So why does everyone hate the safety director?

Sounds like one CLASS individual!

 

We have a corperate safety director, but with over 20 locations, he doesn't get to be everywhere at once. We do a weekly thing at every location, where the manager (or appointed employee) conducts a "safety audit" by wathing someone do their job or other duty. After observing, he'll just write up a quick paragraph about the things that person did wrong & the things that person did RIGHT. There must be something positive about it, guess it keeps your morale up lol. Then about every quarter the safety guy is at our location, doing a general inspection and going over the bigger safety audits with those involved. Not a bad system, I like it.

 

Some companies, mine in particular, don't require safety directors to have any experience driving a truck at all. So when we can tell the guy has absolutely no idea what he's talking about and is simply repeating what he's read in literature provided by "college boys" at safety-training companies called "Safe Fleet" or whatever, who have also never driven a truck, we tend to get a little irritated.

 

Many decades ago, a trucker could drive across the country and not kill anyone.

Later, some trucker drove head on into a 1952 Chevy killing the Christian family of four. Father, mother, son and daughter all killed.

The feds see the need to regulate truckers, specificaly their hours on duty, while at the same time excluding them from minimum wage.

This over regulation is really working out well for the people in the federal beauracracy, since it empowers themselves and their wish to exisist, due to the fact that suburbanite housewives who couldnt drive a 5 speed manual transmision toyota believe that anyone driving a rig with an 18 speed transmision is akin to a terrorist flying a 757 into the trade towers.

Feds respond with more regulations. It all about safety!! The drug users in government, both former and current, mandate that truckers who have never once did any drug in their life, take a urinallisis piss test.

The state agent comes into the motor carriers place of business for an audit. He sees a log that this one driver didnt log/flag/whatever some such action or only showed 15 minutes at a drop. Fines are given for this.

In concern and worry of these violations and wanting to stay in good gracis with the feds, the company hires someone to review the logs of drivers who have a million miles of safe driving.

BUT WAIT, that safe driver with a million miles under his belt, logged 15 minutes off of what the state/fed auditor feels is neccesary.

The safety person at the carrier, the very one who deals directly with the auditors, sees the "hits" and the fines that the auditor is handing down even though not one human death has occured.

The gal in the safety deptartment is totaly fretting loosing her job, all because the auditers are handing out fines to her company

The brass at the company pays these unwaranted fines,and in return tells the safety gal to now issue a violation/logging reports to that driver with a million miles of safe driving.

Meltom, you are experincing a situation where the country killing MFs in government have devised a system to keep themselves in power, while telling us we are the bad guy.

 

You mean I am not the bad guy?

 

I think personally that companies (not all but some) are equal perpertrators in this by promoting unsafe practices. Earlier in the thread it was mentioned about dispatchers who tell drivers to "just get it there no matter what mentality", or like the self insured companies that don't report accidents on drivers DAC reports to keep insurance rates low. Drivers feel pressured to cheat on logs due to dispatchers, poor load rates, poorer detention rules and a overly regulated industry. This leads to this mess we're in now. Don't get me wrong some drivers are unwilling to be legal in alot of respects and do warrant the scrutiny. Hopefully we get some people to fight against these lobbyists and bring forth a well regulated industry....oops dreamin again-lol!

 

Winchester, you nailed it

 

Mon, June 20, 2011 5:48:21 PM
OOIDA National Call to Action Alert


From:OOIDA <Angel_Burnell@ooida.com>

[COLOR= ]Senator Snowe[/COLOR] is asking her colleagues in the Senate and House to join her in calling for a slowdown in the regulations impacting small business truckers. She needs your help and is asking you to call your representatives in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House TODAY!
Tell them to oppose the onslaught of burdensome and unnecessary regulations that are increasing your cost of doing business and sign on to the Snowe Trucking Regulatory Impact Letter!
The letter to DOT Secretary LaHood and others within the federal government points out the significant burden on small business truckers from proposed rules that: 1) will limit driver flexibility by revising hours of service regulations; 2) will make it harder for drivers - especially in rural areas - to find a doctor for DOT-required medical exams; 3) reflect the fact that EPA did not adequately consider the impacts on small business from proposed greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency rules. Additionally, the letter calls on the federal government to address due process concerns with CSA and the unnecessary duplication for TWIC, HAZ-MAT and other security credentials.
This is a common sense letter that tells the federal government that "enough is enough" and that their regulations that are overly burdensome on small business truckers need to be reconsidered. Every [COLOR= ]member of Congress[/COLOR] - both Senators and Representatives - should sign on to Snowe Trucking Regulatory Impact Letter!
To contact your Representative, call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, tell the operator that you want to speak with your Congressman and provide the operator with your home zip code.
You are also welcome to call OOIDA at [COLOR= ](800) 444-5791[/COLOR]. Association staff will be happy to help you get in touch with your elected officials.


If you don't like more regulations, you may want to give your senator and congressional representatives a call and ask them to support this bill. One reason we have so many regulations is because one or more individuals or groups have spoken to their representatives. You don't have to be an owner operator or fleet owner to lend your support to this bill. These useless regulations affect all of us. It isn't very often that we get an opportunity to impact new legislation. While I don't think this bill is an answer for everything we are facing when it comes to slowing or reducing the amount of regulations we face, it can help.