Hauliers must prepare for a new Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS ) on 30 April, as VOSA prepares to roll out a revamped version of the system it has been using since 2006.
Prompted by feedback from hauliers and the Freight Transport Association (FTA ), VOSA has been urged to overhaul the programme’s predictive scoring points system and the “misplaced assumption by the wider business community that OCRS is a good way to judge an operator at tender”. VOSA says the changes will result in a more robust,flexible and accurate system.
Keeping score
An operator’s index score is currently calculated using a historic score, taking into account any defects or enforcement activity recorded in the past two years, or by a predictive score, used when no historical data is available and based on data from similar-sized firms. The latter will now be replaced with a grey band to indicate that VOSA has no data with which to rate that operator with.
Scores will also be calculated more frequently: instead of calculations taking place once a month using two years’ worth of data, they will be worked out weekly and take into account data going back three years, starting from May 2009.
Straight to the point
To simplify scoring, a set number of points will be issued based on the seriousness of an incident, rather than on individual incident type as before. For example, an immediate prohibition for brakes or tyres will receive more points than one for defective bodywork. Defects found at annual test will be worth the same as those found at the roadside, while S-marked prohibitions will incur double points.
Graduated fixed penalties will also be included in OCRS , as will Hazchem offences. VOSA will also introduce a ‘weighting’ factor for points depending on when an event took place. For example, a recently recorded incident would attract more points than one recorded/incurred two years ago.
Seeing red
One significant addition to OCRS is the immediate propelling of an operator to red for a prosecution or a most serious infringement (MSI). A prosecution leads to a 12-month red status, while an MSI will carry a six-month red status, after which the operator reverts to their original band if no further points are incurred.
Finally, operators taken to court by VOSA will not be issued with OCRS points until a guilty verdict has been handed out, rather than points being issued at the same time as paperwork is raised.
Band aid
VOSA is moving from 11 OCRS bands to a simpler four-tier system where operators are rated as red, amber, green or grey, depending on their index scores (see diagram), which it now terms baseline scores.
This means an operator will move between bands only when their scores increase or decrease through new encounters with VOSA, such as vehicle inspections, or because historical incidents have become less point-worthy.
VOSA inspection priorities will be based on the new bands: red-rated hauliers targeted first, then grey, amber, green for traffic enforcement activities, whereas the order will run red, amber, grey, green for roadworthiness.
