Compliance Safety Accountability   CSA

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What is CSA—and how does it affect me? CSA stands for Compliance, Safety, Accountability. It is the safety compliance and enforcement program of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that holds motor carriers and drivers accountable for their role in safety. CSA affects motor carriers, including owner-operators, by identifying those with safety problems to prioritize them for interventions such as warning letters and investigations. CSA affects drivers because their safety performance and compliance impact their safety records and, while working for a carrier, will impact their carrier’s safety record.

 

Safety Measurement System   SMS

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Your company’s safety data appears online in FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS). FMCSA updates the SMS once a month with data from roadside inspections, including driver and vehicle violations; crash reports from the last two years; and investigation results. The SMS considers: • The number of safety violations and inspections • The severity of safety violations or crashes • When the safety violations occurred, with recent events weighted more heavily • The number of trucks/buses a carrier operates and the number of vehicle miles traveled • Acute and Critical Violations found during investigations.

In the SMS a motor carrier can get tips on how to improve their operation, can reference the SMS Methodology among other helpful analytical aids.

 

Safer Company Snapshot

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A company can check their SMS score through the company snapshot. A motor carrier can check their score and to check if the safety record is trending up or down. Once the SMS system is accessed the carrier can log into the categories that they are scored on. They are Hours of Service, Maintenance, Unsafe Driving, Driver Fitness, Hazardous Material Compliance, Controlled Substances and Alcohol, and a Crash Indicator that rates the severity of crashes.