INDUSTRIAL FOUNDATION OF AMERICA

Pre-Employment Screening Services for Member Companies

ABOUT THE INDUSTRIAL FOUNDATION

The Industrial Foundation of America, Inc. (IFA) is a trade association founded in 1960 to acquire, preserve and disseminate business information to its members. IFA is a non-profit member-owned corporation made up of a variety of businesses throughout the United States. Only members may access the data that offers them valuable information about whether or not a prospective employee meets the member's employment and safety standards.

We pride ourselves on doing business the "old-fashioned way" so you'll always talk with someone personally each time you call. Our job is to help members minimize their risk and hire safe and honest employees. Each time you are considering an applicant for employment, you will be able to call or fax IFA and receive valuable information about the applicant's accident, criminal or driving record. Since past behavior is the best indicator of future conduct, our service allows you to have the information needed to assist you in making that important hiring decision.

We report only factual information. We make no additions or deletions, nor do we give opinions regarding the data. The Industrial Foundation operates under the jurisdiction of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You are responsible for use of the data. You will be asked to sign a contract with IFA stating you will use the data ONLY for employment purposes and in compliance with all applicable laws. The Industrial Foundation stands ready to assist its members in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and we are always available to answer your questions and to assist you in training your personnel.

The information provided by the Industrial Foundation of America does not originate in the IFA office. It is the compilation of data from thousands of public court records, loss runs from insurance companies and accident reports from our most important resource-Our Members No "medical information", as defined by the Consumer Credit Information Act, is included in our files.

Our accident data is collected through a voluntary sharing of employees accident records. Members pledge to share accident data in order to assist other members in controlling their losses and providing a safe and healthy workplace. Many of our members ask their insurance companies to send loss runs directly to IFA. Copies of OSHA logs can also be used. A typical report will provide information regarding the date of accident, name of employers, the part(s) of body injured, whether time was lost from work and whether the employee retained an attorney. You will also learn about lawsuits fixed by the applicant involving workers' compensation.

Our Staff can assist members in developing personnel and loss prevention policies and procedures. IFA Staff will also assist members, at no charge, in training supervisory and staff people involved in the recruiting and hiring process to ensure they use the proper techniques and be aware of all rules and regulations.

Many times our members will request we have our office staffed at times outside of our normal hours or days. This is usually due to construction start-ups, recruiting activities on weekends, etc. If the member will notify us in advance, we will be happy to accommodate these requests at no charge.

As a member, you may also utilize IFA for criminal reports, motor vehicle records, and educational verifications and/or credit reports. In addition, you are entitled to legal advice and/or services at a reduced rate through our General Counsel, The Ed Conley Law Firm, P.C. The Law Firm of Ed Conley, P.C. has been retained by IFA as General Counsel and will answer pertinent legal questions for members without charge. The Law Firm of Ed Conley, P.C. will also perform legal research for you at a reduced rate of $50.00 per hour and will handle other matters, including litigation, at a reduced rate of $110.00 per hour.

We are constantly seeking quality new members for the additional information they bring to our database and because we believe that the free exchange of information and ideas among our members promotes a better and healthier business climate. Members may access the Industrial Foundation through personal calls to 800-592-1433 or by faxing information requests to 800-628-2397.

MISSION STATEMENT

THE VERY FOUNDATION OF YOUR COMPANY is your employees. And, like at foundations, you must choose these building blocks VERY carefully. When hiring new employees is necessary, your hiring procedures must be thorough and faultless. The selection of new employees is not a matter that you can trust to luck. You must guard this process very diligently against erosion. Generally, no other part of your business has so many governmental restrictions as the employee relations area, including the hiring process. You must do it right and you must do it well. The foundation you build is the very reason your company will be able to withstand the upheavals of our changing tones.

At IFA we perform background checks on job applicants for our member companies. Those job applicants who become your employees are your foundation for a long lasting and successful company. We believe that you should use every legal and sound process available to you in hiring new employees. This isn't going to assure you a "home run" every time you hire someone, but, like, the successful baseball manger, you must play the percentages.

Every member company in IFA shares its safety data with other members through our database. They do this by sharing a copy of each "First Report of Injury" they are required to file on workplace injuries. Those files are loaded into our data banks. In addition, annual loss runs from many insurance carriers are sent to us and loaded into our data base. Finally, to make our database as accurate as humanly possible, we have Field Agents that visit every County Courthouse on a regular basis and they pack up actual court cases involving workplace injuries and the settlements of those cases. And, of course, there are a lot of states that we obtain this information from on a straight purchase basis. The bottom line is that IFA has the best, most complete safety information on workplace injuries.

In addition, during our thirty-plus years in business, we have developed some very long working relationships with many different States' Motor Vehicle Record agencies where we obtain MVR information with the respective state agencies for obtaining criminal records, and with colleges for educational verification. We also have excellent sourcing for credit data that can prove invaluable to you in certain circumstances.

It is important for you to also consider that the Industrial Foundation of America is a non profit service organization that is operated solely for the benefit of its member companies, and has been in this business successfully for over thirty years.

We can help you improve the foundation of your company through the background clarification of your job applicants. We can provide you a network of similarly situated businesses with whom you may share information and experiences. All this at a very nominal cost. When you consider the benefits of an IFA membership, it really is the best bargain you will ever find. Don't procrastinate, start building and repairing your foundation now. Call the Industrial Foundation of America at 1-800-592-1433 and ask for additional information from our Membership Division.