ISS-2 values and carrier profile reports now available to fleets online
Turns out our friends at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Field Systems Group (FSG) were very busy this holiday season. They've made it possible for us to access two new Internet-based information sources that should help fleets manage safety performance.
For starters, you can now get Inspection Selection System (ISS-2) values from the DOT Volpe Transportation Center's SafeStat web site, located at http://ai.volpe.dot.gov/SafeStat/SafeStatMain.asp?PageN=results.
I talked about ISS-2 last month; it's the system used to target trucks and carriers for roadside inspections. National carriers are given ratings from 0-100 based on crash, inspection, citation and enforcement history.
Although the enforcement community has been using this system for quite some time, until now, carriers have only been able to access ISS-2 scores through a local enforcement contact or a Freedom of Information Act request.
To find your score, go to the site and find your way to the “carrier selection” screen. When you enter your DOT number, your “carrier overview” page will appear. Your ISS-2 score is in the lower portion of the table on the right-hand side of the page. It includes two numbers:
- Inspection value. Big numbers are bad; 75 or higher pretty much guarantees a roadside inspection.
- Safety group. Carriers with SEA (safety evaluation area) values of 75 or higher are assigned to Safety Groups 1-15; carriers with values lower than 75 are assigned to Safety Groups 16-45; no data puts you in Safety Group 46.
Second, and most important, FSG has just released a software program for downloading, viewing and analyzing carrier profile reports.
Previously, the report was only available in a cumbersome paper format. Fleet managers who wanted to use it to track inspections, crashes or driver citations electronically had to re-key the data into spreadsheet or database programs. “Why can't we get this data electronically?” was a common cry.
Our frustrations have been heard! The new tool, called ProVu, takes text-file versions of carrier profiles and parses (that's tech speak for slicing and dicing) the data into overview and detail pages.
Just like the hard copy, the overview pages display information such as four-year crash and two-year inspection summaries, compliance review results, and the status of any pending enforcement actions.
The detail pages contain tables with data (date, time, location, vehicle and driver name, for example) on individual crashes and inspections.
My good friends at FSG tell me that for now you can request electronic copies of the profile when you ask for the report. Very soon, however, the SAFER web site (www.safersys.org) will have a link to the ProVu program, as well as a way to order electronic versions of carrier profiles.
Want to learn more? You can download ProVu from the FSG web site, http://fmcsa-fsg.dot.gov/. Select “software” from the list on the left side of the screen, and then click on the “general public” icon. Scroll down to ProVu to start the download. It's about nine megabytes, and the process should take about 30-46 minutes.
This is a great development; my hat's off to the hard working team at FSG. The industry finally has an effective tool for viewing and managing important government safety information. Perhaps even more significant, however, is the fact that it's a tool that can help us all become better fleet managers and improve our safety performance.
Jim York is a senior risk engineering consultant at Zurich Insurance, Fredericksburg, Va.
