CalArk Reduces CSA Scores with Lytx Compliance Services

CalArk Protects Its Reputation by Proactively Managing CSA Scores

Founded in 1975 on the principle of providing exceptional customer service, CalArk International provides truckload and warehousing services across the continental U.S. With a fleet of 600, CalArk, based in Little Rock, Ark., has been a Lytx^® client since 2015, when the company implemented compliance services to streamline its driver qualification files, electronic logging devices, and auditing functions.

With Lytx Compliance Services' DOT compliance management, CalArk has dramatically reduced its critical CSA violations, coached drivers proactively, and avoided Department of Transportation (DOT) fines.

“The customer service is really the selling point for me,” CalArk Director of Safety Leslie Stout said of Lytx. “My client services representative is always accessible, and the whole staff is supportive. Lytx’s services does not miss a beat on compliance-related issues, and as a result, neither do we.”

How Lytx Compliance Services Propel Fleets Toward DOT Safety Compliance

While customer service is important, compliance services have been most impactful for CalArk by helping the organization proactively manage its CSA scores. By forecasting CalArk’s CSA scores daily, Lytx Compliance Services have empowered CalArk to reduce its critical CSA violations.

The FMCSA defines critical violations as “those that relate directly to the carrier’s management or operational controls and are indicative of breakdowns in a carrier’s management controls.” Examples include log falsification or the failure of a driver to record duty status.

“[Lytx's] forecasting tool is the only way we can access FMCSA data in a timely way. It really empowers us to catch a compliance-related issue early and implement a plan of action.”
—CalArk Director of Safety Leslie Stout

With Lytx's help, CalArk has reduced virtually all of its critical violations, including 11-hour, 14-hour, 70-hour, 30-minute, and log falsification violations. Fewer than 1 percent of CalArk logs have a critical violation, and the company ranks in the top 70 percent of Lytx clients in efficiently managing critical hours of service violations.

“CalArk’s results on reducing critical violations to less than 1% of their logs is quite impressive,” said RAIR and Field Services Senior Director, Rick Walters. “It’s proof that when you are able to focus your attention on the right data and details, you can make a significant impact to the overall effectiveness of your safety and compliance program.”

It’s especially remarkable considering the quantity of logs CalArk has; each of CalArk’s nearly 300 drivers submit a log every single day of the year. Even more impressive, by keeping critical violations so low, CalArk has avoided DOT fines. If the DOT audits logs and discovers a driver or group of drivers with greater than 10 percent of logs in violation, the DOT can impose fines and penalties based on the number of acute and critical hours of service violations. So, CalArk has performed exceptionally well in this regard.

Being Proactive on CSA Scores Pays Off

Stout attributes CalArk’s success to Lytx's help in keeping its CSA scores low. She and her safety team rely on the daily data it provides to address and eliminate problems among their employees as they emerge. That timing is crucial to CalArk’s DOT safety compliance success.

“For example, at my weekly safety meeting, I can tell my drivers that our unsafe behaviors on the road are forecasting five percent higher this month than last month,” Stout said. “Having access to this data daily helps us devise ways to curtail rising trends and keep our CSA scores consistently low.”

Being able to assess how drivers are performing in compliance before CSA scores are assessed every month is among Lytx Compliance Services' biggest benefits, Stout said. Using the data from the daily CSA forecast, CalArk can coach drivers early and motivate a change in their behavior when it matters most.

“If we had to wait until scores appear on the FMCSA website, a whole month could pass before we were able to identify the CSA-related issues our drivers are having, and driver coaching would be delayed, too,” Stout said. “Lytx's forecasting tool is the only way we can access FMCSA data in a timely way. It really empowers us to catch a compliance-related issue early and implement a plan of action.”

With more stringent regulation industrywide, being able to assess data before CSA scores are tallied not only helps CalArk coach drivers on trends they notice among their fleet, such as speeding six to 10 mph over the speed limit. “But it also tells me as a safety manager ‘OK, here is a problem area we need to focus on,’” Stout said.

Lytx Compliance Services helps CalArk be proactive in other ways, too. For example, it captures data on DOT inspections and violations, notifying CalArk within 24 hours when a roadside inspection has occurred. By breaking down roadside violations by driver, state, point value, and history, Lytx Compliace Services has helped CalArk efficiently target problem areas and pinpoint where drivers need collective or individual improvement.

“We emphasize safety a great deal,” Stout said. “Having the granular detail that Lytx provides has helped us improve our CSA scores, and it’s kept our drivers ahead of the game on DOT safety compliance, no doubt about it.”