CSA 2010 VIDEO

Forestry Education Materials: video

November 2010
www.forestresources.org/members/serpub/10-R-29.html

INTRODUCTION: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s current safety tracking system, called SafeStat, tracks fleet owner safety crash information and inspection violations via national database (MCS).  That program is soon to be replaced by a new one, called Comprehensive Safety Analysis, or CSA.

This new program is much more comprehensive and will score fleet owners and drivers. It has the potential to have great impacts on the transportation segment of our industry

GENERAL FEATURES: The North Carolina Forestry Association and the Timber Harvesting and Transportation Safety Foundation (THATS) have produced a DVD, CSA 2010, for the forest products industry that covers the basic features of CSA and the potential impact it may have on drivers and fleet owners.

Fig. 1: The North Carolina Forestry Association’s DVD, CSA 2010, points out the features and compliance criteria of the FMCSA’s forthcoming fleet and driver safety rating program.

CSA helps the FMCSA and its state partners to correct high-risk behavior by contacting more carriers and drivers, with interventions tailored to their specific safety problem, as well as a new safety fitness determination methodology.

The DVD introduces what CSA calls the “7 BASICs” (Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories) to categorize safety exposures:

• Unsafe driving: Operation of a CMV by drivers in a dangerous or careless manner.
• Fatigued driving: Operation of CMV’s by drivers who are ill, fatigued, or in non-compliance with the Hours of Service regulations.
• Driver Fitness: Operation of CMV’s by drivers who are unfit to operate a CMV due to lack of training, experience or medical qualifications.
• Controlled Substances and Alcohol: Operation of CMV’s by drivers who are impaired due to alcohol, illegal drugs, and the mis-use of prescription or over the counter medications.
• Vehicle Maintenance: CMV failure due to improper or inadequate maintenance.
• Cargo Related: CMV incident resulting from shifting loads, spilled or dropped cargo, and unsafe handling or hazardous materials. (load securement, cargo retention, oversize and overweight)
• Crash: Histories or patterns of high crash involvement, including frequency and severity.

The DVD then covers the type of corrective action FMCSA may take, once a carrier’s scores have been accumulated, ranging from “warning letter” to a suspension of the carrier’s right to operate.

The DVD distinguishes between an individual driver’s record, associated with his or her CDL, and the CSA score, computed through inspection reports from CSA-specific inspections, pointing out that insurance companies may have the opportunity to use this information to determine driver fitness by requiring a driver’s score as part of a Pre-employment Screening Process (PSP).  (In the course of trial implementations in two states, the FMCSA has already shut down several carriers due to high BASIC scores.)

The DVD explains how a carrier’s score for each BASIC is computed, noting that carriers are then placed in peer groups consisting of carriers of similar size and similar number of inspections, with percentiles from 0 to 100 then determined by comparing the BASIC scores of the carrier to the scores of other carriers in the peer group.

The CSA program is new, is based on concepts of statistical accounting that are new to many, and has the potential to create misunderstandings or cause misplaced priorities in fleet (and driver) management. It is important to prepare your drivers and equipment for these changes now, since roadside inspections with no violations are key to obtaining favorable CSA scores.

SPECIFICATIONS AND COST: CSA 2010 is 18 minutes in length, consisting of narration backed up by bullet points. A brief guide, summarizing the content, is included.

The DVD costs $99.00, domestic shipping included, and may be ordered from Roger Pyle, at the North Carolina Forestry Association.

Roger Pyle
Director Logging and Transportation
North Carolina Forestry Association
919-834-3943
rpyle@ncforestry.org

Reviewed by:
Vickie Hoffart
FRA Staff Liaison for THATS Foundation