Truck Fleets Face Road With More Accountability and Paperwork, Stresses Lockton Risk Management Expert

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The new federal Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) initiative means truck fleet operators will have a bumpy road ahead with more accountability and paperwork.  While it means more work for drivers and motor carriers, it should also drive safer fleet operations, said Bert Mayo, vice president of fleet risk control for Lockton Companies.  Mayo, a leading fleet risk control expert, made the comments in a presentation during the recent Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week in Las Vegas.

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"This is an absolutely needed and important step for the improved safety and well being of the motoring public and our professional drivers," said Mayo.  "But it will take time and energy to achieve."  CSA is a major initiative from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for commercial truck and bus fleets and will have a major impact on the vendors that service the heavy duty trucking industry.

The CSA program is designed to improve the effectiveness of the Agency's compliance and enforcement programs.  However, the ultimate goal is to achieve a greater reduction in large truck and bus crashes, injuries, and fatalities. It is being implemented to better use FMCSA resources to identify drivers and motor carriers that pose safety problems, address those problems as soon as they become apparent, and attempt to change unsafe behavior. The program was tested in nine states during the past 18 months.

Nearly all CSA information is public. Anyone with a computer, such as potential customers, competitors, plaintiff attorneys, insurance underwriters, and the general public will be able to access the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs), as defined by CSA:

• Unsafe driving
• Fatigued driving
• Driver fitness
• Drugs and alcohol
• Vehicle maintenance
• Proper loading/cargo issues
• Crash indicator (not viewable)

"All of the BASICs categories are equally important for determining a fleet's overall safety profile, Mayo added. "When it comes to vehicle maintenance, for example, fleet maintenance departments and maintenance service vendors will be required to deliver a higher level of service and documentation. But if analysis of implementation from the test states is any indication, fleets that are subjected to the CSA process are showing safety improvements, and they are better at identifying and correcting behaviors that lead to accidents. That means potentially safer roads and healthier drivers."

Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week is an annual trade conference for manufacturers of truck fleet equipment and suppliers. Mayo was invited to present at the conference to help educate manufacturers, vendors and fleet maintenance providers on CSA and discuss how the regulations may impact their businesses. Mayo's full presentation can be found at: http://www.hdaw.org/images/2011/education/bert_mayo.pdf

The full conference details are at http://www.hdaw.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17.

About Lockton

More than 3,800 professionals at Lockton provide more than 15,000 clients around the world with insurance, benefits, and risk management services, offering an uncommon level of client service.  Lockton serves numerous industry groups including for-hire and private fleets. From its founding in 1966 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, Lockton has grown to become the largest privately held insurance broker in the world and 9th largest overall. Business Insurance recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance."  You can learn more at www.lockton.com.

SOURCE Lockton