How to Improve Your CSA Score?

CSA is a government program designed to assure the safety and dependability of carriers. It stands for Compliance, Safety, and Accountability. CSA score is one of the most important metrics that can directly impact a business. With the CSA score, a company can determine whether they require a DOT visit or not.

As most fleets are aware, lower CSA scores are preferable. In case of high CSA scores the company’s insurance rates rise and make their fleet less likely to be hired, thereby impacting their bottom line. Carriers, fortunately, have more influence over the number than they may believe.

Drivers and fleet managers frequently work hard to maintain lower possible CSA scores. Lower scores lead to more customers and greater business chances. Lower scores are also important in lowering liability and demonstrating to clients and law enforcement that your fleet is dedicated to safety.

Let’s learn more about the CSA score and how one can improve it.

What Exactly Is a CSA score?

CSA is a metric issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to identify high-risk commercial motor carriers. The main purpose of this score is to prevent accidents and to hold carriers accountable for their safety standards.

The Safety Measurement System (SMS) data is used to calculate a company’s score. It aggregates driving data from the previous two years into seven BASIC fundamental categories. 

BASIC Fundamental Categories 

• Crash indicator- Patterns of high crash participation and associated behaviors are identified.

• Unsafe driving- This involves driving a commercial motor vehicle carelessly. Violations might include speeding, texting while driving, and many other things.

• Driver Fitness- Addresses driving records, including commercial driver’s license, annual reviews, medical certificates, state driving license, etc.

• Vehicle maintenance- Failure to properly maintain or repair the vehicle might result in a citation for the driver or the firm.

• Controlled substance or alcohol- Addresses offenses committed by drivers who have illegal drugs or are under the alcohol influence.

• Hazardous materials- Includes requirements necessitating special care for harmful goods, such as correct packing, knowing tank specification regulations, and so on.

• Hours of Service (HOS) compliance- Violations in this section might arise when a driver breaches HOS limits or is unfit to drive.

What Is Considered a Good CSA Score?

After collecting and organizing the data, the SMS evaluates the carriers and provides them with a percentage ranging from 0 to 100. Each violation costs points, therefore the lesser the score, the better. Several 0 indicates the best performance, while a score of 100 indicates the worst. 

When a carrier achieves a score of 65% or above in dangerous driving, crash indicator, and HOS compliance, FMCSA is notified and audits begin. Scores for hazardous chemicals and passenger transportation might be as low as 60% and 50%, respectively.

Tips to Improve CSA Score

Here are some tips to improve your CSA Scores

• Use Reliable ELD Devices

ELDs can assist to enhance CSA results in a variety of ways. For starters, drivers and dispatchers may monitor hours of service and be notified when a driver’s limit is nearing. Operating an out-of-service vehicle and driving after being declared out-of-service are the top offenses that roadside inspectors look for. 

Form and manner violations can also influence CSA results. “Form & Manner” and “Outdated Logs” offenses account for almost 25% of all roadside violations. These offenses are frequently observed during roadside checks. They can, however, be avoided if drivers log electronically instead of managers relying on drivers to manually document their hours. 

• Focus On Vehicle Inspection 

Vehicle maintenance violations have a significant impact on CSA ratings. And keeping up with new requirements for keeping a vehicle in operation might be challenging. The most important aspect in averting these infractions is thorough pre-trip inspections that focus on vehicle maintenance concerns that drivers frequently ignore. 

Experts advise examining for air leaks in brakes, damaged lights, and debris in tires. It has been noted that broken lights can contribute to up to 28% of all road violations and can carry a penalty of whopping 6 points. 

Tire-related violations can make up to 11% and cases carry a severe penalty of 8 CSA points. To enhance the overall CSA score, ensure to thoroughly examine the tires and keep them in good condition.

• Check the Brakes 

CSA ratings may suffer during Operation Safe Driver Week or Brake Safety Week. Law enforcement increases roadside inspections and tickets during these weeks. Despite its importance, brake safety is sometimes disregarded during pre-trip inspections.

Fleet managers might ask their drivers which components of pre-trip checks are the most difficult to accomplish ensuring that these vital duties are completed. Then they can give guidance and/or resources to make things easier.

The main point here is to recognize that brake-related infractions are quite widespread and can severely harm their CSA score.

• Hire Good Drivers 

It is always a good plan to hire good drivers who can follow road and safety protocols. Checking potential drivers’ Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) reports is the best approach to verify a company is recruiting individuals with solid safety records. 

PSP reports, which are accessible from the FMCSA, reflect each driver’s five-year crash and three-year inspection history from the FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS), providing detailed information about a driver’s safety record. 

Companies who examine PSP reports before employing drivers lower out-of-service penalties by 17% and crash rates by 8%, according to FMCSA statistics.

• Stay Updated on Any Regulation Changes 

Ignorance of the law is no excuse when one is charged with a criminal offense. This especially goes for trucking regulations, many of which change from time to time throughout the year. If a company fails to follow these new changes, then their driver’s CSA score will increase, even if they are not aware of it.

Fleet managers and drivers need to stay updated with various changes in the regulations due to the changes in the severity of violence. This will allow them to maintain a low CSA score. 

• Medical Violations 

Medical offenses account for around 12.5% of all violations. This is primarily due to drivers not having a proper medical certificate. These breaches result in a very minor penalty of 1 to 2 CSA points.

However, driving when physically unwell constitutes a more severe offense. This can result in a hefty ten-point penalty. Fleet managers should keep track of the expiration dates of their drivers’ medical cards and ensure that they are updated.

Conclusion 

CSA Scores are used to assess how successfully firms execute safety measures. Avoiding as many of the violations and following the tips mentioned above is the greatest method to increase one’s CSA Score. Driver training might help a company avoid penalties and improve its score.

FAQs

What is a perfect CSA score?

CSA scores are determined on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the poorest performance and 0 representing the highest performance. Having a score that is under 20 to 10 is considered the perfect CSA score. 

Can CSA points be removed?

If a driver is found to be in clear violation of the law then the points can be removed from the overall score.

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