Updated:
6/15/2010 7:00:00 AM
iTECH: What’s Your Safety Score?
Software Helps Fleets Break Down CSA 2010 Data
By Mindy Long, Contributing Writer
This article appears in the June/July issue of iTECH, published in the June 14 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Mitch Henderson has monitored for years how his drivers perform behind the wheel but realized only recently that two drivers in particular were responsible for most of the fleet’s roadside inspections.
“It throws up a red flag, and you wonder what these guys are doing differently to cue the inspectors,” said Henderson, manager of fleet safety and compliance for Advanced Design & Packaging in Atlanta.
Henderson made the discovery with the help of J.J. Keller & Associates’ online FleetMentor tool, which calculates carriers’ federal safety scores based on roadside inspection reports.
“It shows any problem areas and problem drivers,” Henderson said. Advanced Design & Packaging operates 15 tractors.
Because of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new safety enforcement program, Comprehensive Safety Analysis, or CSA 2010, driver behavior has become more important for everyone who hauls freight.
The 2010 tag already is out of date, however, because FMCSA has acknowledged the program will not be in place nationwide until 2011.
Still, CSA represents a major change in understanding and measuring safety performance. Carriers will be scored monthly in seven Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, or BASICs: unsafe driving, fatigued driving, driver fitness, alcohol and drugs, vehicle maintenance, cargo securement and crash history. The actions of individual drivers will directly affect their carriers’ scores.
That is where driver scorecards come in.
With the help of third-party scorecard providers, some carriers are getting a sneak peek at what FMCSA sees. The scorecards show which drivers are receiving the most inspections and specific violations that are affecting the fleet.
Scorecards compile a carrier’s roadside inspection data using CSA’s scoring methodology. The scorecards present the results so that managers can follow trends and conduct specific searches with the click of a mouse.
“There are about 3,500 different violations that can be written up on the truck and driver,” said Steven Bryan, chief executive officer of scorecard provider Vigillo LLC
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