IT PAYS TO BE SAFE

No. 32, August, 2010
CSA 2010--Cargo Related Issues

This is the sixth of our seven-part series on the CSA 2010 criteria that will be utilized for the judging of drivers, known as BASIC (Behavior Analysis & Safety Improvement Categories). This week's newsletter pertains to cargo-related issues that drivers will be judged by.

As we have told you each of the last several weeks, published accounts indicate that up to 175,000 drivers are expected to be lost from the workforce due to the failure to live up to the criteria established by BASIC. We at Holmes & Wiseley, P.C., do not want you to become part of those statistics.

The sixth point of the seven criteria pertains to cargo-related items. These outline the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's concerns about shifting loads, spilled or dropped cargo and the unsafe handling of hazardous materials.

The data that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will be looking at includes:

• Roadside inspections pertaining to violations of load securement, cargo retention and hazardous material handling; and
• Crash reports, which cite load shift or spilled or dropped cargo as causes or contributing factors to the crash.

Regarding the second item, the Federal Motor Carrier Administration directs drivers to §392, §393 and §397 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act.

Section 392.9 is where we ask each driver to start their review of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act. This section provides that a driver may not operate a motor vehicle unless the cargo is properly distributed and adequately secured. This section provides very specific information as to how that is to take place. Section 397 is the driver's primary instruction on the transportation of hazardous materials. The review of these sections will update you on the requirements regarding attendance and surveillance of your vehicle while carrying hazardous materials, parking, prohibitions against smoking, fueling and routing for your truck.

Shifting cargo is a common reason given by truck drivers for the causation of an accident. Now load shift won't simply be something you advise a police officer about, it will be something each driver is judged by under the new BASIC criteria.