Many tank truck carrier executives talk about a top-down approach to fleet safety. Few have taken it as far as the management team at Usher Transport Inc in Louisville, Kentucky.
Everyone in the Usher Transport organization shares responsibility for ensuring that the carrier operates safely and legally. The consistent message from the top is that nothing is to compromise safety for any reason. There are no exceptions.
That top-down commitment to safety has given Usher Transport a winning program. For the second time in 11 years, Usher Transport took home the Outstanding Performance Trophy, the highest safety award given out by National Tank Truck Carriers. The award is sponsored by Heil Trailer International.
Usher Transport earned the trophy with an accident frequency of 0.132 per million miles during 2012. The carrier won the Grand Award in the “15-18.5 million miles class” in the program and earned a 24-year certificate in the 2012 Safety Improvement Contest.
“Winning that second trophy helps affirm that we are moving in the right direction,” says Bill Usher Jr, Usher Transport president. “It was truly an honor to win this award among an exceptional group of safe and competitive carrier companies that are members of NTTC.
“This award shows that we don’t compromise on safety in any way. Everything is aboveboard. We don’t cheat. We don’t run over hours. We do what is right, and every employee knows that this is the way we do business. Our customers also know that we are going to follow the rules no matter what.”
Customer recognition
Customers do indeed recognize the safety commitment at Usher Transport. That is one reason the tank truck fleet was just named Schneider Logistics Carrier of the Year for bulk lubricants. In 2012, Usher Transport was recognized by Chevron for Outstanding Performance and Best Customer Service.
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Mike Baker, Usher Transport vice-president of safety and human resources, says the trophy definitely reinforces the carrier’s safety message to customers. In addition, it serves as a good tool for reaching out to potential new customers.
“It’s an honor to win this trophy, and very few tank fleets have earned more than one,” Baker says. “Most importantly, it is a reaffirmation of our company’s commitment to our safety program. It’s always our goal to have a winning safety program, but winning the Outstanding Performance Trophy is not the objective. Our primary objective is never to have to visit a driver’s home with the tragic news that he isn’t coming home.”
David Guess, Usher Transport safety director, says that while he appreciated the first Outstanding Performance Trophy won by Usher Transport, the second one means much more because he was much more involved in the whole process. In addition to his role in helping Usher Transport win the Outstanding Performance Trophy, Guess was named NTTC’s 2012 Safety Director of the Year.
Companywide effort
Guess and Baker say winning the Outstanding Performance Trophy was not the achievement of any single individual at Usher Transport.
“This was a total company effort,” Baker says. “The company bought jackets commemorating this achievement for
every employee. We’re taking the trophy to every one of our terminals and to all of our company safety meetings this year. We have made sure the drivers know they play a prominent role in the success of our safety program, and they were the primary winners of the trophy.”
Usher Transport currently has 258 drivers on the road, 60% of them owner-operators. The fleet includes 390 tank trailers, and the cargo mix is roughly 70% chemicals and 30% petroleum. Short- and regional hauls predominate, but the carrier does serve some customers on the West Coast and in Canada.
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Drivers and vehicles are based at 11 terminals spread across the Midwest and Southeast. Usher Transport also has seven locations that are part of its Rail Services Division and specializes in direct truck to locomotive refueling. Finally, the carrier operates a rail transloading facility in Louisville.
While the company has grown significantly and expanded its operations over the years, it remains a family owned and operated tank truck carrier. Founded in the mid 1940s, the company is run by third-generation members of the Usher family, and the fourth generation is already on board.
Long history
Safety has been a key focus for much of the company’s history. “The family has always backed the safety program,” Baker says. “In fact, the safety department reports directly to the company president.”
Top management fully embraced the “Operations Management Training Course” that was developed by the safety department and launched in 2010. “We believe this professional development program will play an important role at Usher Transport in coming years,” Usher says. “We have a lot of young people in our system now, and this program is helping to create an esprit de corps. It is changing the way we hire staff. We’re looking for people who are promotable. We want people who have a desire to achieve and who practice servant leadership.”
Several younger members of the Usher family have been among the 38 who have gone through the two-day leadership training so far. The program is held on two different Saturdays, and it business case studies, core leadership principles, and critical thinking skills.
Going forward, the plan is to have about 20 employees in each class. Those chosen for the class receive a personal invitation signed by Bill Usher and Alan Usher, Usher Transport vice-president. The invitation is sent to the employee’s home.
The leadership training is facilitated by Guess, who also serves as an adjunct business and leadership professor for Indiana Wesleyan University. He explains that the program has several objectives beyond identifying future leaders for the company.
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“We’re trying to bring the different departments closer together to cooperate on core objectives, such as safety and driver retention,” Guess says. “We’re having success.”
Being distinctive
Guess discussed the relationship between management training and driver retention in a paper he wrote for Usher Transport’s most recent leadership symposium. He wrote the following:
“In the not-so-distant future, the driver shortage will reach what one carrier CEO believes to be such a serious extent that it will control the entire nation. Transportation costs will continue to expand beyond what the consumer would consider necessary or justified costs for the products they need. Products may not be available due to the resulting factors surrounding driver shortage issues.”
Guess went on say that smart fleets also need to “focus on the talent development within the management staff with an end goal aiming towards driver retention. After all, many times, it is said that people rarely leave companies. Rather, they just quit “people.” What if those same “people” were better equipped, better trained, and more importantly, were able to recognize discernible value on both their profession and for the company they work?”
“In my opinion, that alone may carry greater value than any such efforts companies put forth in the name of “driver recruiting.” Typically, this falls within the heading of “buying employees.” A person is needed, recruiting efforts are engaged, the hiring and onboarding process is completed, and in the end a new employee emerges. While there are those situations where this is duly warranted, there may also be situations when the employer can “make” their employees with even greater success. Often this is referred to as organic growth. Here, one can begin to see how being “distinctive” in the market is critical to the health and survival of the organization.
Visible benefits
The benefits of the program are clearly visible. Several dispatchers who went through the training have advanced into terminal manager positions. Driver turnover is at a relatively low 28% to 30%.
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Usher Transport has been able to keep its strict selection requirements for drivers. To be considered, a truck driver must have at least two years of over-the-road driving experience and be at least 23 years old. The carrier will accept slightly less driving experience from an applicant who graduated from an accredited truck driving school.
Newly selected drivers spend three days in orientation learning the Usher Transport way of operating. Safety gets plenty of attention. Drivers will spend up to two weeks with a trainer, and the on-the-job training includes daily evaluations.
Driver observation doesn’t stop with the initial training. Safety team members Baker, Guess, and Tim Ellis, Usher Transport safety manager, spend many days through the course of the year observing driver performance on the road. Dispatchers also ride with drivers at least once a quarter, and they fill out observation reports.
During terminal visits, the safety team conducts Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance-style driver and vehicle inspections. The results of those in-house inspections are monitored just as closely as the enforcement-sector inspections that are conducted as part of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program.
Weekly briefings
A weekly safety and loss briefing is sent to every employee in the company and is posted in the break room at every terminal. The details are contained on a spread sheet, showing both the good and bad.
The carrier has integrated the CSA scoring matrix into the weekly briefing system. Usher Transport subscribes to the Vigillo suite of CSA scorecards that enable fleets to access summary data and compare their operations to selected groupings of carriers without divulging customer-specific information.
Guess says that the Vigillo scorecards are giving the Usher Transport organization a great tool for indicating how the carrier stacks up against the rest of the industry. The Vigillo system makes it possible to monitor performance measures across BASICS, points by driver, points by power unit, points per inspection, violation categories, and geographic factors.
For the past 15 months, the safety department has been issuing a weekly training aid produced in-house. The 8.5” x 11” poster includes a relevant photograph.
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“We send out these posters every Thursday, and we focus a lot on pre-trip inspections,” Guess says. “We always find a topic. Just about the time I think we won’t have anything for the weekly poster, something comes along. I don’t think we will ever run out of topics.”
While drivers are a key focus of the safety program, fleet equipment also gets attention. Freightliner Cascadia tractors dominate the company-owned tractor fleet. Tractors have Meritor WABCO roll stability, and safety managers say the Eaton Fuller UltraPlus automated transmissions also contribute to roll stability.
Night and day
Sleeper tractors are spec’d with Detroit DD15 engines rated at 475 horsepower, and daycab units have 455-hp DD13 engines. Dana Spicer tandem-drive axles have a 40,000-pound capacity. Other tractor components include Michelin wide-base drive tires and Alcoa aluminum disc wheels.
For product handling, tractors have hydraulically powered Roper pumps. Hydraulic systems include Drum Hydrapak units from Gardner Denver. Sleeper tractors are being ordered with Thermo King’s TriPac auxiliary power unit.
Usher Transport uses a variety of tank trailers in its operation. The fleet includes Heil and Polar DOT406 petroleum tankers and Polar DOT407 stainless steel chemical units. The carrier also runs a number of Tankcon fiberglass reinforced plastic trailers that are used to transport corrosives.
Hardware includes Civacon overfill protection. The carrier also specifies Hendrickson Intraax axle/air suspension systems with Haldex roll stability, Meritor automatic slack adjusters, Alcoa aluminum wheels, and Michelin tires. ♦
