FMCSA’s Safety Scoring Changes Ignite Industry Complaints

Changes to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety ratings program that place additional emphasis on hazardous materials handling are apparently causing a steep spike in scores of some carriers with otherwise “exemplary” safety records, an executive with American Trucking Associations said last week.

The changes, which also are designed to remove a perceived bias against flatbed carriers in the federal safety program, were detailed in the Federal Register on March 27 and have caused an immediate round of complaints from some carriers.

Although ATA has supported the notion of comparing the safety performance of hazmat carriers with other similar fleets, Rob Abbott, ATA’s vice president of safety policy, said feedback coming from haulers is showing a “dramatic shift in their hazmat scores.”

“It’s somewhat surprising that what we’ve found is that a number of award-winning motor carriers with low crash rates and a reputation for safe performance have been assigned high scores in that category, completely inconsistent with their performance in other categories and their safety performance generally,” Abbott said. “It really sort of discredits the program, in a way.”

Lower scores indicate safer hazmat performance.

Abbott said that to create an accurate picture of a carrier’s safety performance in the new hazmat category, the agency needs to tweak its methodology, adjust severity weights assigned to various violations and re-evaluate which inspections are considered relevant inspections and count in the system.

“The agency has a lot of work to do to make changes before they finalize it,” Abbott said. “Clearly, the current methodology does not identify fleets that have safety problems.”

An FMCSA spokeswoman said that the agency would weigh all the comments it receives as it moves to refine and implement the changes.

The creation of a stand-alone Hazardous Materials BASIC was one of a slate of changes to the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program’s Safety Measurement System, announced in the Federal Register.

The CSA process takes each carrier’s safety events — roadside inspection violations and crashes — and places them into seven respective categories known as BASICs, or Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories.

The violations are given numerical weights based on severity and age and are totaled for driver and carrier safety scores that are used to help FMCSA determine which carriers need agency intervention.

Bob Petrancosta, vice president of safety for Con-way Freight, Ann Arbor, Mich., said that his company is still analyzing the hazmat changes.

“We have to go back in and take a look at whether or not any of those 230-plus severity weight changes — or any of those 100-plus additional violations — had any impact on us,” Petrancosta said.

FMCSA also said it made a change to mitigate a perceived bias against flatbed haulers. It is shifting cargo securement violations, previously included in the Cargo-Related BASIC, into the SMS Vehicle Maintenance BASIC. As part of the change, it is eliminating the Cargo-Related BASIC.

FMCSA said the all of the changes were based on the agency’s continuing analyses of data and comments from law enforcement, the motor carrier industry and other stakeholders.

Through July, carriers will get a private preview of how the SMS changes have altered their safety scores. The agency said it will accept public comment on the changes through May 29.

“The agency will review all the comments at the close of the comment period and may take action to modify the enhancements,” said an FMCSA spokeswoman.

FMCSA said it is making the hazmat BASIC changes to better identify safety problems, which will allow for increased intervention scrutiny.

“The presence of [hazmat materials] can greatly exacerbate the consequences of crashes and cargo spills,” FMCSA said. “Because the current Cargo-Related BASIC includes both hazmat violations and load securement violations, some motor carriers with hazmat compliance issues do not rise above the FMCSA’s intervention threshold due to the relative weight of general cargo securement violations.”

The agency’s hazmat adjustment included a new definition of a hazmat hauler.

For a carrier to be subject to the hazmat threshold, it must have at least two inspections on a vehicle transporting hazmat within the past 24 months, with one inspection occurring during the prior 12 months. Hazmat inspections also must make up at least 5% of the carrier’s total inspections.

In addition, any fleet that has an FMCSA hazmat safety permit or has been identified as a carrier of placarded quantities of hazmat from an investigation in the past 24 months will be subject to increased intervention scrutiny, the agency said.

John Conley, president of National Tank Truck Carriers, said he is pleased with some of the hazmat changes but is concerned the hazmat BASIC does not differentiate between a gasoline hauler who makes deliveries in a congested metropolitan area and a longhaul carrier who spends more time on interstate highways.

“Exposure will need to be part of the HM [hazmat] algorithm,” Conley told TT.

FMCSA said it would stop counting violations against vehicles and their owners when inspections review only a driver’s activities and don’t include a check of the equipment itself. Likewise, FMCSA will stop charging a violation against a driver if the safety inspection covers only the vehicle itself.

The agency also said it was strengthening the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC by moving cargo/load securement violation changes.