s a f e t y   &  o p e r a t i o n s

Dealing With SafeStat

Your public report card can hurt or help.

PATRICIA SMITH
SENIOR EDITOR

      Insurance companies regularly check the Internet to monitor current clients or investigate new ones. If one of your trucks is involved in an accident, lawyers for any injured parties will immediately look up your safety records on the government sponsored web site. Your customers have easy access to your safety records. So do your competitors. The good news: so do you.
      A recent audio conference sponsored by the Truckload Carrier Assn.'s Truckload Academy explored details, uses and problems with the U.S. Department of Transportation's electronic records system that makes carrier safety data available to anyone who wants it. While everyone agreed that the system has some significant flaws, speakers at this conference stressed that SafeStat, if used properly, can help as well as hurt.
      The data fed to the system by federal and state inspectors and law enforcement agencies is used in several different ways.
      The Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) system, www.safersys.org, functions as a gateway to a variety of information and services. The simplest report is the carrier snapshot, a concise electronic record of a carrier's identification, size, commodities hauled, and its safety record — including crash information. There is also a summary of roadside out-of-service inspections and the safety rating if the carrier has been rated. Snapshots are updated weekly and contain information going back 24 months. They're available at no charge and can be called up, one at a time, using either the carrier's name or DOT number.
      The Carrier Safety Profile is a more detailed report of inspections, accidents and moving violations. It also includes a detailed history of compliance enforcement actions. Profiles are updated monthly. Data goes back 12 to 24 months, depending on the number of inspections or accidents included. Carriers can request profiles containing driver names. Profiles can be ordered through www.safersys.org for a $20 fee or through Computing Technologies, FMCSA Data Dissemination Program, (703) 280-4001, ext. 1102 for $27.50. Monthly, quarterly and semi-annual subscriptions are also available.
      The Motor Carrier Safety Status Measurement System (SafeStat) incorporates current on-road safety performance information with on-site compliance review and enforcement history to help federal and state safety agencies identify and prioritize motor carriers for safety improvement or enforcement actions. Driver out-of-service, vehicle out-of-service and driver moving violation summaries are also available.
      New users may find this report complicated and difficult to decipher, but the web site, www.ai.volpe.dot.gov, has help and explanations. SafeStat reports are updated twice a year, although quarterly updates were supposed to start this year. DOT may even step up the pace with monthly updates next year. Information goes back 30 months, but safety events are weighted by time and severity. For instance, a fatality in the last six months counts against you more than a fatality two years ago.
      As noted earlier, some of the most frequent users of these safety reports are insurance companies and agents. Jeffrey Davis, vice president of safety for Motor Transport Underwriters Inc., told conference listeners that they pull profiles on client carriers monthly or at least quarterly, depending on the size of the account. They look for summaries on types of violations, individual details on accidents and detailed information on inspections.
      However he emphasized that profiles and SafeStat reports are starting points, not the final word, for insurance underwriters. The information is used to help pinpoint areas that may need special attention when doing a safety evaluation. It gives us more questions to ask once we're out there, he noted. We also look at trends. If a company is doing things to improve safety, we'll get a profile monthly so we're able to show (the insurance company) improvements in the numbers.
      One problem that insurers and carriers need to be aware of is that SafeStat reports don't distinguish between preventable and non-preventable accidents. According to David Osiecki, safety and operations vice president for the American Trucking Assns., the organization has formally petitioned DOT to change that, but for now, carriers need to make sure insurance underwriters get more detailed accident information.
      Moreover, errors are not uncommon. Davis recalled one report that showed an accident with five fatalities. In truth, it was an accident involving five vehicles and no injuries. Correcting mistakes isn't always easy, but it can be done. If the state agency that entered the incorrect information isn't cooperative, Osiecki suggests carriers take the matter to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance or trucking organizations such as ATA and TCA. Whether you're dealing with the government or an insurance underwriter, carriers need to be able to produce records to show that the information is incorrect.
      SafeStat and the profiles can be valuable tools for internal risk management programs. Jeff Davis, vice president of safety and human resources for Ohio-based Jet Express, said his company uses the reports to help pinpoint areas for improvement. Driver out-of-service, for instance, may show a high number of 10-hour rule violations; or equipment out-of-summaries may show a problem with lights.
      "Inspections are a big deal in our safety program," he said. Jet offers cash bonuses for clean inspections. Owner-operator vehicles that are placed out of service as the result of a roadside inspection must pass a Jet administered annual inspection before they can go back to work for the carrier. Then they must pass three more Jet inspections in the next three months.
      "It shows them we're serious," Davis said. "It also gives us the opportunity to run their equipment through our shop."
      Jet regularly reviews SafeStat reports with drivers because, as Davis noted, it helps them understand the impact their actions have on the carrier and it lets them know how closely they're being watched.
      SafeStat reports contain an ISS-2 number that is used by the Inspection Selection System to target and prioritize trucks for roadside safety inspections. The idea is to concentrate on those carriers with poor safety records. But again, this system has some significant flaws. Osiecki said 47 states have access to the software, but it's not known how many actually use it. Quarterly updates are provided on CD-ROM, which means someone has to take the time to update the files. If they don't, inspectors are working with information that's out-of-date. Or, as Jet Express' Davis noted, once you're in the doghouse you can be there for a long time.
      However, a low ISS-2 number doesn't mean you won't be pulled over. Jet analyzed 100 inspections and found that only 20% were done at scales — a logical finding since their ISS-2 number is low. The rest were random inspections triggered most often by speeding. "We tell our drivers that speeding is like putting a blinking neon sign on the side of the truck saying 'come and inspect me,'" Davis said.
      Speed also increases the chance of other moving violations and accidents. Another Jet study showed that trucks running 65 mph in a 35-mile stretch averaged eight passes, 13 lane changes and three brake applications. Trucks running 55 mph on the same stretch averaged one lane change and no passes or brake applications.
      "If you have a high degree of rear end and lane-change accidents, then we usually see a high number of speeding violations or citations for following too closely," said Motor Transport's Davis. "How do you think that looks to an underwriter?"
      Tapes of the audio conference, Controlling Your SafeStat Numbers, can be ordered from TCA at (703) 838-1950 or www.truckloadacademy.org.