CSA 2010 - Levels that Trigger an Intervention

A carriers’ BASIC percentile results are used to trigger carriers for interventions in CSA 2010 Op-Model Test.

Under the BASIC's: Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving (HOS) and Crash indicator the following percentile results will trigger an intervention:

Passenger: 50%
Hazmat: 67%
Other Carriers: 72%

Under the BASIC's: Driver Fitness, Drugs/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance and Cargo Related the following percentile results will trigger an intervention:

Passenger: 55%
Hazmat: 72%
Other Carriers: 77%

Off site investigations are serious

Under CSA 2010, the FMCSA will, in some cases, employ off-site investigations as an alternative to the familiar on-site investigations. This is done to allow investigators to be engaged in more than one investigation at a time. Just because it is an off-site investigation does not mean that it is easier or less serious. Here's a quote from a publication from FMCSA to it's Safety Investigators:

"Using offsite investigations, an SI (safety investigator) will have multiple cases open at one time (i.e. conduct an investigation while waiting for records from another). Offsite investigations are neither clerical in nature nor “soft” and can lead to Notices of Claim (NOC)."

Interview In CSA 2010 Test State

There is still quite a bit of confusion about how this process all works. Even the investigator could not answer questions about why they ended up with an intervention when the safety scores had not reached the trigger level.

In more than one CSA 2010 Interview we have discovered the officials conducting the interventions can't answer specific questions on how the whole rating system works.

I feel this is could lead to a large number of Companies and Drivers thrown into an intervention. My best advice here is begin calling FMCSA to get the facts on how the formulas work and request FMCSA begin a series of workshops to help both Companies and Drivers understand the seriousness of this new mandate.

Violations under CSA 2010 Carry More Weight

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a safety director in one of the CSA 2010 test states and found that the FMCSA has already made a significant change in their published formulas for calculating safety scores. Violations have points assigned to them based on their likelihood of causing an accident or fatality. For example a speeding violation carries 5 points. The formulas used to calculate the safety scores assign a multiplier to more recent violations. FMCSA had published that violations in the most recent 0 – 12 months would have a multiplier of 2 (x 2) and violations occurring in the 13 to 24 month range would have a multiplier of 1.

What I found out in my conversation with the safety director was the formulas were now different. Violations in the most recent 0 – 6 months have a multiplier of 3 (x 3), violations in the 7 – 12 month range have a multiplier of 2 (x 2) and violations in the 13 to 24 month range have a multiplier of 1.

That’s a huge change in the impact the recent violations carry and could easily take a company from an acceptable safety score to a marginal level or worse. The FMCSA means business! CSA 2010 is still a work in progress and changes will likely continue through the testing phase. Therefore, it is extremely important for all drivers and carriers to stay on top of this new initiative and be ready for the full implementation of CSA 2010 in July through December of 2010.

FMCSA has now published the new formulas with the new multiplier.