As I’ve suggested before, it was only a matter of time before a private provider re-engineered FMCSA’s now-hidden Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) percentile rankings and category alerts in the Safety Measurement System (SMS) categories of measurement.
SaferWatch calls the CSA percentiles that were publicly available “the backbone resource for brokers selecting carriers and assessing risk.” CSA-e, based on the same methodology as the CSA SMS percentiles formerly provided by FMCSA, the company says, restores “valuable assessment metrics” and mitigates brokers/shippers’ risk.
Depends on who you ask, of course. The Transportation Intermediaries Association, which represents brokers and other intermediaries, has called CSA percentiles, SMS data and their use in such a manner problematic, to say the least. As I wrote just a few weeks ago, quoting the TIA directly:
“It has been and will remain TIA’s position that the safety rating is the sole determination of whether or not a carrier is safe to operate or not and that all CSA data and scores should be removed from public view in their entirety.”
In its press release on CSA-e, SaferWatch raises the specter of negligence lawsuits for brokers not utilizing available information assessing risks when selecting carriers with this threatening quote from Greenwich Transportation Underwriters Partner Ben Armistead: “Brokers and shippers who continue to take a head-in-the-sand position and refuse to believe the data matters will find this to be a huge mistake. They would do well to ask plaintiff lawyers if the data is relevant. I’m sure they would not like the answer.”
What was initially sold to the industry as a law-enforcement tool (i.e., CSA) has clearly expanded well beyond that purpose, as has been seen ad infinitum since CSA’s introduction in late 2010.
