Tom Lansing (right), vice president of safety and driver services, and Don Lewis, safety manager, implement the initiatives Hogan Transports’ management safety committee adopts.
On the last Thursday of each month, senior management of St. Louis-based Hogan Transports convenes to talk safety. The gathering is neither pep rally nor lip service. Rather, it’s an honest performance review that involves Hogan’s president, the heads of the safety and finance departments, insurance consultants and the top operations executives for Hogan’s dedicated and over-the-road ventures.
“The key to the whole safety program is the management safety committee,” says Tom Lansing, Hogan’s vice president of safety and driver services. Everyone provides input and fresh perspectives; a consensus reinforces the company’s commitment to safety throughout the operation, he says. That commitment helped Hogan take Grand Prize in the Truckload Carriers Association’s National Fleet Safety Awards for 2002.
The committee meetings typically cover what’s happened in the previous month – significant accidents, cargo claims, stolen equipment or cargo, workers’ comp experience, roadside inspections and reports of internal and third-party safety observations. The sessions are data intensive; charts and graphs abound. Managers look both for long-term trends and sudden, unexpected problems.
The committee develops new programs and drives changes in policy and approach. Several years ago, for example, managers wanted to enhance Hogan’s efforts to identify and correct bad habits before an accident happened, so the committee adopted the Hogan Observation Safety Team. Under the HOST program, a select group of drivers observes peers’ safety behavior – such as speed, following distance, signaling or maintaining three points of contact when entering or exiting a truck – and coaches them on proper technique. Hogan uses the information HOST drivers collect to track critical safety behaviors but not for discipline or enforcement purposes.
Another initiative that demonstrates Hogan’s commitment to safety is the company’s winter weather shutdown policy. Each day from October through April, Don Lewis, Hogan’s safety manager, reviews weather throughout Hogan’s operation. If he decides the weather in a given area makes it unsafe to drive, he sends a fleetwide message, ordering a shutdown of operations in that area.
Many shutdowns have been localized, although once Lewis ordered one from St. Louis to Albany, N.Y. After Hogan declares a shutdown, the company notifies customers with affected loads of possible pickup or delivery delays. The safety of the driver, truck and load take precedence over schedule.
