What should I understand about CSA 2010?
Compliance, Safety, Accountability 2010 (CSA 2010) is a new safety program being implemented by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). It is FMCSA’s newest operational model, and is expected to help reduce the amount of accidents, injuries, and fatalities involving commercial motor vehicles. CSA 2010 rules don’t change any of the current federal laws or safety regulations. It only changes the way FMCSA and its state partners carry out their compliance and enforcement programs.
Basically, CSA 2010 methodology builds on FMCSA’s former processes. The new operational model contains a more comprehensive measurement system. It also proposes a new safety fitness determination methodology based on collected performance data. The third major component is a comprehensive intervention process designed to be more efficient. The intervention process will also be more effective in correcting specific safety deficiencies.
CSA 2010 rules will replace the current SafeStat method of identifying high-risk safety issues, unsafe carriers, and unsafe drivers with the new Safety Measurement System (SMS). The major differences between SafeStat and SMS are:
- SMS covers seven specific behaviors while Safe Stat only covers four broad safety evaluation areas.
- SMS will be used to determine the intervention level based on safety performance deficiencies, while SafeStat only identifies carriers for a compliance review.
- SMS stressed on-road performance by utilizing all safety-based inspection violations, while Safe Stat only utilized out-of-service and select moving violations
- SafeStat doesn’t use risk-based violations, whereas SMS does
- SafeStat has no impact on an entity’s safety fitness rating, whereas SMS will eventually be used to propose adverse safety fitness determination based on a carrier’s own data
- SMS provides a way for investigators to identify unsafe drivers during a carrier investigation, whereas SafeStat doesn’t.
CSA 2010 will provide continuous monitoring and tracking of carriers’ and drivers’ safety performances. Carriers and drivers will be monitored both on-site and off-site, and especially monitored on-road. CSA 2010 does not give FMCSA the authority to remove any drivers from their jobs and can’t be used to rate drivers. It can’t revoke any Commercial Driver’s License. However, FMCSA’s state partners do have the authority to do all these things. CSA 2010 is designed to help its state partners maximize the use of their resources, and to be more efficient and effective in enforcing compliance to all safety regulations and federal laws. Therefore, those who are found not to be in compliance may face costly repairs, delays, be ordered off the road, or face other penalties.
There is no grace period for the enforcement of CSA once it is fully rolled out at the end of 2010. If you are a carrier or CMV, then you should ensure you are currently compliant with all regulations and laws. You should take precautions to avoid all violations, but especially avoid these: unsafe driving, fatigued driving (hours-of-service), driver fitness, controlled substances/alcohol, vehicle maintenance, cargo-related, and reportable crashes. The CSA 2010 point system will be using data gathered for the previous 24-month period prior to any intervention effort or safety determination.
It should be noted that SMS holds carriers accountable for some driver errors because they’re responsible for their employees’ job performance. However, it should also be noted that SMS also holds drivers accountable for some things carriers should be responsible for, such as vehicle maintenance. Drivers are required by law to perform pre-trip vehicle inspections to ensure the vehicle’s safety.