With so many CSA changes over the past few years, it’s hard to keep up. CDLLife is here to help! We’ve recently reported on the upcoming HOS and medical certification changes. Next week, more changes will go into effect.
Here’s what you can expect:
[heading style=”2″]Vehicle Maintenance BASIC Changes[/heading]
Cargo-related BACIC will now be a part of Vehicle Maintenance. Flatbed carriers often faced higher Cargo-Related BASIC scores because of their load’s visibility. 
CSA stated:
Also, including the load securement violations into new Vehicle Maintenance BASIC removes the bias in the current Cargo-Related BASIC which has resulted in identifying a disproportionate large number of carriers that haul open trailers (e.g. flatbeds) for interventions. The new Vehicle Maintenance BASIC identifies safety issues across all types of carrier operations.
[heading style=”1″]Hazardous Materials BASIC Changes [/heading]
With the removal of the Cargo-related BASIC, the Hazardous Materials BASIC will take its place. Violations to HM BASIC will be specific to proper packaging, transporting, identification/labeling and communication of hazardous cargo in the event of a crash or spill.
CSA stated:
FMCSA is implementing the HM Compliance BASIC to address motor carriers that do not comply with Federal safety regulations related to properly packaging, transporting, accurately identifying, and communicating hazardous cargo in the event of a crash or spill. The general public is subject to a greater safety risk if HM is involved in a motor carrier crash and unmarked or poorly marked HM cargo can result in less effective emergency response, as well as injuries and fatalities for emergency responders and others.
- The HM Compliance BASIC identifies carriers with higher HM violation rates (33.8% versus 29.1%) and HM out-of-service rates (5.4% vs. 4.0%) than the current Cargo-Related BASIC.
- The HM Compliance BASIC will be available to logged-in motor carriers and enforcement personnel in December 2012. Further study over the next year will be conducted before it becomes available to the public.
outside of the scope of an inspection and will not be reported in SMS.
change to fact-based descriptions. Injury crashes will be separated from fatality crashes.FMCSA is responding to feedback from enforcement and industry to change how fatalities and injuries caused by crashes are presented in SMS, and to stakeholder requests for more specific terminology in the BASICs. In the package of enhancements currently being previewed, the SMS display has been modified to:
- Change current terminology, “inconclusive” and “insufficient data,” to fact-based descriptions. Fact-based descriptions are easier for stakeholders to understand and interpret and will enable them to take more effective and targeted actions to improve safety.
- Separate crashes with injuries from crashes with fatalities. This eliminates the potentially misleading interpretation that a carrier has more fatalities than it actually does.
CSA states: 
- The name change is based on stakeholder feedback and will more accurately reflect violations contained within the BASIC.