Comments on: Safety Ratings and Accidents http://www.arnoldsafetyblog.com/safety-ratings-and-accidents/ Helping Companies Comply With D.O.T. Safety Regulations Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:37:19 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Eric Arnold http://www.arnoldsafetyblog.com/safety-ratings-and-accidents/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Eric Arnold Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:21:52 +0000 http://www.fmcsacompliance.com/?p=33#comment-42 Mike: Glad you like the articles. I'm trying to give people a reason to check out the blog periodically, provide something of value, and who knows, at some point they might even buy something here and there. As for the accidents, if you have an accident which is not your fault, it counts against your Safestat score, which is what DOT uses to determine when they are going to audit you. There's nothing you can do about it, DOT doesn't care that it wasn't your fault, it hurts your score. If there is an audit, you can get the DOT auditors to not count non-preventable accidents against your safety rating. But the accident has to be clearly non-preventable (like the one you described). For example, if you run into something, regardless of the circumstances, DOT will generally call that 'preventable'. Mike: Glad you like the articles. I’m trying to give people a reason to check out the blog periodically, provide something of value, and who knows, at some point they might even buy something here and there. As for the accidents, if you have an accident which is not your fault, it counts against your Safestat score, which is what DOT uses to determine when they are going to audit you. There’s nothing you can do about it, DOT doesn’t care that it wasn’t your fault, it hurts your score.

If there is an audit, you can get the DOT auditors to not count non-preventable accidents against your safety rating. But the accident has to be clearly non-preventable (like the one you described). For example, if you run into something, regardless of the circumstances, DOT will generally call that ‘preventable’.

]]> By: Mike http://www.arnoldsafetyblog.com/safety-ratings-and-accidents/comment-page-1/#comment-38 Mike Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:36:35 +0000 http://www.fmcsacompliance.com/?p=33#comment-38 Eric, Just a note for your readers. Even if your truck is stopped for an accident, and another vehicle hits you in the rearend, and that vehicle has to be towed due to damage sustained from the ICC bumper. You will still have an recorable accident against you. Even though your driver was doing everything correct, you get slapped in the face with it. Trust me, this scenario happened to our company. It will not do any good to try and fight it either, trucking company's have no legs to stand on, when it comes to fighting the DOT. Thank you, your articles are very informative. Eric,

Just a note for your readers. Even if your truck is stopped for an accident, and another vehicle hits you in the rearend, and that vehicle has to be towed due to damage sustained from the ICC bumper. You will still have an recorable accident against you. Even though your driver was doing everything correct, you get slapped in the face with it. Trust me, this scenario happened to our company. It will not do any good to try and fight it either, trucking company’s have no legs to stand on, when it comes to fighting the DOT.
Thank you, your articles are very informative.

]]>