Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/129328
Special Report: CSA Smaller carriers at risk Including new entrant audits, FMCSA performed 54,559 carrier reviews/investigations in fiscal 2012. That's about one-eighth of all active carriers with U.S. Department of Transportation operating authority. While the largest 100 carriers were investigated at a greater rate – almost a third have seen some kind of a review since the beginning of 2012 – most or all such carriers operate with the benefit of dedicated compliance staffers. Smaller carriers have "more expenses and lower incoming revenue, but we've got to place more resources toward safety and compliance," says Wilson. "There's just a basic lack of funds to dedicate to it." Too many, he says, "put it all off until the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan, and then they come to us and say, 'What can you do for us?' " Many small fleets find it cost-effective to invest in tools 44 commercial carrier journal CCJ_0513_EquipFeature.indd 44 FMCSA InterventIon trendS REVIEW TYPE Warning letters Total reviews** Reviews in phased CSA states Full compliance reviews Focused compliance reviews FY 2011 FY 2012 40,94424,126 18,42220,210 7,9925,373 4,3418,609 Reviews in full CSA states (AK, CO, DE, GA, KS, NJ, MD, MN, MO, MT) Onsite comprehensive investigations1,336 1,268 Onsite focused investigations 1,7641,750 Offsite investigations 616573 FMCSA The trend in carrier investigations is away from the traditional compliance review and toward the focused investigation, often resulting in no change to a carrier's safety rating, still part of the older SafeStat system of rating pending a Safety Fitness Determination rulemaking to tie rating to the CSA Safety Measurement System. An analysis of the top 100 carriers listed in CCJ's 2012 Top 250 list shows that among the 30 carriers on the list who've seen some kind of investigation since the beginning of 2012, 23 of those actions were onsite focused investigations or reviews that resulted in no change to company safety ratings. Yet Wilson has seen a dynamic time and time again during these so-called "nonratable" reviews – namely, the "creep" of the investigators' activity from a focused investigation into something that more functionally resembles a full compliance review. Say FMCSA or state partners come in for a review of a company's hours-of-service compliance. "An experienced auditor or field agent for FMCSA can very quickly get a feel for the overall compliance program a company has set up," says Wilson. "We like to say in our business, 'Organization shows compliance.' " "Focused investigations may result in an adverse rating (Unsatisfactory or Conditional), but not a Satisfactory rating," says FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne, so it's a no-win situation for the carrier being investigated. Unless a Safety Fitness Determination rulemaking were to change the status quo, the only way to get a Satisfactory rating today continues to be as a result of the traditional compliance review. **ReviewfiguresincludethoseperformedbothbyFMCSAandstatepartnersandexcludeNewEntrantAudits. such as management software, log-auditing services, electronic logging and/or driver vehicle inspection report systems, prepared drug-and-alcohol policies and administration, driver qualification filing systems and more to help manage compliance proactively. hen compliance efforts W fall short and an audit results, there also is help available. McGuire used an outside audit-support specialist during his carrier's compliance review this year, as have the many carriers Wilson helps. Owner-operator Lawrence handled his own review, a tactic McGuire says seems appropriate for a one-truck operation. Start adding trucks and drivers, though, and "you're not quite sure about your records all the time," he says. "With me, I feel pretty confident about it, but I wanted a second set of experienced eyes on it" to boost that confidence. If patterns of violations are found, it often results in a corrective safety plan. If CSP requirements HAVE YOU OR YOUR DRIVERS aren't met, the next step EXPERIENCED AN INTERVENTION could be a cease-andFROM FMCSA SINCE CSA'S desist-operations order. BEGINNINGS IN DECEMBER 2010? Wilson says issuance I don't Yes, an of those orders has No know onsite been "double what it 45% focused 10% review was a year ago. … The 10% smaller carrier can't pay Yes, a Yes, an the same money as the warning offsite focused Yes, a full letter top 100, so we find ourreview compliance 17% review selves in the position of 2% 16% trying to help the carNearly half of the 200 Overdrive rier stay in business and reader respondents to this March poll going out of our way to probing FMCSA's intervention activity provide them the same reported seeing direct contact from services offered to the the agency since the advent of CSA in bigger carriers." December 2010. OverdriveOnline.com poll Mission creep | may 2013 4/24/13 1:57 PM