Company: Dupre Logistics, LLC Headquarters: Lafayette, La Safety contact: Al LaCombe Business Operation: Truck Transportation

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1 Mirror Check A Look at a Zurich Customer s Safety Program Company: Dupre Logistics, LLC Headquarters: Lafayette, La Safety contact: Al LaCombe Business Operation: Truck Transportation How has your company s fleet safety program progressed in recent years? Over the past five years, Dupre has grown and expanded into different markets and added diversification in the transportation of our customers goods in different geographic areas around the country. What are you most proud of about your safety program? Dupre Logistics has won the American Trucking Association President s Trophy in 2010 and again in This is a huge accomplishment for our company and one that we are very proud of. The employees here at Dupre all made this happen as a team.

2 What challenges do you have getting the safety results you desire? Our industry is starting to see changes. As time passes our older workforce starts to retire and the next generation sees the job in a different light. The job today and going forward will have to be looked at carefully from the employer keeping the next generation in mind. Wants and needs of the younger drivers are changing over the last 10 years. What fleet safety training is provided for new hires and ongoing to veteran employees? At Dupre Logistics, we take training very seriously. Our new hires, as well as existing employees, receive training in various subject areas, including: cargo securement, hazmat, hours of service and fatigue management, Smith System defensive driving, stretching at work, proper lifting techniques, journey management, GreenRoad telematics, and many other subjects. 2

3 We feel that the enhancements of the tools that exist in the industry are critical to driver behavior and good performance. How often do you review your company s SMS scores? For our company the monthly updates are critical and are reviewed by BASIC and sent from senior management level through the supervisor level in the field. However, it is not just the score. You have to take the score and review each roadside inspection and look for areas of opportunity to improve. With that said, each roadside inspection as it occurs is sent to field safety person and reviewed for quality and accuracy to determine whether it was a clean inspection, an inspection with a violation that needs attention, or one that needs to be challenged through DataQ. If you could change something from your fleet program, what would it be? Our company continues to look at technology. We feel that the enhancements of the tools that exist in the industry are critical to driver behavior and good performance. We do not feel it will take a change but more of embracing the technology and working close with employees as they are implemented. Do you feel your drivers have bought into the safety message at your company? At Dupre we get the driver, the Job Expert, involved with our programs. One example is when an accident or incident happens the initial incident investigation is facilitated by the location manager, the driver involved and three peer drivers to drill down and get to the root cause and contributing factors of the accident/ incident. Also, when we look to implement a process, tool or program we go to the field to get input as we put a pilot together or training, and make sure from the field Job Expert perspective that we are seeing it from all angles. Is there a safety incentive program in place? We have an individual performance program through which an employee can earn a quarterly bonus for completing each quarter without an accident, injury or incident in his or her performance and is paid out monetarily at the next quarterly safety meeting. Also, we have competitive team award where drivers at each location compete against each other within the business group to receive the top award for a six-month period. This award is named after the first employee of the company. 3

4 Are telematics on your company s vehicles? If so, what is being monitored and how has it helped reduce risk? We have onboard computers with Omnitracs in each unit. This allows the driver to use the electronic logging device to keep track of his or her hours of service. We also have roll stability on our power units depending on the make of the truck. Some of the units are set up with Bendix and others with Meritor units. These units measure events as they occur during operations. We also have critical event recorders capturing hard braking events on the units which safety and operations are notified in the event of a critical event being captured. Another tool in our tool box is GreenRoad technology. This behavior-based equipment captures five key events on the unit. It measures speeding, braking, acceleration, cornering and lane handling. All events are recorded and the system notifies the driver via a green, red or yellow light that sends immediate notification to the Safety and Operations departments. One other item used on a daily basis is Predictive Analytics. This tool helps us evaluate through a 28-day model drivers that are highest in risk through many data points of electronically captured data processed through the model to create a listing. Countermeasures are provided to local management to work with these drivers in recommended areas. What are your interests outside of work? I enjoy spending time at home working in the yard and playing with the grandkids when they come over. I also like to go camping as we have a pull-type RV. What local or national activities or events is your company involved in? We participate at the state level with Louisiana Motor Transport Association, Texas Motor Transport Association and at the National level National Tank Truck Carriers, Trucking Industry Defense Association, National Safety Council and the American Trucking Association Any advice for other Safety and Fleet Managers from your experience? A company should be one team. The most valuable asset on the team should be the employees. Involve them with every program in place and expect them to participate with the programs in the system and share the successes as they occur. 3

5 What is Stopping My Truck? Brian McCon, Risk Engineering Consultant, Zurich Services Corporation With Brake Safety Week over, now is a good time to look over the inspection results for your fleet and determine if there is any room for improvement in your brake inspection and maintenance programs. Brakes on a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) are designed to hold up under tough, sometimes dirty conditions but must be properly inspected and maintained in order to ensure that the vehicle can stop when needed. During the 2014 Roadcheck, brake system violations made up 46.2% of all out-ofservice (OOS) violations, the largest percentage of all violations (Roadcheck, 2014). Not only is this a scary statistic, but it has been the trend since With brakes being one of the most important safety components on a vehicle why have brake violations continued to be one of the leading causes of OOS violations? This question is more difficult to answer than one might think. With the growing shortage of qualified drivers, and an equal and worsening shortage of qualified technicians, we need to look at our brake maintenance and inspection programs and ensure that our drivers and technicians are receiving adequate training to identify potential problems in brake systems and how to repair those problems when found. What can you do? How can we curb this issue and move the data in a positive direction? First, look at the maintenance and inspection programs you currently have in place. What are the inspection intervals? Do they at a minimum meet OEM recommended intervals? What about staffing? If maintenance is done in-house, are there enough technicians to meet the demands of the fleet? Are drivers receiving adequate training, both classroom and hands-on, covering pre-trip and posttrip inspection procedures and completion of a DVIR? Is there a process in place where brake issues noted by the drivers on the DVIR s are followed up prior to the truck leaving the yard? 4

6 Best Practices To help your company minimize its exposure to brake OOS violations, and possibly a brake-related crash, here are some tips to follow: Conduct spot checks of trucks as they are leaving the yard to verify that a thorough pre-trip inspection has been done and that all safetyrelated defects have been corrected. If staffing allows, you may want to implement the best practice of setting up a road ready lane that all trucks go through prior to leaving the yard for a quick safety inspection by a qualified technician. This will keep the importance of conducting thorough pre-trip inspection in front of the drivers. Conduct training sessions or provide training materials to the drivers on proper pre-trip inspection procedures. With newer equipment there are new parts and accessories to become familiar with. For example, it is a little more difficult to determine if there is sufficient brake lining left on air disc brakes versus drum brakes. Provide update training to the technicians. Sometimes the technicians are the last people we think of when it comes to training. Trucks are becoming more and more complex. Technicians need to be kept up to date with the increasing pace of technological advances in the trucks and how to maintain and repair the systems. Years ago disc brakes were uncommon to see on commercial motor vehicles, but today are becoming far more common. Hold technicians and drivers accountable. If a brake violation is found during a roadside inspection, look back through the maintenance records. Was there a brake issue written up on a DVIR that went unrepaired? Who was the last technician to service the vehicle? What were the measurements of the pads (shoes), push rod stroke, any leaking wheel seals, drum condition, and brake chamber condition? By holding the drivers and technicians accountable for defects found during a roadside inspection that should have been caught during a pre-trip or routine maintenance, you will be sending a clear message that brake defects will not be tolerated. Finally, ensure that your maintenance records are maintained at least in accordance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR s) requirements as outlined in part 396 (FMCSR, 2015). Good maintenance records will aid in tracking repairs and will give the technicians the ability to see when brake system components have failed in the past. In addition, good records can help determine when components may be near the end of their useful lives and encourage replacement or repair prior to the brake components failing. 5

7 If you haven t done so recently now is a great time to look into your company s violations on the CSA website ( default.aspx) and to consider the types of violations you have. What do the violations for the braking system tell you about your maintenance and inspection program? If your dashboard looks like this, there may be some issues. Drill down into the details by clicking on the Vehicle Maintenance icon and find out where your organization s issues, trends and areas for improvement lie. Conclusion As you are well aware a good maintenance and inspection program is the key to decreasing OOS violations during roadside inspections, improving uptime of your trucks and improving safety performance of your fleet. Not to mention a savings in costs as accident rates may be lowered by ensuring that the brakes on the vehicles in your fleet are in good working condition and will stop the vehicles when needed. Your Zurich Risk Engineer, parts vendors and DOT contacts may be good resources to help if you have any questions. References 1. Roadcheck 2014, Facts at a Glance, Retrieved September 3, 2015, documents/op_airbrake/2014/ Roadcheck-2014-Results-Summary- FINAL.pdf 2. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, Part 396, Inspection, Repair and Maintenance, 2015, part/396

8 The Zurich Services Corporation Risk Engineering 1400 American Lane, Schaumburg, IL The information in this publication was compiled by The Zurich Services Corporation from sources believed to be reliable for informational purposes only. All sample policies and procedures herein should serve as a guideline, which you can use to create your own policies and procedures. We trust that you will customize these samples to reflect your own operations and believe that these samples may serve as a helpful platform for this endeavor. Any and all information contained herein is not intended to constitute advice (particularly not legal advice). Accordingly, persons requiring advice should consult independent advisors when developing programs and policies. We do not guarantee the accuracy of this information or any results and further assume no liability in connection with this publication and sample policies and procedures, including any information, methods or safety suggestions contained herein. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any of this information, whether to reflect new information, future developments, events or circumstances or otherwise. Moreover, Zurich reminds you that this cannot be assumed to contain every acceptable safety and compliance procedure or that additional procedures might not be appropriate under the circumstances. The subject matter of this publication is not tied to any specific insurance product nor will adopting these policies and procedures ensure coverage under any insurance policy The Zurich Services Corporation A A (09/15)