“As I See It” from the Trucking Activist – Truck Driver Safety Performance

By Jack Porter, TPP Managing Director

As I interact with the TCA Profitability Program (TPP) members, one thing becomes obvious, the attention toward safety in the workforce has attained unimaginable results. We know inside the TPP community, and the TCA community at large, the attention to safety is a core component of their cultures. The protocols and communication that carriers use to constantly evaluate, train, and monitor is a well-known fact inside the industry. The networking of carrier safety directors, the safety meetings and vendor programs all add to their ability to share best practices, and avail themselves to new techniques to keep their staff and drivers safe, while at the same time keeping the motoring public safe.

The evidence is how the carriers have performed during this crisis. The supply chain has had no interruptions from driver availability. The amount of confirmed cases, and known deaths in this community remain low. The CDC safety measures adopted by this group were instant and constantly applied. The safety costs of these protocols have not been scrimped on or scrutinized. The “right thing to do” is the leading strategy when it comes to carrier and driver safety. Amid a 100-year pandemic, plant closures, and now protests in the streets, the supply chain and the drivers that perform their duties has been flawless.

The next challenge will be keeping those drivers healthy as the country opens. In my mind the only time the driver will feel completely safe is when we actually have a vaccine, and until that time we need dock workers and truck stop folks be careful and follow the CDC guidelines for interactions with drivers. #ThankaTrucker will have further meaning as we start opening the country, their work as essential will remain, while the country starts developing their new normal, in the face of the current pandemic.

Lastly, this industry has always had safety as its core value. There are parts of this industry that have some bad players, but none of them reside in the TPP group that I monitor. And the results over the current crisis is evidence of their efforts. So I appeal to future jurors that are called upon to witness the reptilian tactics that lawyers will continue to use in trucking nuclear lawsuits, get all the facts, and respect the industry that kept food on your table, household goods available, and medicine to the populace during this 100-year crisis.