Appendix A to Part 385 - Explanation of Safety Audit Evaluation Criteria
49:5.1.1.2.28.12.11.11.11 : Appendix A
Appendix A to Part 385 - Explanation of Safety Audit Evaluation
Criteria I. General
(a) Section 210 of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act (49
U.S.C. 31144) directed the Secretary to establish a procedure
whereby each owner and each operator granted new authority must
undergo a safety review within 12 months after receipt of its US
DOT number for motor carriers of property and 120 days for motor
carriers of passengers. The Secretary was also required to
establish the elements of this safety review, including basic
safety management controls. The Secretary, in turn, delegated this
to the FMCSA.
(b) To meet the safety standard, a motor carrier must
demonstrate to the FMCSA that it has basic safety management
controls in place which function adequately to ensure minimum
acceptable compliance with the applicable safety requirements. A
“safety audit evaluation criteria” was developed by the FMCSA,
which uses data from the safety audit and roadside inspections to
determine that each owner and each operator applicant for new
entrant registration, provisional operating authority, or
provisional Certificate of Registration has basic safety management
controls in place. The term “safety audit” is the equivalent to the
“safety review” required by Sec. 210. Using “safety audit” avoids
any possible confusion with the safety reviews previously conducted
by the agency that were discontinued on September 30, 1994.
(c) The safety audit evaluation process developed by the FMCSA
is used to:
1. Evaluate basic safety management controls and determine if
each owner and each operator is able to operate safely in
interstate commerce; and
2. Identify owners and operators who are having safety problems
and need improvement in their compliance with the FMCSRs and the
HMRs, before they are granted permanent registration.
II. Source of the Data for the Safety Audit Evaluation Criteria
(a) The FMCSA's evaluation criteria are built upon the
operational tool known as the safety audit. This tool was developed
to assist auditors and investigators in assessing the adequacy of a
new entrant's basic safety management controls.
(b) The safety audit is a review of a Mexico-domiciled or new
entrant motor carrier's operation and is used to:
1. Determine if a carrier has the basic safety management
controls required by 49 U.S.C. 31144;
2. Meet the requirements of Section 350 of the DOT
Appropriations Act; and
3. In the event that a carrier is found not to be in compliance
with applicable FMCSRs and HMRs, the safety audit can be used to
educate the carrier on how to comply with U.S. safety rules.
(c) Documents such as those contained in the driver
qualification files, records of duty status, vehicle maintenance
records, and other records are reviewed for compliance with the
FMCSRs and HMRs. Violations are cited on the safety audit.
Performance-based information, when available, is utilized to
evaluate the carrier's compliance with the vehicle regulations.
Recordable accident information is also collected.
III. Determining if the Carrier Has Basic Safety Management
Controls
(a) During the safety audit, the FMCSA gathers information by
reviewing a motor carrier's compliance with “acute” and “critical”
regulations of the FMCSRs and HMRs.
(b) Acute regulations are those where noncompliance is so severe
as to require immediate corrective actions by a motor carrier
regardless of the overall basic safety management controls of the
motor carrier.
(c) Critical regulations are those where noncompliance relates
to management and/or operational controls. These are indicative of
breakdowns in a carrier's management controls.
(d) The list of the acute and critical regulations, which are
used in determining if a carrier has basic safety management
controls in place, is included in Appendix B, VII. List of Acute
and Critical Regulations.
(e) Noncompliance with acute and critical regulations are
indicators of inadequate safety management controls and usually
higher than average accident rates.
(f) Parts of the FMCSRs and the HMRs having similar
characteristics are combined together into six regulatory areas
called “factors.” The regulatory factors, evaluated on the basis of
the adequacy of the carrier's safety management controls, are:
1. Factor 1 - General: Parts 387 and 390;
2. Factor 2 - Driver: Parts 382, 383 and 391;
3. Factor 3 - Operational: Parts 392 and 395;
4. Factor 4 - Vehicle: Part 393, 396 and inspection data for the
last 12 months;
5. Factor 5 - Hazardous Materials: Parts 171, 177, 180 and 397;
and
6. Factor 6 - Accident: Recordable Accident Rate per Million
Miles.
(g) For each instance of noncompliance with an acute regulation,
1.5 points will be assessed.
(h) For each instance of noncompliance with a critical
regulation, 1 point will be assessed.
(i) FMCSA also gathers information on compliance with applicable
household goods and Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
requirements, but failure to comply with these requirements does
not affect the determination of the adequacy of basic safety
management controls.
A. Vehicle Factor
(a) When at least three vehicle inspections are recorded in the
Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) during the
twelve months before the safety audit or performed at the time of
the review, the Vehicle Factor (Part 396) will be evaluated on the
basis of the Out-of-Service (OOS) rates and noncompliance with
acute and critical regulations. The results of the review of the
OOS rate will affect the Vehicle Factor as follows:
1. If the motor carrier has had at least three roadside
inspections in the twelve months before the safety audit, and the
vehicle OOS rate is 34 percent or higher, one point will be
assessed against the carrier. That point will be added to any other
points assessed for discovered noncompliance with acute and
critical regulations of part 396 to determine the carrier's level
of safety management control for that factor; and
2. If the motor carrier's vehicle OOS rate is less than 34
percent, or if there are less than three inspections, the
determination of the carrier's level of safety management controls
will only be based on discovered noncompliance with the acute and
critical regulations of part 396.
(b) Over two million inspections occur on the roadside each
year. This vehicle inspection information is retained in the MCMIS
and is integral to evaluating motor carriers' ability to
successfully maintain their vehicles, thus preventing them from
being placed OOS during roadside inspections. Each safety audit
will continue to have the requirements of part 396, Inspection,
Repair, and Maintenance, reviewed as indicated by the above
explanation.
B. The Accident Factor
(a) In addition to the five regulatory factors, a sixth factor
is included in the process to address the accident history of the
motor carrier. This factor is the recordable accident rate, which
the carrier has experienced during the past 12 months. Recordable
accident, as defined in 49 CFR 390.5, means an accident involving a
commercial motor vehicle operating on a public road in interstate
or intrastate commerce which results in a fatality; a bodily injury
to a person who, as a result of the injury, immediately receives
medical treatment away from the scene of the accident; or one or
more motor vehicles incurring disabling damage as a result of the
accident requiring the motor vehicle to be transported away from
the scene by a tow truck or other motor vehicle.
(b) Experience has shown that urban carriers, those motor
carriers operating entirely within a radius of less than 100 air
miles (normally urban areas), have a higher exposure to accident
situations because of their environment and normally have higher
accident rates.
(c) The recordable accident rate will be used in determining the
carrier's basic safety management controls in Factor 6, Accident.
It will be used only when a carrier incurs two or more recordable
accidents within the 12 months before the safety audit. An urban
carrier (a carrier operating entirely within a radius of 100 air
miles) with a recordable rate per million miles greater than 1.7
will be deemed to have inadequate basic safety management controls
for the accident factor. All other carriers with a recordable
accident rate per million miles greater than 1.5 will be deemed to
have inadequate basic safety management controls for the accident
factor. The rates are the result of roughly doubling the national
average accident rate in Fiscal Years 1994, 1995, and 1996.
(d) The FMCSA will continue to consider preventability when a
new entrant contests the evaluation of the accident factor by
presenting compelling evidence that the recordable rate is not a
fair means of evaluating its accident factor. Preventability will
be determined according to the following standard: “If a driver,
who exercises normal judgment and foresight, could have foreseen
the possibility of the accident that in fact occurred, and avoided
it by taking steps within his/her control which would not have
risked causing another kind of mishap, the accident was
preventable.”
C. Factor Ratings
For Factors 1 through 5, if the combined violations of acute and
or critical regulations for each factor is equal to three or more
points, the carrier is determined not to have basic safety
management controls for that individual factor.
If the recordable accident rate is greater than 1.7 recordable
accidents per million miles for an urban carrier (1.5 for all other
carriers), the carrier is determined to have inadequate basic
safety management controls.
IV. Overall Determination of the Carrier's Basic Safety Management
Controls
(a) If the carrier is evaluated as having inadequate basic
safety management controls in at least three separate factors, the
carrier will be considered to have inadequate safety management
controls in place and corrective action will be necessary in order
to avoid having its new entrant registration, provisional operating
authority, or provisional Certificate of Registration revoked.
(b) For example, FMCSA evaluates a carrier finding:
(1) One instance of noncompliance with a critical regulation in
part 387 scoring one point for Factor 1;
(2) Two instances of noncompliance with acute regulations in
part 382 scoring three points for Factor 2;
(3) Three instances of noncompliance with critical regulations
in part 396 scoring three points for Factor 4; and
(4) Three instances of noncompliance with acute regulations in
parts 171 and 397 scoring four and one-half (4.5) points for Factor
5.
(c) In this example, the carrier scored three or more points for
Factors 2, 4 and 5 and FMCSA determined the carrier had inadequate
basic safety management controls in at least three separate
factors. FMCSA will require corrective action in order to avoid
having the carrier's new entrant registration revoked, or having
the provisional operating authority or provisional Certificate of
Registration suspended and possibly revoked.
[67 FR 12773, Mar. 19, 2002, as amended a6 67 FR 31985, May 13,
2002; 73 FR 76496, Dec. 16, 2008; 78 FR 60232, Oct. 1, 2013]