforcement runs through both the roadside stop and the carrier's own safety rating, so a weak internal review eventually shows up in CSA scores regardless of any single stop.
Retained EU drivers' hours rules (Regulation (EC) 561/2006) and domestic Working Time Regulations, enforced with digital or analogue tachographs
Similar structure to FMCSA: fixed daily and weekly driving limits, mandatory breaks and rest periods, recorded on a tachograph rather than an ELD.
DVSA treats tachograph manipulation and missing records as seriously as an actual driving-time breach, mirroring the falsification concern here.
AETR agreement (European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles Engaged in International Road Transport)
Extends broadly similar driving and rest limits to journeys crossing into non-EU signatory states.
A fleet running international legs needs the review to know which limit set applies to which stretch, since a journey can cross regimes mid-trip.
How to complete it
How to complete a hours of service log review, step by step
The form prompts for counts and yes-or-no checks. Whether the record actually reduces the next violation depends on judgement the form cannot force.
The same three exceedances can mean a driver taking liberties, an unrunnable route, or a dock consistently running late. The patterns section exists to force that distinction; skipping straight to coaching answers the wrong question.
A block of driving time with no driver logged in is a device artefact, a handoff, or an unrecorded driver. Marking it 'partly' reconciled leaves exactly the ambiguity an audit will not accept; name what the time was and who was driving.
A legitimate edit and one made to conceal a violation look identical until the reason is written down. Treat 'some edits annotated' as failing, not a partial pass, because the annotation is what separates the two cases.
If the schedule is flagged marginal or unachievable, coaching only shifts the pressure onto the next driver's judgement about which limit to bend. That finding belongs to the scheduler, not the driver who worked it.
What auditors find
Most common hours of service log review findings
Findings here are less often 'this driver exceeded the limit' than 'the review did not ask the question that would have found the real cause'.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Exceedances counted and closed with coaching, no pattern analysis by driver or route. | NSC Standard 9 | Cross-reference exceedances against driver and route before deciding the fix. |
| Unassigned driving time recorded but not reconciled to a specific cause. | FMCSA 395.11 | Reconcile every unassigned block to a driver, handoff, or device fault before closing. |
| Log edits made with no reason annotated on some or all of them. | FMCSA 395.8 | Require an annotated reason for every edit; treat unexplained edits as unresolved. |
| Personal conveyance or yard move status used to extend an effective working day. | FMCSA 395.2 | Compare the entry against the actual movement it describes, not just the status flag. |
| Paper records used for a fleet where an electronic logging device is expected. | FMCSA 395 subpart B | Confirm ELD status at review, and route paper-record fleets to a documented exception. |
| Schedule flagged as marginal or unachievable, but reviewed as a driver-conduct issue. | NSC Standard 9 | Route a marginal or unachievable schedule finding to the scheduler, not to coaching alone. |
Case in point
Case in point: the review that always passed
A regional carrier ran a weekly log review on a lane serving one large retail customer. Every week, one or two drivers logged a duty-limit exceedance of ten to twenty minutes, always on the return leg, and each was recorded as an isolated exceedance, coached, and closed. A roadside inspection eighteen months later flagged the same lane for a pattern of near-limit driving and personal conveyance status used for the final few miles back to the yard, after the duty window had closed. The retailer's dock had a scheduled unloading slot that regularly ran forty minutes late, which the schedule had never been adjusted to absorb.
Nothing in any single week's review was wrong; the exceedances were real, small, and coached. What was missing was a review that looked across weeks rather than within one, which is exactly what the patterns section is for. The corrective action was a schedule change to the lane, not further coaching, and it only became visible once someone compared reviews rather than reading each one in isolation.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
5 sections
- Reference
- FLT-019
- Archetype
- Review
- Record ID
- HOS-2026-000
- Scoring
- Violation count
- Direction
- High is bad
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- FMCSA 395, NSC Standard 9
- Links
- Links Worker; feeds CAPA
- Tags
- Fleet, Compliance
- Sections
- 5
- Fields
- 47
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 0
- Links out
- 3
Header
12 fieldsReview ID*
Auto sequence. Format HOS-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Completed By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Driver*
Person ID*
Links to FDN-003 Person ID
Licence Class
Period Reviewed*
Reviewed By*
Record Source*
Electronic logging device, digital tachograph, or paper record. Paper is the hardest to verify and the easiest to falsify.
- Electronic logging device4 pts
- Digital tachograph4 pts
- Paper record1 pt
Compliance summary
9 fieldsDays Reviewed*
Logs Complete*
Missing Logs*
Daily Driving Limit Exceeded*
Daily Duty Limit Exceeded*
Weekly Limit Exceeded*
Required Breaks Missed*
Daily Rest Shortfalls*
Weekly Rest Shortfalls*
Record quality
8 fieldsUnassigned Driving Time
Driving recorded with no driver logged in. It has to be assigned to somebody, and unexplained blocks attract enforcement attention.
Unassigned Time Reconciled*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Log Edits Made
Edits Annotated With Reason*
- All3 pts
- Some1 pt
- None0 pts
Driver Certified Their Logs*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Falsification Suspected*
- No3 pts
- Possibly0 pts
- Yes0 pts
Personal Conveyance Use Reasonable
Personal conveyance used to extend a working day is a common and heavily penalised practice.
- Yes3 pts
- Questionable1 pt
- No0 pts
Yard Move Status Used Correctly
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Patterns
6 fieldsRepeated Violations By Same Driver*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Violations Concentrated On One Route*
If a route cannot be run legally, the schedule is the problem and no amount of driver coaching fixes it.
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Schedule Achievable Legally*
- Yes3 pts
- Marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Loading Or Unloading Delays A Factor*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Customer Site Delays Identified*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Raised With Customer
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Outcome
12 fieldsViolation Records Raised*
Coaching Delivered*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Schedule Change Recommended*
- No3 pts
- Yes1 pt
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Next Due*
Compliance*
Signature*
Fleet Manager*
Second Signature*
FLT-019 · record IDs look like HOS-2026-000 · Links Worker; feeds CAPA
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The review is a fixed weekly task. What slips is the comparison across weeks, the reconciliation left marked partial, and the schedule finding that never reaches the person who could fix it.
Holds the review history against the driver and route registers, so a pattern across weeks is visible, not buried in separate records.
Turns a coaching finding into a tracked competency action rather than a note that the review closed with coaching delivered.
Carries a schedule-feasibility finding to the person who sets the schedule, rather than letting it dead-end with compliance.
Flags unresolved reconciliations and unannotated edits across reviews, and holds every write for your approval first.
This template lives in KnowFleet — fleet and transport. Drivers, vehicles, hours, cargo securement and operator licence compliance.
Meet KnowFleet→Glossary
Hours of Service Log Review definitions and key terms
- Electronic logging device (ELD)
- The device required under FMCSA subpart B that automatically records driving time from the vehicle's engine, replacing manual paper logs for most carriers.
- Personal conveyance
- Authorised personal use of a commercial vehicle while off duty, which does not count against driving or duty limits but is one of the more commonly misused status flags.
- Yard move
- Movement of a vehicle within a carrier's or shipper's yard under a special driving category that does not count as on-road driving time.
- Record of duty status (RODS)
- The driver's logged account of duty status across a 24-hour period: driving, on-duty not driving, sleeper berth and off-duty.
- Unassigned driving time
- Driving time captured by an ELD with no driver logged in, which must be claimed by a driver or otherwise accounted for.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about hours of service log review
How far back should a weekly review look?+
At minimum the period since the last review, so no days go unchecked, and far enough back to see whether an exceedance is a one-off or part of a pattern. A current-week-only view cannot answer the questions the patterns section asks.
Is a single unassigned driving-time block a serious finding?+
On its own, not necessarily; handoffs and device quirks produce genuine unassigned blocks. What matters is whether it gets reconciled. One left unassigned after the review has effectively been waved through, and that is the finding.
Should personal conveyance use always be flagged?+
No, but any use that extends the working day rather than genuinely representing off-duty travel is. The test is whether the movement matches what personal conveyance is meant to describe, not whether the status was used at all.
What should happen when the schedule itself looks unachievable?+
The finding goes to whoever builds the schedule, with the review as the evidence. Coaching a driver against a schedule the form itself records as marginal treats a design problem as a behaviour problem, and it will recur with the next driver.
Does every review need a violation record raised?+
No. Most weeks should close clean, and a clean review is itself evidence of compliance. A violation record gets raised only when the review finds a limit breach or a record-quality problem serious enough to warrant one.
How is falsification distinguished from an honest log edit?+
By the annotation. An edit with a stated reason that matches the facts is a correction; one with no reason, or a reason that doesn't hold up, is what falsification looks like. The review's job is to require the annotation, not guess at intent.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Fatigue and Shift Work
Contractor Fatigue and Hours Check
Checks hours worked and rest taken by contractors on extended shutdowns or overnight work
Area Ergonomic Screening
A quick first pass across a whole area to find which tasks need a full assessment
Manual Handling Screening
A rapid check of manual handling tasks to band them by risk
New Task Ergonomic Screening
Screens a new or changed task before it goes live
Shift Fatigue Screening
Screens work patterns for fatigue risk, covering shift length, rotation, breaks and consecutive days
Screening Follow Up Log
Tracks which screened tasks went on to full assessment and which did not
More in Hours of Service
Hours of Service Violation Record
Records a specific hours of service breach and what was done about it
Fatigue Risk Assessment
Assesses fatigue risk from schedules, night driving, trip length and rest quality
ELD Malfunction Record
Records a failure of the electronic logging device and how hours were recorded in the meantime
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- FMCSA 395 — Hours of Service of Drivers, including subpart B (electronic logging devices)
- FMCSA 395.2, 395.8 and 395.11 — definitions, record of duty status and supporting documents
- NSC Standard 9 — fatigue risk management guidance
- Regulation (EC) 561/2006 on drivers' hours, retained in UK law and enforced via tachograph
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.