Safety Meeting

How about during the meeting, toss out random questions to random employees. Get them to share their knowledge or experiences with the others. To me, a good safety meeting has everyone contributing a little bit, not just the person on the mic in front of everyone.

 

You would be shocked the number of truck drivers texting while driving... not a day goes by that I don't see at least one going down the highway. Sad but true.

 

As an officer I have presented at a lot of company safety meetings. Get to know your local DOT officer and find one who is willing to work WITH a company. When I go we generally pull in a clean vehicle and I walk drivers through an inspection. That way they know what are the main things we are looking for and they can spot them before hitting the road. It also gives clean inspections to companies and drivers. One company I work with has me inspect all of their trucks every 3-6 months and have saved 1,500.00 in insurance premiums because of it. A win/win.

 

Just be aware that state police may not always be your best choice. I know around me the state does not allow troopers or port personnel to do inspections upon request. They want to pull you in and if you qualify then you get a CVSA decal. We are local cops and are more than happy to help a company succeed. Find the right officer for the presentation.

 

Most of these 'safety meetings' are just huge time wasters. Especially, when lead by someone who is out of their element. Sorry, but it is true.

Often times I walk away from these meetings with even less respect for office staff/safety after attending these things. For example, we can waste 4 hours of ever bodies day, get drivers to interrupt their sleep schedule, but we cannot spend 5 minutes restocking the shop with enough replacement lights to keep away from the road inspections. Just an example.

Usually the issues introduced by some truck driver are not really 'safety issues' but really some BS convenience issue. Like, some guy will complain the seat in his truck is not to his liking when he gets in it, or someone drops the trailers so close together the fat ### complaining has to stand sideways to crank the landing gear, ect.......

The few times I have been to one where it is not a complete disrespectful snooze fest, is when someone from the insurance company, state patrol/CMV , or truck manufacture/leasor has shown up.

 

Toomany actually touches on a good point. Call OOIDA and see what kind of safety programs they offer. May be nothing, may have something that is not a complete waste of everyone's time.

 

This video is from today, yes it is still happening. Maybe hint that driver facing cameras would be the next logical step to combat cell phone driving.