What CSA 2010 Is Not
Posted on Tue, Sep 21, 2010 @ 01:19 PM
CSA 2010 is not even CSA 2010 anymore. It’s just CSA.
CSA 2010 is NOT new medical standards involving neck size and sleep apnea. The Driver Fitness BASIC is about medical card and license violations discovered on roadside inspections… i.e. ‘fitness to operate a commercial motor vehicle’ not physical fitness.
[Watch for proposed new standards as part of the medical exam regulations regarding sleep apnea coming from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) however.]
CSA is NOT disqualifying or even rating or scoring drivers. CSA includes a Pre-employment Screening Program (PSP) which lists all crashes and inspections drivers were involved in. The FMCSA has not proposed using that information (except during a Compliance Review of a motor carrier) against drivers at this time. Prospective employers could however decide not to offer a driver a position based in part on PSP data just like MVR or any other data. Drivers need to comply with local laws and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) in order to keep their PSP record clear.
CSA has tweaked how certain violations affect carriers’ BASIC scores but has NOT removed those violations from drivers’ PSP records. If the violation appeared on a Driver/Vehicle Examination Report it will appear in the drivers’ PSP record. [We can only assume they will be included in drivers’ scores when scoring does take place.]
CSA is a game changer to the extent that it includes millions of violations that are not currently reflected in SafeStat. It is a game changer in that it provides carriers with driver violation information never previously available to us. This is information we must consider in our hiring and retention decisions if we want to avoid negligent hiring and/or retention litigation.
Of more concern however are the Hours of Service regulations currently under review at the Office of Management and Budget and set to be released later this year. Intended to settle yet another lawsuit by so-called “highway safety groups” the new regulations must address (rescind?) at least the 11th hour of driving time and likely the 34-hour resent provisions of the current regulations (or both) in order to avoid further litigation.
Either or both of these scenarios will reduce the hours a driver may work and thus further shrink the capacity of the trucking industry. The new Hours of Service regulations will clearly have much more impact on the industry this year than the implementation of CSA.
Written by Kevin Mullen: Director- Safety, ADS Logistics