The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s mission is to improve safety by reducing crashes. Over the past few years, the rate of crash reduction has slowed, prompting FMCSA to take a fresh look at how the agency evaluates the safety of motor carriers and drivers and to explore ways to improve its safety monitoring, evaluation, and intervention processes. Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2101) is the result of this comprehensive examination. CSA 2010 will enable FMCSA and its state partners to assess the safety performance of a greater segment of the industry and to intervene with more carriers to change unsafe behavior early. DOT Safety Group can ensure that you understand CSA 2010 and help you implement all the necessary measures to, not only, safeguard your rating, but improve it.

      In CSA 2010, the Safety Measurement system (SMS) replaces SafeStat as the new operational model. SMS quantifies the on-road safety performance of carriers and drivers to identify candidates for interventions, to determine the specific safety problems exhibited by a carrier or driver, and to monitor whether safety problems are improving or getting worse. There are several distinct differences between SafeStat and CSA 2010: SafeStat is organized in 4 broad categories – Safety Evaluation Areas (SEAs). CSA 2010 is organized by 7 Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs). SafeStat identifies and prioritizes carriers for a broad based in office Compliance Review. CSA 2010 identifies safety problems to determine who to investigate and where to focus their investigation. SafeStat uses only out-of-service and moving violation from roadside inspections. CSA 2010 emphasizes on-road safety performance, using all safety-based inspection violations. SafeStat scores have no impact on safety rating (only comes from Compliance Review). CSA 2010 is used to propose an adverse safety fitness determination based on a carrier’s current on-road safety performance. SafeStat violations ARE NOT weighted based on relationship to crash risk. CSA 2010 violations ARE weighted based on relationship to crash risk. SafeStat assesses carriers only. CSA 2010 has two distinct safety measurement systems: one for individual motor carriers and one for individual commercial motor vehicle drivers.

      Other changes involve the fact that CSA 2010 includes two new safety measurement systems (SMS), one for carriers (CSMS) and one for drivers (DSMS). Drivers were never directly measured before for safety under the SafeStat system. The 7 factors, above, will be assessed for each driver and a weighted score will be give to each violation found for the driver or the company. The more likely the violation is to cause a crash, the greater the score. Thus carriers can find out from one source, assuming everything is reported and false identities are not used, what they need to know about a potential driver before hiring them. Bad drivers, in a perfect world, will find it much harder, or even impossible, to find a job.

    The safety ratings that we are familiar with under SafeStat are Satisfactory, Conditional, and Unfit. These will be replaced by Continue to Operate, Marginal, or Unfit. Marginal ratings will result in FMCSA intervention while unfit ratings will result in a suspension. Intervention will be as follows, from least to most severe:

 

1. Warning Letter
2. Targeted Roadside Inspection
3. Off site Inspection
4. On-Site Investigation - Focused
5. Cooperative Safety Plan 
6. Notice of Violation
7. On-Site Investigation - Comprehensive
8. Notice of Claim
9. Settlement Agreement
10. Unfit Suspension

 

     Implementation of CSA 2010 begins nation-wide in July 2010, with full implementation expected by the end of 2010. You can find more information on CSA 2010, please go to www.fmcsa.dot.gov and click on the CSA 2010 logo near the upper right of the page.

 

Below are FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) that you may find helpful

Q. What is CSA 2010?

A. Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010) is a new program designed to improve monitoring motor carrier and commercial motor vehicle driver compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.

Q. When will CSA 2010 start?

A. It is anticipated that CSA 2010 will be fully operational by July 2010

Q. What is the motor carrier required to do?

A. Carrier and driver performance requirements have not changed with this program. Carriers and drivers are still required to be in compliance with the regulations.

Q. What is different?

A. The difference is how violations are scored, as opposed to the old “SafeStat” program.

Q. How do we see our new scores?

A. Go to http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov and login with your U.S. DOT Number and the PIN you were assigned, the same PIN you use to update your annual MCS150.

Q. What if I don’t know my PIN

A. You can have your PIN emailed to you by simply going to the following website and completing the PIN request form:

https://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_registration.prc_option_decision and clicking on Other, I want to request a copy of a document.

Q. Once I log in, then what?

A. On the first page, you will see the 7 BASIC (Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories); each category has been assigned a score, based upon your driver’s roadside violations. Those 7 categories are Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driver, Driver Fitness, Vehicle Maintenance, Improper Cargo/Load Securement, Crash History and Controlled substance/Alcohol.

Q. How can a motor carrier lower their score?

A. The only way the score is lowered, is with time – each violation drops off after 24 months, and improving driver’s roadside behavior so that the violations are not repeated.

Q. What’s in it for the motor carrier?

A. The best part of CSA 2010 is that you will be given early notice from the FMCSA, via a letter or a phone call that a score is deficient. This “early” warning is a courtesy call from FMCSA so that you can focus on that particular area and work with your drivers to correct the errors, thus improving your roadside performance, and your scores.

Q. Will I get audited more often?

A. Actually, CSA 2010 was designed to offset the full-blown compliance reviews and streamline the auditing process. This will eliminate the need for an auditor to be at your site for 3 or more days, looking at all aspects of carrier/driver compliance, and instead just focusing on the area that is deficient. In many cases, an audit can be accomplished via fax and phone calls.

Q. How can I learn more about this?

A. Visit http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov.