As we have reviewed in previous blog postings, the cornerstone of CSA is the Safety Measurement System (SMS), which will analyze all safety-based violations from inspections and crash data to determine a commercial motor carrier's on-road performance. The new safety program will allow FMCSA to reach more carriers earlier and deploy a range of corrective interventions to address a carrier company's specific safety issues.
The CSA program also advances the Obama Administration's open government initiative by providing the public with safety data in a more user-friendly format. This will give consumers a better picture of those carriers that pose a safety risk. CSA was also rolled out and tested in 9 pilot states before the program was launched nationwide.
The SMS uses seven safety improvement categories called BASICS to examine a carrier's on-road performance and crash risk potential. Once again for review, the BASICs are Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service), Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Cargo-Related, Crash Indicator. By looking at a carrier's safety violations in each of the categories, FMCSA and state law enforcement agencies will be better equipped to identify carriers with patterns of high-risk behaviors, and subsequently apply interventions that provide carriers the information necessary to change unsafe practices early on.
FMCSA will continue to conduct on-site comprehensive compliance reviews for carrier company;s with safety issues across multiple BASICs; where a carrier has not taken the appropriate corrective measures, FMCSA will invoke strong civil penalties.
To gain more information regarding the new CSA program, please feel free to contact UWC directly (1.877.273.7400) or visit the CSA website at http://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov.
Do you have any early CSA experiences you would like to share??
No comments:
Post a Comment