Check your carrier’s CSA Scores| We are a local Kansas city carrier with a good safety reputation
As a shipper, other than picking a local Kansas Vity carrier based off adequate capacity and price, are you taking the time to investigate a carrier’s Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) scores? From my experience, this may not always be the case. Naturally, shippers are always looking to cut costs on transportation while maintaining the expectation that their goods will get to point A to point B with little trouble. This seems to be their main focal point and while understandable, checking a carrier’s safety profile can also be useful. There are potential pitfalls that come along with a sloppy carrier vetting process.
A shipper who handles the movement of their own inventory needs to be weary of high CSA scores; they could be ticking time bombs. Hiring an unsafe carrier could result in legal troubles for a shipper and there are a few key court cases that have highlighted that reality. Local shippers who do not use large freight brokers can easily fall into this trap, especially if they are fixated on price. While understanding the severity of using a carrier with high CSA scores, let us take a look at what those scores entail and how Pulse Transportation keeps it’s score low.
What are CSA scores derived from?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) came up with the CSA program to hold motor carriers and drivers accountable for their role in safety. FMSCA consolidates pertinent data and displays it online in the FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) (Pulse Transportation’s SMS profile). The SMS is updated once a month with data from roadside inspections, including driver and vehicle violations; crash reports from the past two years; and DOT investigation results. While filtering through this data, the SMS considers:
- The number of safety violations and inspections
- The severity of safety violations and 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
From here, the FMSCA takes that data and breaks them down into seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs).
BASICs
Unsafe Driving
-
- Speeding, Reckless driving, improper lane change, inattention, no seat belts
Crash Indicator
-
- Histories of crash involvement
Hours-of-Service Compliance
-
- Noncompliance with HOS regulations, including logbooks
Vehicle Maintenace
-
- Brakes, lights, defects, failure to make required repairs
Controlled Substances/Alcohol
-
- Use/possessions of controlled substances/alcohol
Driver Fitness
- Invalid license, medically unfit to operate a CMV
Our CSA Scores compared to the National Average
| Inspection Type | Vehicle | Driver | Hazmat | IEP |
| Inspections | 44 | 62 | 0 | 0 |
| Out of Service | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Out of Service % | 4.5% | 1.6% | % | 0% |
Nat’l Average % (2009-2010) |
20.72% |
5.51% |
4.50% |
N/A |
As you can see, we are way below the threshold for the industry average. The data from all of our vehicle, driver and hazmat DOT inspections is put into these numbers.
How do you know if your local Kansas City carrier prioritizes safety?
The SMS system does not utilize a numeric grading scale. What they use are three different ratings; Satisfactory, Conditional, and Unsatisfactory. We have never been below a Satisfactory rating. This simplified grading scale helps shippers make a quick decision and not get burdened by all the data that co-insides with the scores. With that being said, you can dive into the numbers on the SMS site that we linked earlier on in the post.
What do CSA scores say about a trucking company?
If a trucking company takes safety seriously, then you can guarantee they take customer service, employee satisfaction and overall business health seriously too. It goes beyond running freight from point A to point B and that CSA score is a snapshot of a trucking company’s whole operation. It is a good barometer for how a trucking company operates. That is why, as a trucking company with a lower than average CSA score, we encourage shippers to vet their carriers properly. There are plenty of good local carriers around town; be sure to find one that takes your business serious (Pulse Logistics is the obvious choice)!