So the Truckload Carriers Association convened “Weathering the Storm — CSA 2010 & the Driver Shortage,” a webinar meant to describe what trucking companies can expect from the upcoming safety program, & how to “soften the impact of CSA 2010” on driver management. Indeed, TCA sees “a ideal storm” on the horizon: a reduced driver pool meets increasing van demand, along with the great unknown variable, CSA 2010.
Discussion leader Jeff Davis, vice-president of safety & human resources for Jet Express, explained that under CSA 2010, fundamentally, there will be compliant drivers — meaning those whose records recommend they are going to be safe — & noncompliant drivers who, by the FMCSA’s statistical analysis, are at a higher than acceptable risk for crashes.
Additionally, fully three-quarters of the information counted against carriers & drivers under CSA 2010 was not part of the score under SafeStat, the safety technique being replaced, Davis noted.
l must look at things through a different lens,” Davis said. “The result is drivers that appeared compliant under SafeStat are now appearing non-compliant under the CSA 2010 model. Our job as risk managers, as recruiters, is we’re going to must choose how to correct our new issues of non-compliance, & then work with our drivers — even beginning at the point of hire to make positive that they understand the program, & more importantly, that they continue to work with them so that they can avoid safety events in the future.”
Information, information in all places
On the hiring side, with the implementation of the Preemployment Screening Program (PSP), three years’ worth of a driver’s FMCSA information are now available to potential employers. The issue for anyone screening candidates these days is that they suddenly have much more background information to sift through.
(For this discussion, they won’t even get in to carriers’ courtroom concerns — namely, that plaintiffs attorneys also will be going over the now-available driver information & demanding to know how & why a carrier responded to each & every inspection violation. Needless to say, there’s more to this than the CSA 2010 score.)
As for retaining drivers, the “easy way out” is to set a policyowner & fire all drivers with potentially bothersome scores — & while a considerable number of carriers are doing that, Davis cautions that such an approach could show short-sighted.
“The path of least resistance is to disqualify drivers at every turn, each time you receive a new piece of information,” they said. “I think the challenge for us today is how can they use this information as a training tool to retain more drivers — to put more drivers back in to our driver pool. That’s the challenge.”
Among CSA 2010 myths, Davis disputed the idea that 175,000 drivers would lose their jobs. The figure was based on aggregate information that showed 6 percent of drivers would be in the deficient section under the new technique, they explained.
“It did not look at how lots of drivers possibly could rehabilitate themselves, or alter, three times they understand this model of accountability,” they said. “We may lose them to economic & other issues, but as far as being disqualified for safety, I don’t see it.”
They also noted the FMCSA is not revoking CDLs, & that there is no “magic number” on driver information points.
“For the most part, it will be the motor carriers policing themselves,” they said.
Every carrier will have its own standards for what kind of driver history is acceptable & what is not. Davis anticipates the standards might be high early in the CSA 2010 transition, but the standards could be eased if replacement drivers get harder & harder to find.
Among carriers participating in the webinar, a poll showed that two-thirds had not set a hiring standard based on a driver’s PSP record — although three-quarters said they were requesting PSP records on every applicant.
“We are in the midst of setting history,” Davis said.
lenged carrier executives to identify the company’s most at-risk drivers under CSA 2010. “You personally take the time to go intervene with them. I think you’ll listen to a fascinating story,” Davis said. “It will help you understand C SA 2010 even better than from behind your table.”
They also emphasized carriers must do a better job of managing speed.
“The number one risky driving violation is going to be speed,” they said, noting that carriers tend to speak a lot about it— but lots of take speed seriously only when fuel prices are high.
On average, one in three roadside inspections is the result of a speeding cease, Davis pointed out.
“If they control our speed, they can basically get rid of one-third of our roadside inspections,” they said. “If you’re going 15 mph over the speed limit, you have hung a sign on the side of your van that says, ‘I’m defying you to pull me over & inspect me.’”
New drivers, or veterans?
What about the idea that carriers ought to look for drivers who’ve earned their CDLs — since, data-wise, they have a spotless record?
While that might appear to make sense, Davis pointed out that carriers are only responsible for a driver’s safety violations while they or they is with that carrier — meaning, as far as the carrier’s CSA 2010 score goes, every driver starts with tidy record, though the points will stay after a driver leaves.
On the other hand, Davis expects roadside inspectors may well target drivers with tiny or no background information in the technique.
& what about drivers who might give up, thinking CSA 2010 is stacked against them?
“It’s all in the way they deliver this CSA 2010 to them,” they said.
Indeed, they cautions carriers to wait & see with veteran drivers as they fine-tune to the new expectations. long as they see improvement, I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Davis said. “Be slow, be gentle — but be firm.”
But won’t a driver who has run safely for years have a hard time suddenly needing to be “re-trained” because of CSA 2010 scores?
“We had a veteran driver that had three points total on his record, & I thought they was going to March on Washington,” Davis said. “Nobody likes this type scrutiny placed on them. It can be imposing on the driver. Usually with the veteran driver it does not go quickly.”
The key, they suggested, is to make positive drivers understand immediately the new significance of violations under CSA 2010.
“It may become impossible to keep drivers that we’ve had in our fleets for years,” Davis said. “We require to work with them, reply to every violation now & see where the chips fall in the future. That’s a hard answer, but I don’t know any other way to give it.”
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