CSA 2010 Some Answers to your Questions

1. What is CSA 2010?

Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, or CSA 2010, is a major Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve the effectiveness of FMCSA’s compliance and enforcement programs. Its ultimate goal is to achieve a greater reduction in large truck and bus crashes, injuries, and fatalities, while making efficient use of the resources of FMCSA and its state partners.

2. Why is CSA 2010 being implemented?

CSA 2010 is being implemented to better use FMCSA resources to identify drivers and motor carriers that pose safety problems and to intervene to address those problems as soon as they become apparent. FMCSA believes that CSA 2010 will help the Agency assess the safety performance of a greater segment of the industry and intervene with more carriers to change unsafe behavior early.

3. What is the Operational Model?

The operational model is the new way FMCSA and its state partners will carry out the compliance and enforcement programs. In contrast to the Agency’s previous operational model, CSA 2010 is characterized by (1) a more comprehensive measurement system, (2) a safety fitness determination methodology that is based on performance data and not necessarily tied to an on-site compliance review, and (3) a broader array of progressive interventions. The illustration below demonstrates how the major components of CSA 2010 will work together.

4. What are the BASICs and how are they used in CSA 2010?

The Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, or BASICs, are seven categories of data available through the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). These represent behavior categories that can lead to crashes: unsafe driving, fatigued driving, driver fitness, controlled substances and alcohol, vehicle maintenance, improper loading/cargo securement, and crash history. These data are weighted differently based on crash causation, but are all part of the CSA 2010 Operational Model’s Safety Measurement System (SMS), and are collected from on-road safety performance activities including roadside inspections, traffic enforcement, the intervention process, and crashes.

5. Will CSA 2010 take into account both carrier and driver safety performance?

Yes, both driver and carrier safety performance will be monitored. FMCSA has designed two Safety Measurement Systems – one for carriers, the Carrier Safety Measurement System (CSMS) and one for drivers, the Driver Safety Measurement System (DSMS).

6. What’s the difference between SafeStat and the new Safety Measurement System?

There are six important differences between the new Safety Measurement System (SMS) and the Agency’s current measurement system, SafeStat:

1) SMS is organized by seven specific behaviors (BASICs) while SafeStat is organized into four general Safety Evaluation Areas (SEAs).

2) SMS identifies safety problems in the same structure in which CSA 2010 addresses those problems, while SafeStat prioritizes carriers for a compliance review.

3) SMS uses all safety-based inspection violations while SafeStat uses only out-of-service violations and selected moving violations.

4) SMS uses risk-based violation weightings while SafeStat does not.

5) SMS impacts the safety fitness determination of an entity while SafeStat has no impact on an entity’s safety fitness rating.

6) SMS assesses individual drivers and carriers, while SafeStat assesses only carriers.

7. When does a carrier intervention take place?

Carrier interventions are designed to be progressive, increasing in severity and interaction with motor carriers and their drivers. The goal is to use the interventions to reach a larger segment of the motor carrier industry. The intervention process is triggered by:

(1) one or more deficient BASICs,

(2) a high crash indicator, or

(3) a complaint or fatal crash. Intervention selection is influenced by (1) safety performance, (2) hazardous material or passenger carrier status, and (3) intervention history.

8. What are the carrier interventions?

Carrier interventions (listed in increasing severity) are as follows:

(1) warning letter,

(2) targeted roadside inspection,

(3) off-site investigation,

(4) on-site investigation-focused,

(5) cooperative safety plan,

(6) notice of violation,

(7) on-site investigation-comprehensive,

(8) notice of claim/settlement agreement, and

(9) unfit– suspension.

9. What is different between a Compliance Review and CSA 2010 Interventions?

There are five important differences between CSA 2010 interventions and FMCSA’s current compliance review (CR):

1) CRs are generally deployed at a carrier’s place of business as a one-size-fits-all tool to address what may not be a comprehensive safety problem, while interventions under CSA 2010 may not be at a carrier’s place of business and can be focused on a specific deficiency.

2) The outcome of a CR can be the citing of acute and critical violations, while the outcome of an intervention determines the root cause of the safety problem and provides guidance on corrective actions.

3) A CR determines a carrier’s safety rating, while CSA 2010 interventions will ultimately combine violations with on-road safety performance for safety fitness determination.

4) The focus on a CR is compliance while interventions are focused on compliance, improving behaviors that are linked to crashes, and identifying causal factors.

5) CRs are time consuming and result in reaching fewer carriers, while interventions efficiently address safety problems and help reach more carriers, earlier in the process.

10. How is COMPASS related to CSA 2010?

Information technology (IT) is a major component of CSA 2010, and COMPASS is FMCSA’s major IT modernization initiative. With respect to CSA 2010, COMPASS will track and update the safety performance data from regulated entities as they are received, link relevant data to the correct entity, validate the data, and provide the mechanisms for correcting data. COMPASS will also support the intervention process as FMCSA and its state partners gather safety performance data on motor carriers and drivers.