CSA 2010 tightens straps on cargo securement rules
TORONTO — For carriers running into the States, cargo securement violations are going to take on a completely new meaning beginning in July when CSA 2010 goes live.
FMCSA’s Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 program aims to reduce the number and severity of truck crashes by sanctioning drivers and carriers that pose the greatest potential risk to highway safety. Weighted points are assigned to carriers and drivers for various violations, including cargo securement, and those with poor records of compliance will sooner-than-later have FMCSA come a-knockin’.
There’s a great deal at stake here. Those familiar — or becoming familiar — with the CSA 2010 methodology will likely have seen the 64-page list of violations assembled by FMCSA. Of the six categories called BASICs (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories), Safety Management System Table 6, Improper Loading/Cargo Securement, runs more than five pages, listing more than 100 different violations. Of those, only a handful carry a violation weighting of less than 10 — the maximum.
into driver and fleet scores under CSA.
The violation severity weights are scaled from one to 10, where one represents the lowest crash risk and 10 represents the highest.
It’s worth noting that a 10 in the Cargo Securement category won’t carry the same punitive impact as a 10 in the Unsafe Driving category, but a 10 is a 10 is a 10. You can’t get much worse. If you rack up the cargo securement violations fast enough, it won’t be long before your first letter arrives.
More to our particular point here, damaged cargo straps and tiedown devices (393.104b) carry 10-point violations. But given what tests have shown about damaged cargo straps, a 10-point whack over the head might be easier to take than discovering the hard way that even slightly damaged straps are less than half as strong as we previously assumed them to be.
Looking for a hot topic to discuss at your next driver safety meeting?
The implications of improper cargo securement within CSA 2010 would be high on my list, right after you ask every driver to bring in and or replace all of their damaged tiedown devices.
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be sure to check out this week’s online feature, Something’s Gotta Give, for more on making sure your tiedown devices always work as good as new.
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