return to Violation Tracker homepage
July 2022
Violation Tracker Users:
We hope you like the new look of the database. Here’s what has changed:
Search Interface. We have created an initial search page that allows quick access to searches by company name, offense category, and/or federal regulatory agency. There is also a dropdown menu listing the more than 3,000 parent companies for which we aggregate penalty data. At the bottom are links to two other pages. The Summaries page provides access to a variety of other compilations and lists. The Advanced Search page allows you combine up to 18 variables for precise searches.
New Data. To cover the cost of maintaining a database with over 500,000 entries and growing, we have created a subscription system that allows exclusive access to certain features of the site.
This includes newly compiled data naming the parent company at the time a penalty was announced (if different from the current parent) and a summary of the ownership changes. For example, the subscriber version of an entry on a penalty paid in 2002 by the trucking company Overnite Transportation now notes that its parent at the time was Union Pacific. A new history recap field states: “In 2003 Union Pacific spun off Overnite. In 2005 the company was acquired by United Parcel Service, which sold it to TFI International [the current parent] in 2021.” In addition to accessing such information in individual entries, subscribers can search by historical parent name and can view a list of the parents with the highest penalty totals based on historical linkages.
Downloads/Saved Searches. On the new site, the ability to download search results is limited to subscribers, who also have exclusive access to a new feature: saved searches. This allows subscribers to quickly re-run searches after a Violation Tracker update to check for new hits. We offer three subscription options based on the number of downloads and saved searches (all provide access to Violation Tracker parent histories). Details can be found here.
Subsidy Tracker/Update Notices. Violation Tracker subscriptions also provide full access to our sister database Subsidy Tracker. Subscribers will receive e-mail notices when Violation Tracker and Subsidy Tracker are updated.
If you have questions about any of these changes, feel free to contact me.
Philip Mattera
Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First