Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA)

Under CSA, the SMS will use a new algorithm to score carriers on all violations occurring during roadside inspections in the past 24 months, as well as reported crashes in that same time period. The new system will:

Categorize the data into one of seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs);
Severity weight the safety-related event based on crash causation;
Time weight the incident based on when it occurred in the past 2 years; and
Normalize the data based on the average number of power units or number of relevant inspections, depending on the BASIC.

This is how you arrive at the “BASIC Measure.” This BASIC Measure is then compared against the carrier’s peer group and how they performed in the same BASIC. The carrier is assigned a percentile ranking, similar to the current SafeStat system. This is the "BASIC Score."

The percentile ranking will determine if the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will subject the motor carrier to an "intervention" to aid them in getting their safety program on track.

What can a carrier do now?

When the system goes live, it will include information from the previous two years from the launch date. Based on the anticipated launch date of November 30, 2010, a carrier will be scored on roadside inspections and crashes that took place from November 30, 2008, to November 30, 2010. Each month, events older than 24 months will drop off. For example, a month into CSA, events from December 30, 2008, to December 30, 2010, will be scored, and any earlier events will no longer be calculated into the carrier's score.

Today, before the system goes live, is a good time for carriers to make sure that all the data in the system about them is accurate, including:

The carrier census date on the MCS-150 (i.e., make sure you are placed in the correct peer group); and
All roadside inspections and crashes are really yours versus an entry error (i.e., misidentification).

Motor carriers may need to update their MCS-150 to reflect current operations, and challenge incorrect safety-related events in the system using the DataQs portal.