2. Increasingly, shippers are holding transportation
brokers liable for loss or damage to their freight.
Third parties are also asserting that brokers are
responsible for property damage and bodily injury
when accidents occur. Claimants often allege that
the broker breached its responsibility by failing to
investigate a carrier’s safety record, claims history
and insurance status.
In order to ensure this DOES NOT happen ECT
has developed and implement this ECT Index
3. So what we do at
East Coast Transport LLC (ECT) is:
1) Check the safety status for all carriers that
we engage.
2)Require a satisfactory safety rating in via our
ECT Safety Index.
3) • Verify motor carrier insurance.
4) Insure that the carrier has proper liability
insurance coverage for each load
4. ECT’s Two Core Components
1. A Safety Measurement Index that:
– Identifies unsafe carrier and driver behaviors that lead
to crashes
– Uses all safety-based roadside inspection violations to
assess compliance with existing regulations
– Includes investigation findings
– Is used to prioritize carriers for interventions
2. A safety interventions process that:
– Includes an array of interventions
– Focuses on specific unsafe behaviors
– Identifies causes of safety problems
– Defines and requires corrective actions
6. Percentiles and Investigations
• Goal is to identify carriers with
– Known on-road compliance issues
• Intervention Thresholds for carriers are organized by
Index groups and are set based on the INDEX relationship
to risk / consequence
• Carriers that exceed the BASIC threshold are identified by
Red Ratings in one of the 5 Groups:
• Unsafe Driving – HOS Compliance – Driver Fitness -
Vehicle Maintenance – Controlled Substance / Alcohol
7. Carrier Measurement: ECT INDEX
Results
• The rating are obtained by going into the
Carrier 411 website.
• Entering the carriers MC#
• The retrieving the DOT Ratings
• Then entering them into the ECT Safety
Index Rater.
8. Screen shot of Carrier 411 –
ECT Carrier Index Rater
Rating Unsafe Hours Fitness Drugs Main SI Status
S 82.50 10.80 54.50 48.90 44.90 2.35 BORDERLINE
9. Place each carrier violation into a
BASIC Index
Convert Index data into a
quantifiable measure/rate
Develop a rank for each Index based
on each carrier BASIC measure
Safety
Event
Data
Index
Data
BASIC
Measures
ECT
Index
Rating
11. Unsafe Driving Index
• Operation of CMVs in a dangerous or careless
manner
• Examples:
− Speeding
− Reckless driving
− Improper lane change
12. Vehicle Maintenance Index
• Failure to properly maintain a CMV
• Examples:
− Brakes
− Lights
− Other mechanical defects
− Failure to make required repairs
− Improper load securement
13. HOS Compliance Index
• Operation by drivers who are ill, fatigued, or in
noncompliance with the HOS regulations
• Examples:
− HOS
− Form and manner
− Operating a CMV while ill or fatigued (all Part
395)
14. Driver Fitness Index
• Operation of CMVs by drivers who are
unfit to operate a CMV due to lack of
experience, or medical qualifications
• Examples:
− Failure to have a valid and appropriate
Commercial Driver’s License
− Medically unqualified to operate a CMV
− Expired or missing medical examiner’s
certificate
15. Controlled Substances/Alcohol Index
• Operation of a CMV while impaired due to
alcohol, illegal drugs, and misuse of prescription
medications or over-the-counter medications
• Examples:
− Use or possession of controlled substances or
alcohol
16. Insurance/Other Category
Carriers logged in to the SMS will see the Insurance/Other
category in addition to the five Index’s
• This category includes violations cited during investigations that
do not coincide with the five Index’s
– Insurance or authority violations
• If one of the Serious Violations in this category is discovered
during an investigation within the last 12 months, the category
will show an Red the threshold symbol. If the index climbs
above the OK status the Index will rate the carrier either
Borderline or Serious Issue.
