Starting June 5th, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance begins the three-day annual International Road Check. As you’re probably aware, this year the CVSA’s focus will be on hours of service and proper use of electronic logging devices (ELDs). As discussed in two prior blog posts, CSA scores have a significant effect on your insurance pricing. Savvy drivers and fleet owners can use this opportunity to add clean Level I Inspections to their records, which will help improve scores—and potentially decrease your trucking insurance premium.
As your drivers operate during the International Road Check, it’s probably a good idea to have daily reminders about preparation for an inspection. You, your dispatch team, and your operations team also should meet daily to ensure you’re prepared.
Start by considering the following:
- Does every driver understand all aspects of a Level I Inspection? If not, the CVSA provides a quick refresher.
- Every driver should be familiar with the rules and regulations for ELDs.
- Do you have written procedures for ELD malfunctions?
- Are your drivers doing actual pre-trip inspections or are the “pencil whipping” their checklists simply to avoid getting in trouble?
- Are you providing any incentives for a clean Level I Inspection?
- What type of post-inspection training are you doing? How are you communicating “stories from the road” with other drivers?
- Are you using the Pre-Employment Screening Program when hiring drivers to ensure you are either avoiding hiring a driver prone to bad inspections or using focused training to correct past mistakes?
- If an inspector makes a mistake (they do happen!), are you using the Data Q system to correct these and prevent them from hurting your CSA scores?
Drivers don’t enjoy comprehensive roadside inspections, but with proper training, they can be used as a positive for your entire fleet. Don’t waste an opportunity during the International Road Check or any other time to improve your CSA scores—your insurance underwriter is paying attention!
As always, the trucking insurance professionals at The Daniel & Henry Company are here to help you understand what measures you can take to reduce risk and insurance costs. Please contact us today if you have any questions about FSMA issues or any other transportation insurance and risk management matter.