The Truckload Carriers Association’s Safety & Security Division has presented its 2012 Safety Professional of the Year Award to Jerry Waddell, safety director for Cargo Transporters Inc. of Claremont, N.C. The award, known as the Clare C. Casey Award, was presented during the division’s 31st annual Safety & Security Meeting, held in Norman, Okla., at the Embassy Suites Norman – Hotel & Conference Center.
The Safety Professional of the Year award recognizes a person whose actions and achievements have had a profound and positive benefit or contribution to better safety on our highways. Nominees must exemplify leadership and demonstrate the goals of protecting lives and property in the motor transportation industry while serving their company, industry and the motoring public.
Waddell is responsible for numerous initiatives that have increased safety and health awareness and reduced costs at Cargo Transporters, including a training system that utilizes classroom, online and simulator components. Waddell implemented a monthly safety analysis report that provides upper management with information pertaining to training, U.S. Department of Transportation recordable accidents, Compliance Safety Accountability scores, SafeSTAT, ISS and insurance.
As an active participant in TCA, Waddell is the second vice chair of the Safety & Security Division. He serves as product development chairman of the American Trucking Associations’ Safety Management Council and as a pre-trip judge for the ATA National Truck Driving Championships. He is a board member with the Catawba Valley Traffic Club and a planning committee member of the North Carolina Statewide Safety Conference.
“Throughout his long career, Jerry has always given freely of his time and talents, making a lot of friends along the way,” said Dennis Dellinger, president of Cargo Transporters.“His unwavering commitment to safety has shaped our company’s culture, and we are thankful and excited to have him representing us in the broader safety arena.”
The annual Clare C. Casey award is named after a safety professional who actively served the Truckload Carriers Association from 1979 until 1989. He was devoted to ensuring that all truckload safety professionals could meet yearly to build the strong safety network this division provides today, and was instrumental in forming the first Safety & Security Division annual meeting in 1982. After his death in 1989, the first annual Safety Professional of the Year, the Clare C. Casey Award, was given in 1990.
