At Stone Belt Freight there are no shortcuts to safety. Our drivers receive monthly safety instruction on a variety of topics to help prevent accidents and reduce downtime. Each safety workshop is presented twice a month to give drivers more flexibility in planning their schedules. Topics have ranged from steps you can take to sensibly cope with fatigue and road weariness to the newest DOT safety regulations. In 2006, we had only 1 preventable recordable accident - a new low for us! Stone Belt Freight had two drivers chosen as Indiana Motor Truck Association's "Driver of the Month" in 2006. In addition, four drivers achieved IMTA's Master Driver status in 2006 (over 1,000,000 safe driving miles), and have had three drivers awarded Master Driver status by March of 2007.
Proper maintenance of both trailers and trucks is another piece of the safety puzzle. We've installed anti-slip tape on all of our trailers to minimize the most common accident in a trucker's life--taking a fall off a trailer. We also try to have loads tarped ahead of pick-up time to lessen drivers' time climbing on and off trailers. And when the job requires that our drivers attend to a load, we use collapsible, heavy-duty, portable aluminum ladders to facilitate getting on and off trailers safely.
Our experienced management team is very involved in promoting safety. From driving to tarping to securing loads, our managers experience first-hand the challenges that our drivers face. So we take suggestions from our drivers seriously and take steps to put those suggestions into action. |
