Off site investigations are serious

Under CSA 2010, the FMCSA will, in some cases, employ off-site investigations as an alternative to the familiar on-site investigations. This is done to allow investigators to be engaged in more than one investigation at a time. Just because it is an off-site investigation does not mean that it is easier or less serious. Here's a quote from a publication from FMCSA to it's Safety Investigators:

"Using offsite investigations, an SI (safety investigator) will have multiple cases open at one time (i.e. conduct an investigation while waiting for records from another). Offsite investigations are neither clerical in nature nor “soft” and can lead to Notices of Claim (NOC)."