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Safety Standards

Infrastructure and Transportation’s Carrier Profile database and other established data sources.

This page presents and defines each of the measures selected for PIC, defines the benchmark for each measure, and establishes the associated reporting mechanisms.

At this time, the proposed measures are:

• R-Factor (Risk Factor)
   
• Lost Time Claim Rate
   
• Preventable Collisions per Million Miles
   
• CVSA Out-of-Service Rate
   
• Drivers’ Hours of Service Violations

 ** PIC and COR Audit results are also proposed as part of the measurement system.
 

. R- Factor (Risk Factor)

The PIC Director will calculate the “R-Factor” (Risk Factor) Score from the Carrier Profile data supplied by Carrier Services, Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation at the end of each quarter using data for the preceding 12 months.

The R-Factor score is the result of mathematically weighting three measures from each operator’s profile into a single value. The higher this value, the greater the highway safety risk the operator poses. The three measures, which are based on fleet size, are:

A mathematical consultant, who was retained by Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation, developed the R-Factor score, which is a highly innovative approach to the measurement of carrier safety. At this time, the consultant’s analysis is still preliminary and the following discussion is based on his preliminary analysis.

In this preliminary analysis, the consultant concluded that there are four (4) categories of motor transport operators. (The number of categories may be expanded in future analyses.) Each category will have a different Benchmark R-Factor and use a slightly different formula to calculate R-Factor score. At this time, the four categories of motor transport operators are:

• Large-fleet (non-bus) carriers (more then 10 power units)
• Small-fleet (non-bus) carriers (1 – 10 power units)
• Large-fleet bus companies (more than 10 buses)
• Small-fleet bus companies (1 – 10 buses)

The general form for the formula to calculate R-Factor score is:

In this formula, A, B and C are mathematical constants calculated by the consultant. Each category of motor transport operator will use different constants as shown in the following pages.

(Large-fleet (non-bus) Carriers)

The constants for this category of carrier are:

Therefore, the R-Factor Score for each large-fleet (non-bus) carrier would be calculated using the following formula:

The Benchmark R-Factor Score for this category of carrier is 0.18, representing the top 25% of carriers in this category. From the Carrier Profile database, 168 large-fleet (non-bus) carriers have an R-Factor Score of 0.18 or less and would therefore meet the benchmark score.


(Small-fleet (non-bus) Carriers)

The constants for this category of carrier are:

Therefore, the R-Factor Score for each small-fleet (non-bus) carrier would be calculated using the following formula:

The Benchmark R-Factor Score for this category of carrier is 0.68, representing the top 25% of carriers in this category. From the Carrier Profile database, 1,018 small-fleet (non-bus) carriers have an R-Factor Score of 0.68 or less and would therefore meet the benchmark score.


(Large-fleet Bus Companies)

The constants for this category of carrier are:

Therefore, the R-Factor Score for each large bus company would be calculated using the following formula:

The Benchmark R-Factor Score for this category of bus company is 0.083, representing the top 25% of operators in this category. From the Carrier Profile database, 28 large-fleet bus companies have an R-Factor Score of 0.083 or less and would therefore meet the benchmark score.


(Small-fleet Bus Companies)

The constants for this category of carrier are:

Therefore, the R-Factor Score for each large bus company would be calculated using the following formula:

The Benchmark R-Factor Score for this category of bus company is 0.55, representing the top 25% of operators in this category. From the Carrier Profile database, 113 small -fleet bus companies have an R-Factor Score of 0.55 or less and would therefore meet the benchmark score.

Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation will provide the average number of vehicles for each current or prospective PIC member in this category from its Carrier Profile database.

A PIC member with an R-Factor score that exceeds the Benchmark R-Factor score will be required to submit an explanation and proposed remedies (action plans) to lower their R-Factor score to, or below, this Benchmark Score.

. Lost Time Claim Rate

The Lost Time Claim Rate (LTC Rate) is an important measure of operators’ commitment to safety in the workplace. The proposed measure is the number of WCB Lost Time Claims per 200,000 Employee Hours. Each full-time employee is deemed to contribute 2,080 hours per year (40 hours/week x 52 weeks/year = 2,080 hours/year). Therefore, 200,000 Employee Hours is approximately equal to 96 full-time employees (200,000 / 2,080 = 96 full-time employees, rounded).

PIC members will report their data at the end of each quarter for the preceding 12 months.

This example is for an operator with 15 full-time salaried employees working (@ 2,080 hours/year), six part-time salaried employees, averaging half time (1,040 hours/ year) and 126 full-time hourly employees. In this example, the company filed 4 Lost Time Claims with WCB for the 12 months ending on the quarterly reporting date.

Example:

* rounded to one decimal place.

The PIC Director will calculate the mean and standard deviation of the LTC rate per 200,000 Employee Hours for all PIC members. Members with a Rate that is plus three (+3) standard deviations, or more, above the mean (i.e. worse than 99.9% of PIC carriers) will be required to submit an explanation and proposed remedies (action plans) to bring their Rate to less than three standard deviations above the mean.

An Illustrated Example:

An Unusual LTC Rate

A small operator with, say, 12 full-time employees, could have a very high value for the number of LTC/200,000 Employee Hours, with just one LTC, as follows:

• 12 F/T employees x 2,080 hours/employee/year = 24,960 total hours
• Assume one (1) LTC
• Therefore, the number of LTC / 200,000 Employee Hours =

1 LTC x 200,000 / 24,960 = 8.0 LTC/200,000 Employee Hours

In this instance, the PIC Director would take the small size of the carrier into consideration and not require the carrier to devise a plan to reduce the value to less than three standard deviations above the mean.

However, if this carrier reported two (2) LTC, and therefore had 16 LTC/200,000 Employee Hours, the PIC Director would require the carrier to submit a remedial plan.

. Preventable Collisions per Million Miles

PIC members will be required to submit their fleet’s total kilometres and number of preventable collisions at the end of each quarter for the preceding 12 months.

All collisions will be classified as Preventable, unless an investigation, conducted at company expense, concludes that a collision was Non-Preventable, in which case it may be deducted from the number of collisions. The $1,000 threshold will be used in counting collisions.

A member choosing to aggregate rural and urban mileage will report according to the following format.

(In this example, the Company logged 5,355,460 combined rural and urban kilometres and experienced 12 preventable collisions.)

In other words, this company had 3.7 Preventable Collisions per Million Miles in the 12-month period under consideration.

Alternatively, members may choose to report a rural – urban split, as follows:
 

The PIC Director will calculate the means and standard deviations for each of the three categories, aggregated, rural or urban.  Members with a Collisions / Million Miles value that is plus three (+3) standard deviations, or more, greater than the mean for their category (i.e. worse than 99.9% of PIC carriers) will be required to submit an explanation and proposed remedies (action plans) to bring their Collisions / Million Miles value to less than three standard deviations above the mean.

. CVSA Out of Service Rate

PIC Members will be required to have a statistically valid number of randomly selected CVSAs performed in the 12 months preceding the end of each quarter.
 

* A table, specifying the number of CVSAs required per year for a given fleet size, will be provided.

Members with a quarterly OOS Rate greater than 10% will be required to submit an explanation and proposed remedies (action plans) to reduce their OOS Rate to, or below, this percentage.

Note: As yet, the method for randomly selecting the required number of CVSAs for each member has not yet been determined. Possible options under consideration include:

• PIC Days; and/or
   

• Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation uniformed officers will select a member, appear at the member’s depot(s) unannounced, and inspect all vehicles entering/leaving until the required number of inspections has been performed; and/or
   

• When a transponder system is implemented, each member’s vehicles will be randomly selected and signalled to report for inspection rather than being granted scale by-pass; and/or
   

• 4. Each operator’s vehicles present themselves for inspection at their discretion; and/or
   

• 5. Another approach, perhaps proposed by the PIC General Membership

. Drivers' Hours of Service Violations

PIC members must have an effective, verifiable process to review their drivers’ logs for Hours of Service Violations. Each member company may design their own system to measure for Hours of Service Violations. However, the system must produce measurable results, such as the percentage (or rate) of violations, and have a benchmark that is in the order of a maximum of 5% Hours of Service Violation rate. Members must submit details of their system, measure and benchmark to the PIC Director for approval. Specific approval criteria will be developed by the PIC Director and approved by the Standards Committee.

Members that do have an approved system will adopt the following approach to measuring Hours of Service Violations. In this approach, members will review a statistically valid, randomly selected sample (based on each operator’s fleet size) of Driver Logs to calculate the Hours of Service Violation Rate, expressed as a percentage. The following form presents this approach:
 

* A table, specifying the number of Driver Logs to be reviewed for a given number of FTE drivers, will be provided.    The number of logs to be audited will be based on each carrier’s fleet size

Members with an Hours of Service Violation Rate greater than 5% will be required to submit an explanation and proposed remedies (action plans) to reduce their Violation Rate to, or below, this percentage.


. COR and PIC Audit Results

COR and PIC audits will be performed annually after an operator has been admitted to membership. Over a three-year audit cycle, an employee of the PIC member may complete two of the annual audits. In the third year, the PIC and COR audits will be completed by a qualified external auditor who will perform both audits during the same audit engagement.

Regardless of whether the audits are performed by an internal or external auditor, the results will be submitted to the PIC Director.

Members failing to attain a satisfactory rating on either or both audits will be required to submit an action plan to the PIC Director to remedy the identified deficiencies and restore the company to a satisfactory rating.
The PIC audit has not been finalized. However, it will examine the member’s procedures for the following processes and practices:

• New Driver Hiring and Training Process

• Weights and Dimensions Management

• Vehicle Maintenance Programs

• Collision and Near-collision Analysis and Corrective Action Process

• Program for the On-road Monitoring of Drivers

• Dangerous Goods Procedures

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