Webinar: How Will The Upcoming HazMat Changes Affect You?

by Sloan Morris | May 15, 2012 | Leave a comment »

Big Changes Ahead!

Steve Bryan, CEO of Vigillo, will walk through the proposed CSA methodology changes (SMS 3.0).  These include a new Hazardous Materials BASIC, eliminating the Cargo-Related BASIC, and adjustments to violations and severity weights.  These changes impact all carriers, HAZMAT and Non-HAZMAT.  Read about the changes here (PDF).  Take an hour out of your busy day for the latest news on FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

Sign up by clicking the “Register here” link below:

Webinar: Upcoming HazMat Changes with Steve Bryan
Date Pacific Mountain Central Eastern Registration Link
Tues, May 22 10 am 11 am Noon 1 pm Register here
http://bit.ly/KtsdYN

CSA Crash Policy in the Spotlight

by Sloan Morris | May 14, 2012 | Leave a comment »

Back in March of this year, the FMCSA stopped the work on its Crash Accountability Panel – read more here and here.  Now, Transport Topics staff report Michele Fuetsch has written a troubling article outlining negative industry feedback to the FMCSA policy under CSA for crashes.  Specifically, crashes are posted under a carrier’s CSA data, regardless of the fault of the driver or carrier.  An excerpt:

Royce Brooks, an experienced tank truck driver, was hauling gasoline to Lockhart, Texas, south of Austin, when a BMW driver blew through a stop sign and a flashing red light.  The car hit the tanker truck with such force that Texas State Police said the rig went into a ditch, spun around, flipped and burst into flames, killing Brooks, 41. Read more >

What’s a Clean Inspection Worth?

by Sloan Morris | May 9, 2012 | 3 Comments »

 

So…You read the title.  How much is a clean inspection worth? What do you think?  Some motor carriers have driver incentive programs: Get $50 for each clean inspection, for example.  That is certainly one way to measure it.  I am talking about something else though.  Specifically, what is the impact of a clean inspection under CSA?

Vigillo has been helping transportation professionals better understand CSA since the first methodology was published in 2010.  I’ll tell you some of the misconceptions I’ve heard.  More importantly, let’s really unravel it.  Let’s dig deep and lay out exactly what the effect (or non-effect in some cases) that a zero-defect inspection has on a motor carrier’s CSA score.  The answers may surprise you. Read more >

Time is Running Out

by Pam Jones | May 4, 2012 | Leave a comment »

Have you added your 2 cents?  The SMS preview of the new HM Basic and Cargo moving to the maintenance is currently available to carriers to see how they will look if the CSA changes as exhibited are implemented.  Have you looked at your preview?  Last week according to Dave Osiecki of the ATA only 5000 carriers have looked at their preview site.  There are 90K carriers with sufficient data to generate a CSA score (11% of the active carriers).  Only 5.5% of the CSA scored companies have checked their new status. Comments are due on or before May 29, 2012.  So while you are grilling your brats, watching the race, or relaxing by the pool Memorial Day weekend, think about your position on the CSA changes and get them in.  Maybe think about it between now and then while you also ponder a mother’s day gift.  Use this link to check your preview: http://bit.ly/SMSPre. Read more >

Ostrich or Safety Director?

by Marissa Hirt | May 3, 2012 | Leave a comment »

We’ve all heard how having high CSA scores is a bad thing: loss of clients, increased insurance rates, potential for good drivers to leave, increased scrutiny by the FMCSA, blah blah blah.

But what if you’re okay?  What if none of your CSA scores are currently over the intervention threshold?  What do you have to worry about then?  Can’t I just stick my head in the sand and ignore CSA?  It can’t hurt me!

Read more >

Survey: 65% of carriers using multiple methods for CSA

by Sloan Morris | April 17, 2012 | Leave a comment »

New survey results released: 65% of carriers are using three or more methods to comply with CSA says a new survey from Transport Capital Partners.  The three methods most commonly used are:

1. Training for drivers so they understand how CSA can
affect their careers (78.1 percent)

2. Changing how sub-performing driving is monitored (63.2 percent)

3. Investing in technology to help monitor CSA (55.3 percent)

Other methods used are:

  • Have an on-staff CSA manager
  • Hire retired state police
  • Invest in electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs)

Click HERE to see article in TheTrucker.com for more details.

Unfair CSA bias against Flatbed’s? Not any more

by Steve Bryan | April 13, 2012 | Leave a comment »

Quick snippet in the unfolding HAZMAT changes to CSA.  Vigillo has developed a list of 24,023 carriers who are partially or wholly Flatbed Carriers.  The Agency has stated that one of the motivations behind the changes is to correct the unfair bias against Flatbed Carriers in the Cargo BASIC.  All well and good and well intentioned, they were unfairly targeted.  I blogged earlier about one of the unintended consequences that flows from this change:

1. Migrating non-HAZMAT cargo violations to the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC essentially dissolves them in a vast ocean of Maintenance violations and not only removes the unfair bias against Flatbed’s, but virtually eliminates Cargo violations as an issue. (Period)

Recently, I have heard the argument that while Flatbed operators may have gone “off-radar” when it comes to Cargo, they will go “on-radar” under Maintenance and HAZMAT.

Today, I ran the HAZMAT numbers for Flatbed Carriers.  Problem number 2:

2. Only 3,671 Flatbed Carriers are also HAZMAT.   3,671/24,023 = 15.28%.  Read as 84.72% of Flatbed Carriers are not HAZMAT and wil have no scores at all in the new HAZMAT BASIC

Conclusion: Flatbed/Open Deck Carriers are largely immune to HAZMAT and unless their Vehicle Maintenance scores are right at threshold already, there will not be enough Cargo violations to move them to Alert status.

Get Fit with Vigillo

by Marissa Hirt | April 13, 2012 | Leave a comment »

Okay.  So, there’s been a lot of talk in the Vigillo office about fitness.  Not driver fitness, physical fitness.  About ½ of our office goes to the gym regularly; a few of us work out at home; and, we’ve got 2 crazy ones that bike to work (seriously, who does that?).  But most of us do exercise regularly.  Most, not all… I’m lookin’ at you!  You know who you are… Read more >

The New ISS – What You Need To Know (Part 4)

by Sloan Morris | April 11, 2012 | Leave a comment »

This is the final post in my series on the new ISS Scores.  Links to previous parts below:

In this final post, I will discuss how to lower your ISS score.

How To Improve Your ISS Score

In a nutshell, to lower your ISS score, simply do the following:

Have sufficient data,
don’t have serious violations, and
keep your BASICs below threshold.

In other words, simply reverse engineer the ISS methodology.  Now, is that advice particularly helpful?  I didn’t think so.  It’s similar to encouraging a student to get better grades by getting better test scores.  A response from a typical teenager to that advice would no doubt be “duh!”  So let’s get to the real question…How best to ensure (1) I have sufficient data, (2) avoid serious violations, and (3) keep my BASICs below threshold? Now you’re talking!  (I said to myself)  Let’s take it piece by piece. Read more >

Truck Drivers Asked To Weigh In On CSA

by Sloan Morris | April 4, 2012 | 7 Comments »

Drivers – what do you think of CSA? How has it affected you?  What’s working well…and what isn’t?  A new survey is being conducted by ATRI (The American Transportation Research Institute) about CSA and drivers.

From ATRI: The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) today launched its second annual truck driver survey to identify CSA impacts on trucking operations, as well as commercial driver perceptions and attitudes toward the maturing regulatory program. This survey, which will expand upon the truck driver research that ATRI undertook at last month’s Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS), will be compared and contrasted with last year’s CSA research – which included data from more than 5,000 drivers (report available online at www.atri-online.org).

Read more here.

Truck Drivers:  Take the survey here.

Interesting to see what the results will be!  Stay tuned – we’ll let you know when they are released.