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SAFER Data Field Names

General Snapshot Information

The term "company" refers to a "Motor Carrier Industry Entity" which includes carriers, shippers, and registrants.

A snapshot is a condensed view of the company's profile as maintained by the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). It includes information on the company's location, identification numbers, type, cargo carried or shipped, inspection summary, crash summary, and safety rating. Descriptions of individual data items are listed below. Users may directly access these descriptions by clicking on any underscored field name in the table. Note that these field names are colored by your browser and will change colors after you have clicked on them the first time. These colors will vary depending on your browser setup. The actual data fields are colored blue to distinguish them from the field names.

It is recommended, if possible, that higher screen resolutions (1024 X 768 or 800 X 600) be used to view the snapshot table, otherwise it will be necessary to scroll both vertically and horizontally in order to view all the data fields. Also, because of the way HTML tables are implemented, the columns may "word wrap" at lower resolutions causing the data to be more difficult to comprehend.

Some data is displayed in tables of rows and columns. An X in front of an item in a table indicates that the item is relevant to this company, while the absence of any character indicates that the item is not applicable. Some tables allow characters other than X and those flags are explained in the individual data item help references below.

Legal Name
This is the legal name of the company.


DBA Name
This may be a trade name under which the company does business. Any name identifying the entity other than the legal name.


Physical Address
Refers to the physical location of the company's principal office. The following data elements are included:

  • STREET. Identifies the street address where the company's principal place of business is physically located.
  • CITY. Identifies the city where the company's principal place of business is located.
  • STATE. Identifies the State where the principal place of business is located. Two-letter postal abbreviation for the state.
  • ZIPCODE, (EXPANDED ZIPCODE). Zip code which corresponds to the street address of the company's principal place of business (Any valid U.S. or Canadian zipcode or CANADA; MEXICO or CENTRA). Expanded zipcode refers to the last four digits of the zipcode. Example 37815-0310. If the expanded zipcode is known, the field will contain the dash (-). Some Canadian and Mexican addresses contain the word CANADA or MEXICO as part of the zipcode and Central American countries' zipcodes contain CENTRA. The first 5 characters will be stored in the ZIPCODE field and the last character will be stored in the EXPANDED ZIPCODE field.


Phone
The company telephone number at the principal place of business.


Mailing Address
The address at which a company receives mail.


USDOT#
This is the number assigned by MCMIS to a census record. It is sometimes referred to as the USDOT number. Each company should have only one active census number. The census number has no internal coded structure. Numbers are issued sequentially as carriers/shippers/registrants are added to the system.


State Carrier ID
Company I.D. number assigned by the state, often used in lieu of the USDOT#, for intrastate carriers/shippers/registrants.


MC/MX/FF Number(s)
Carrier number issued by the FMCSA granting authority for interstate operations. Prior to January 1, 1996, the MC number was issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Freight Forwarder docket numbers and MX numbers will also be listed in this field.


DUNS Number
This is the corporate registration number given by Dun & Bradstreet.


Entity Type
Refers to the type of operation in which the motor carrier is engaged. It identifies the entity as a carrier, hazardous materials shipper, both a carrier and a shipper, or registrant.


Carrier Operations
Identifies the carrier as being engaged in interstate, intrastate hazardous material, or intrastate non-hazardous material transport activities.


Shipper Operations
Identifies the shipper as being engaged in interstate or intrastate hazardous material shipping activities.


Operation Classification
Identifies the type of motor carrier. MCMIS recognizes the following classifications for motor carrier type (NOTE: A carrier can have more than one type of classification):

  • Authorized-For-Hire. A commercial motor carrier whose primary business activity is the transportation of property/passengers by motor vehicle for compensation.
  • Exempt-For-Hire. A for-hire motor carrier transporting commodities or conducting operations not subject to economic regulation by the FMCSA.
  • Private (property). A motor carrier whose highway transportation activities are incidental to, and in furtherance of, its primary business activity.
  • Private/Passenger Business. A private motor carrier engaged in the interstate transportation of passengers which is provided in the furtherance of a commercial enterprise and is not available to the public at large.
  • Private/Passenger Non-Business. A private motor carrier involved in the interstate transportation of passengers that does not otherwise meet the definition of a private motor carrier of passengers (business) (e.g., church buses).
  • Migrant. A motor carrier who transports in interstate or foreign commerce at any one time, three or more migrant workers to or from their employment (refers to "contract carrier by motor vehicle").
  • U.S. Mail. A motor carrier which transports U.S. Mail.
  • Federal Govt. Transportation of property or passengers by a U.S. Federal Government agency.
  • State Govt. Transportation of property or passengers by a U.S. State Government agency.
  • Local Govt. Transportation of property or passengers by a local municipality.
  • Indian Tribe. Transportation of property or passengers by an Indian tribal government.
  • Other Classification. A motor carrier which does not fall into one of the classifications above (Description is in "Other" field).


Power Units
Identifies the number of Trucks, Tractors, Hazardous Material Tank Trucks, Motor Coaches, School Buses, Mini-Bus/Vans and Limousines owned, term leased or trip leased by the motor carrier.


Drivers
Total number of drivers employed by the carrier/shipper.


MCS-150 Form Date
Date from the MCS-150 Registration Form.


MCS-150 Form Mileage
Mileage from the MCS-150 Registration Form.


Cargo Carried
Identifies the type of cargo transported by the carrier/shipper.


Inspections
Number of roadside inspections conducted within the past two years. Inspections are listed as total, driver, vehicle, and Hazmat. There are five levels of inspections:

  • Level 1 - a complete inspection
  • Level 2 - a walk-around inspection
  • Level 3 - a driver-only inspection
  • Level 4 - an inspection for a special study
  • Level 5 - a vehicle-only inspection
  • Level 6 - Level 1 inspection plus additional examination of Radioactive Material

The inspection values listed in the table are based on the following totals:

Vehicle Inspection
Levels 1+2+5+6
Driver Inspection
Levels 1+2+3+6
Hazmat Inspection
Levels 1+2+3+4+5+6 (when Hazmat is present)

*Note that total inspections may not be the sum of the totals described above.

The second row of the Inspections table indicates the number of inspections which resulted in an "Out of Service (OOS)" status. The OOS status reflects one or more OOS violations in a single inspection.

The third row is the percentage of the displayed carrier's inspections resulting in an "Out of Service" status.

The fourth row represents the National Average which is the percentage of all inspections conducted in the USA that resulted in an "Out of Service" status for the year 1999.

Crashes
Each crash is only recorded once and at its highest level of severity. For example, if an crash involved one fatality, three injuries, and one tow-away, the crash would only be recorded as a single fatal crash. The crash total is therefore the sum of the fatal, injury, and tow categories.


Inspections/Crashes in Canada
FMCSA and the CCMTA (Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administration) have a reciprocity agreement to provide the mutual exchange on inspection and crash data. The Inspection/Crashes in Canada section provides a count of vehicle and driver inspections (and Out Of Service Inspections) using the same five levels of inspections. The Canadian inspections do not include data on Hazmat inspections. The Canadian Crash data provides indicators of fatal crashes, injury related crashes, and crashes with a significant property damage. In the same as crash records reported in the United states, a Canadian reported crash is listed as one of these three categories. The crash total is therefore the sum of the fatal, injury, and property damage categories.


Carrier Safety Rating
This is a measure of the carrier's compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR). Motor carriers rated before 1986 were assigned safety ratings based on previous procedures used to determine the carriers compliance with the FMCSR such as a Safety Management Audit, or a Re-investigation conducted on the carriers operation. Beginning in October 1986, motor carriers were assigned a safety rating based on a Safety Review or a Compliance Review. A Safety Review is an overview of a motor carrier's knowledge of the FMCSR. This covers all major areas of the Safety Regulations. Much of the rating is based on an interview with management. The main purpose is to educate a carrier about the FMCSR. A Compliance Review is a statistical sampling or audit of required records to determine a motor carrier's compliance with the FMCSR. An in-depth review of the motor carrier's records is made to check different categories of drivers, vehicles and trips. This review may be limited to specific problems and may include a detailed investigation of a problem area. The compliance status determination is based on FMCSR violations discovered during the review.

Any of the following codes may be found in this field:
  • Satisfactory; Records indicate no evidence of substantial non-compliance with safety requirements.
  • Conditional; Records indicate that the carrier was out of compliance with one or more safety requirements.
  • Unsatisfactory; Records indicate evidence of substantial noncompliance with safety requirements.

EFFECTIVE DATE. The date the Safety/Compliance Review was input into MCMIS thus generating a safety rating.


Operating Status
  • OUT-OF-SERVICE: Carrier is under any type of out-of-service order and is not authorized to operate.
  • Inactive USDOT Number: Inactive per 49 CFR 390.19(b)(4); biennial update of MCS-150 data not completed.
  • AUTHORIZED FOR { Passenger, Property, HHG }: This will list the specific operating authorities the carrier (or broker) is allowed to operate.
  • NOT AUTHORIZED: The entity's USDOT number is active. However, the carrier does not have any operating authority and is not authorized to operate as an interstate, for-hire carrier
  • ACTIVE: The entity's US DOT number is active.

Out of Service Date
Indicates the date the company was ordered Out of Service. If there are multiple Out of Service orders, it will be the earliest date.




 

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