What is the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) Operational Model?

The CSA Operational Model is the way the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and its state partners implement commercial motor vehicle compliance and enforcement programs. The CSA Operational Model has three major components:

1. The Safety Measurement System (SMS) — CSA measures safety performance in more comprehensive ways using inspection and crash results to identify carriers whose behaviors could reasonably lead to crashes.
2. The intervention process — CSA helps FMCSA and its state partners correct high-risk behavior by contacting more carriers and drivers with a comprehensive interventions process. This interventions process is designed to more efficiently and effectively correct safety deficiencies by tailoring the Safety Investigator’s process to the carrier’s specific safety problem(s).
3. The safety rating process — CSA proposes a safety fitness determination methodology that is based on roadside performance and crash data.