The U.S. Department of Transportations Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has come to a settlement agreement with a trio of trucking associations that will commence litigation over information published on the website of FMCSAs motor carrier enforcement program, Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA).
“CSA is a safety-critical program that helps to reduce commercial motor vehicle-related crashes and save lives,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro. “Through this settlement agreement, we addressed the concerns raised by petitioners without compromising the CSA program and its safety benefits.
The National Association of Small Trucking Companies, Inc. (NASTC), the Expedite Alliance of North America (TEANA) and the Air & Expedited Motor Carriers Association (AEMCA) filed suit last November, challenging FMCSAs CSA program.
Under the agreement, FMCSA will make changes to CSAs Safety Measurement System (SMS) public website to address concerns regarding the display of information on a commercial motor carriers’ safety performance.
The key changes that FMCSA will make to the SMS public Web site by March 25 are as follows:
- Replace any ALERT symbol currently displayed in orange on the SMS website with the symbol of the exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle.
- Revise the disclaimer language on the SMS website to read:
“The data in the Safety Measurement System (SMS) is performance data used by the Agency and enforcement community. A “Yellow Triangle” symbol, based on that data, indicates that FMCSA may prioritize a motor carrier for further monitoring. The “Yellow Triangle” symbol is not intended to imply any federal safety rating of the carrier pursuant to 49 USC 31144. Readers should not draw conclusions about a carrier’s overall safety condition simply based on the data displayed in this system. Unless a motor carrier in the SMS has received an UNSATISFACTORY safety rating pursuant to 49 CFR Part 385, or has otherwise been ordered to discontinue operations by the FMCSA, it is authorized to operate on the nations roadways. Motor carrier safety ratings are available at http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov and motor carrier licensing and insurance status are available at http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov.”
In December of 2010, FMCSA unveiled its CSA enforcement program that is used to analyze all safety-based violations from roadside inspections and crashes to measure a commercial motor carriers on-road safety performance.
CSA permits FMCSA to reach more carriers earlier and deploy a range of corrective interventions to address a carriers specific safety problems before crashes can occur.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact:[email protected] or 860-553-6604.
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