The Difference Between CSA 2010 and SafeStat
Posted on Mon, May 03, 2010 @ 03:24 PM
This much is certain: CSA 2010 is happening and it does have the potential to be a game changer for our industry. That said, should implementation so impact the industry as to affect the economy, (severe capacity issues) the DOT would certainly be pressured to adjust the program. It is suspected that some of these concerns just may be behind the delays recently announced.
CSA 2010 factors all violations on roadside inspections, unlike SafeStat, which only looked at out-of-service violations. This is a major change because a small percentage of inspections result in out-of-service violations and therefore a small percentage of our violations (approximately 10%) are out-of-service violations. A ten-fold increase in the number of violations being factored (into CSA 2010 scores) is a game changer.
That said, carriers’ violations will be “normalized” by the number of drivers or trucks (not miles) they operate. This is an important distinction for Area Transportation because we do not run over the road and thus our miles are less than many other carriers our size.
Finally, carriers are grouped by size and scored against their peers. Area falls into the 51 – 500 truck group. At 286 trucks as reported on our last biennial update we fall squarely in the middle of our group and will be scored against substantially larger carriers. This should also work to our advantage.
CSA 2010 is a major shift for the DOT, long perceived as a “paper tiger”. With the exception of the ISS system which uses inspection data to rate carriers (Pass, Optional, Inspect) at scales, the DOT historically reviewed paperwork (logs, maintenance records, etc.) during Compliance Reviews. SafeStat scores had to be deficient (> 75) in 3 categories in order to even make it onto a list for a Compliance Review. CSA 2010 will use more of the available on-the-road performance data to identify carriers with unsafe behaviors resulting in quicker interventions.
Carriers who breach those (as yet unidentified) thresholds will first receive warning letters identifying the problem areas. If the carriers’ performance doesn’t improve it could be flagged for targeted inspections or an on-site targeted investigation focused on the specific area of deficiency.
CSA 2010 has the potential to be a game changer and we must tighten up all facets of our operations; compliance, maintenance, and dispatch, if we want to remain a premier carrier. Better controls on Independent Contractor operations will challenge us as well as all other carriers.
Posted by Kevin Mullen: Director- Safety
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