CSA 2010
It’s on its way, Is your maintenance department ready?
With the roll-out of the Comprehensive Safety Analysis, otherwise known as “CSA 2010”, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has a little longer reach and a bigger bite. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s implementation schedule has slipped into 2011, and that gives the industry a little more time than originally planned to get ready for a completely redesigned safety enforcement methodology. There is no point in fleets’ putting off preparing for CSA 2010, now is the time to implement the changes to meet the requirements. Even though some details will most likely be modified, the overall principles and functions of CSA will remain the same. CSA 2010 participation is required by any interstate carrier that has a US DOT number or any intrastate carrier that is required by their state to have a US DOT number no matter what size they are.
Scores will be updated routinely in seven safety performance categories, called BASICs
BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AND SAFETY IMPROVEMENT CATEGORIES (BASIC)
· UNSAFE DRIVING
· FATIGUED DRIVING
· DRIVER FITNESS
· ALCOHOL, DRUGS
· VEHICLE MAINTENANCE
· CARGO SECUREMENT
· CRASH HISTORY
While the preparations carriers are making to address the requirements for CSA 2010 have mostly been focused around the safety issues of the driver there is the vehicle maintenance issue that also needs to be addressed.
VEHICLE MAINTENANCE violations are broken into 19 groups, with each error weighted based on its relationship to crash risk (1 – 10, low to high). The only BASIC with more potential violations is Cargo-Related. While there are 19 groups for evaluations for maintenance safety the governing factors that lead to a safe will maintained vehicle start right in the shop with documented policies and procedures. As stated in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration handbook Part 396 the Carrier needs to make sure that the policies and procedures are documented, trained and utilized for the following:
1. Driver Inspections or “Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports” (DVIRs)
2. Preventive Maintenance schedules
4. Periodic inspection or Federal Annual inspections
5. “Out of Service” criteria
6. Vehicle out of service and return to service
The proceeding list of federally mandated requirements Parts 393 and Parts 396 for vehicle maintenance if documented and utilized properly will lessen your exposure from a vehicle maintenance perspective and help keep your score low.
Fleet Group can help you with any one of the following services …
o Find out where improvements are need to help meet the requirements or CSA 2010
o Develop new custom policies and procedures for you maintenance Department
o Enhance your existing policies and procedures to include CSA 2010 requirements
o Utilize our generic policies and procedures to address the areas that need improvement.
o Federal Annual Inspection Training
o Preventive Maintenance Training
Helpful Links
Transport Topics - Comprehensive Safety Analysis CSA 2010
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010)
CSA 2010 Most Frequently Asked Questions!