Posted by: Sean Kilcarr
FleetOwner Trucks at Work BLOG; Wednesday, May 12, 2010
“We hope this is a watershed moment because we’re so often fighting the trucking industry. We’ve never done what we’re doing tonight.” –Jeff Burns, a Kansas City, MO attorney and member of Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.), Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), as well as the Truck Safety Coalition
It’s one of those events you never, ever expect to witness unless a certain fiery place freezes over. Yet apparently there’s now a sheet of ice now covering the land of fire and brimstone.
Yesterday at the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference – hosted by the American Sleep Apnea Association and co-sponsored by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) – the Truck Safety Coalition presented its first-ever Distinguished Safety Leadership award to none other than Don Osterberg, vice president of safety, security & driver training for Green Bay, WI-based truckload carrier Schneider National.
Lest you think this is some sort of publicity stunt, ponder this for a moment: Osterberg received the award from Dawn King, whose father, William Badger, was killed two days before Christmas in 2004, when a Schneider driver fell asleep at the wheel of his big rig and collided with Badger’s car as he was driving to the airport to visit her.
In accepting the award, Osterberg related that he’d just joined Schneider that year and upon learning of this deadly crash – one of nine fatal truck-car wrecks involving Schneider tractor-trailers in 2004 – he flew down to Georgia to meet with Badger’s family, including Dawn King.
“It’s my belief we have to reach out to those suffering this kind of emotional trauma; losing a loved one in a vehicle crash,” he said. “It also helps put a face to the statistics we so often hear about.”
Osterberg (at left, with Anne Ferro, head of the FMCSA) noted that Badger’s family treated him with “more professional respect than I ever expected” given the situation. The one request they had of him, Osterberg added, is that Schneider learn something from Badger’s death so that he did not die in vain.
“I promised then I would do everything in my power to make changes so such a thing would not happen again,” Osterberg said.
Over the last six years, noted Jeff Burns – a Kansas City, MO attorney and member of Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.), Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), as well as the Truck Safety Coalition – Osterberg has been good to his word.
Burns – who became involved in truck safety issues after representing a family friend who lost his wife and two daughters in a crash caused by a fatigued truck driver back in the early 1990s – noted that Schneider has pursued a wide variety of safety initiatives during Osterberg’s tenure, installing speed governors on the carrier’s engines, adopting Electric Onboard Recorders (EOBR), and screening all Schneider drivers for sleep apnea.
“The proof of all of this is in the pudding,” Burns said, noting that Schneider’s own data indicates it’s reduced preventable crashes by 30%, reduced fatigue as a factor in crashes by 27%, and lowered its fatal crash rate by 59%. He also pointed out that Schneider had zero fatal accidents in 2009, compared to nine in 2004.
“To top it off, these safety initiatives saved the company money as well – providing hard, solid proof that safety doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice productivity,” Burns pointed out. “[Schneider] has lowered its workman’s comp costs, its insurance premiums, even its fuel costs as a result of these efforts.”
Yet Burns admitted that making a long-term commitment to safety like this is very hard in one respect; a fleet really never knows how many crashes it really prevents. “You never can really identify those whose lives were saved because efforts like these prevented a crash,” he explained.
Osterberg for his part strongly believes work on improving trucking safety is never really going to end. “We have to manage the risks as best we can,” he said. “We’re an imperfect company, but I believe we’re taking the right approach. The safety issues in this industry, while profound, can be solved. We just have to roll up our sleeves and set ourselves to work on them.”
Monday, May 17, 2010
Ferro: Many ways to cut fatigue in crashes
Byline: Misty Bell
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Anne Ferro said a widespread approach is needed to reduce fatigue-related crashes in the trucking industry, as she addressed the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference last night, May 11, in Baltimore.
“There is no silver bullet … but what we need to strive for is silver buckshot,” Ferro said. She said this could be accomplished through research, programs, events, education, and targeted outreach and intervention.
According to FMCSA research, around 30 percent of drivers suffer from mild to severe sleep apnea. Ferro said the challenge for FMCSA along with industry leaders is “to provide affordable and implementable solutions for the industry at large,” including small fleet owners and owner-operators who “can't always leverage the economies of scale that large carriers can.”
National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Christopher A. Hart said that while fatigue and sleep apnea are major problems facing the trucking industry, higher awareness and better ways to diagnose and treat the disorders will ensure that “most everyone treated will return to service.” He said the NTSB made recommendations to FMCSA and other transportation regulatory bodies to implement a program to identify people who are at high risk of obstructive sleep apnea and develop guidance for drivers, employers and physicians.
Hart also said he believes FMCSA will incorporate new sleep disorder suggestions into a soon-to-be-released online medical examiner handbook, complete a revised examination report form by September to include the assessment of sleep disorders and publish a best practices guide for examiners.
The evening concluded with the awarding of the Truck Safety Coalition's first safety award to Don Osterberg, Schneider National senior vice president of safety, security and driver training. According to award presenter Jeffrey Burns of the Truck Safety Coalition, in 2009, Schneider reported no preventable accidents related to fatigue.
Osterberg Safety Award Breaks New Ground
TruckingInfo.com; Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Byline: Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor
Over the years there have been some hard words and even harder feelings between the trucking industry and safety advocacy groups, but last night something new happened.
Last night the Truck Safety Coalition, a partnership between Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers, presented a Distinguished Safety Leadership award to a trucking executive.
The award went to Don Osterberg, senior vice president of safety at Schneider National.
It was presented by Dawn King, the daughter of a man killed two days before Christmas in 2004 by a Schneider National driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel.
"Dad would have approved," King said, noting that Osterberg's characteristic of looking for ways to solve problems reminded her of her father.
Osterberg's achievements in safety are well known to the trucking industry. His pioneering efforts in fatigue control, driver wellness and the use of safety technology, as well as plain old safety management, have yielded impressive statistics. Since he's been at Schneider, fatigue related crashes have dropped by 27 percent and the fatal crash rate has dropped by 59 percent, said Jeffrey Burns, an attorney on the board of CRASH and PATT.
"To top it off, he's done this while he's saved the company money," Burns said. "Through his leadership there is now absolute, hard solid proof that safety need not be sacrificed to promote productivity."
Burns added that the award is extremely important to the Truck Safety Coalition. "We've never done what we're doing tonight," he said. "I hope it's a watershed (in relations between the advocacy groups and trucking)."
Osterberg said he would not want to overstate what the award might mean to industry-advocacy group relations, but he is optimistic. "I believe there is a quiet majority in trucking who recognize that this could represent the dawning of a new era of collaboration and civility between organizations that have often been at odds with one another," he said.
"I'm not naive enough to believe that we would agree on everything but if you think about it there's a higher calling here to be served. If we can work together on the topics we agree on I believe we can be very powerful and accelerate the improvement."
Anne Ferro, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was on hand for the event and expressed a similar sentiment.
"There's a strong commitment to safety in the trucking industry," she said. "And there's a strong commitment to safety among the safety coalitions. It's a matter of listening for that common ground. But I also think it takes real leaders, (like) Don Osterberg."
The presentation was made at the opening ceremonies of the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference, which is being held near Baltimore, Md., through today.
Jeff Burns Presents at Sleep Apena and Trucking Conference Part II
By Sean Kilcarr, (http://blog.fleetowner.com/trucks_at_work/2010/05/12/a-watershed-truck-safety-moment/)
It’s one of those events you never, ever expect to witness unless a certain fiery place freezes over. Yet apparently there’s now a sheet of ice now covering the land of fire and brimstone.
Yesterday at the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference – hosted by the American Sleep Apnea Association and co-sponsored by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) – the Truck Safety Coalition presented its first-ever Distinguished Safety Leadership award to none other than Don Osterberg, vice president of safety, security & driver training for Green Bay, WI-based truckload carrier Schneider National.
Lest you think this is some sort of publicity stunt, ponder this for a moment: Osterberg received the award from Dawn King, whose father, William Badger, was killed two days before Christmas in 2004, when a Schneider driver fell asleep at the wheel of his big rig and collided with Badger’s car as he was driving to the airport to visit her.
In accepting the award, Osterberg related that he’d just joined Schneider that year and upon learning of this deadly crash – one of nine fatal truck-car wrecks involving Schneider tractor-trailers in 2004 – he flew down to Georgia to meet with Badger’s family, including Dawn King.
“It’s my belief we have to reach out to those suffering this kind of emotional trauma; losing a loved one in a vehicle crash,” he said. “It also helps put a face to the statistics we so often hear about.”
Osterberg (at left, with Anne Ferro, head of the FMCSA) noted that Badger’s family treated him with “more professional respect than I ever expected” given the situation. The one request they had of him, Osterberg added, is that Schneider learn something from Badger’s death so that he did not die in vain.
“I promised then I would do everything in my power to make changes so such a thing would not happen again,” Osterberg said.
Over the last six years, noted Jeff Burns – a Kansas City, MO attorney and member of Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.), Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), as well as the Truck Safety Coalition – Osterberg has been good to his word.
Burns – who became involved in truck safety issues after representing a family friend who lost his wife and two daughters in a crash caused by a fatigued truck driver back in the early 1990s – noted that Schneider has pursued a wide variety of safety initiatives during Osterberg’s tenure, installing speed governors on the carrier’s engines, adopting Electric Onboard Recorders (EOBR), and screening all Schneider drivers for sleep apnea.
“The proof of all of this is in the pudding,” Burns said, noting that Schneider’s own data indicates it’s reduced preventable crashes by 30%, reduced fatigue as a factor in crashes by 27%, and lowered its fatal crash rate by 59%. He also pointed out that Schneider had zero fatal accidents in 2009, compared to nine in 2004.
“To top it off, these safety initiatives saved the company money as well – providing hard, solid proof that safety doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice productivity,” Burns (at right) pointed out. “[Schneider] has lowered its workman’s comp costs, its insurance premiums, even its fuel costs as a result of these efforts.”
Yet Burns admitted that making a long-term commitment to safety like this is very hard in one respect; a fleet really never knows how many crashes it really prevents. “You never can really identify those whose lives were saved because efforts like these prevented a crash,” he explained.
Osterberg for his part strongly believes work on improving trucking safety is never really going to end. “We have to manage the risks as best we can,” he said. “We’re an imperfect company, but I believe we’re taking the right approach. The safety issues in this industry, while profound, can be solved. We just have to roll up our sleeves and set ourselves to work on them.”
It’s one of those events you never, ever expect to witness unless a certain fiery place freezes over. Yet apparently there’s now a sheet of ice now covering the land of fire and brimstone.
Yesterday at the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference – hosted by the American Sleep Apnea Association and co-sponsored by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) – the Truck Safety Coalition presented its first-ever Distinguished Safety Leadership award to none other than Don Osterberg, vice president of safety, security & driver training for Green Bay, WI-based truckload carrier Schneider National.
Lest you think this is some sort of publicity stunt, ponder this for a moment: Osterberg received the award from Dawn King, whose father, William Badger, was killed two days before Christmas in 2004, when a Schneider driver fell asleep at the wheel of his big rig and collided with Badger’s car as he was driving to the airport to visit her.
In accepting the award, Osterberg related that he’d just joined Schneider that year and upon learning of this deadly crash – one of nine fatal truck-car wrecks involving Schneider tractor-trailers in 2004 – he flew down to Georgia to meet with Badger’s family, including Dawn King.
“It’s my belief we have to reach out to those suffering this kind of emotional trauma; losing a loved one in a vehicle crash,” he said. “It also helps put a face to the statistics we so often hear about.”
Osterberg (at left, with Anne Ferro, head of the FMCSA) noted that Badger’s family treated him with “more professional respect than I ever expected” given the situation. The one request they had of him, Osterberg added, is that Schneider learn something from Badger’s death so that he did not die in vain.
“I promised then I would do everything in my power to make changes so such a thing would not happen again,” Osterberg said.
Over the last six years, noted Jeff Burns – a Kansas City, MO attorney and member of Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.), Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), as well as the Truck Safety Coalition – Osterberg has been good to his word.
Burns – who became involved in truck safety issues after representing a family friend who lost his wife and two daughters in a crash caused by a fatigued truck driver back in the early 1990s – noted that Schneider has pursued a wide variety of safety initiatives during Osterberg’s tenure, installing speed governors on the carrier’s engines, adopting Electric Onboard Recorders (EOBR), and screening all Schneider drivers for sleep apnea.
“The proof of all of this is in the pudding,” Burns said, noting that Schneider’s own data indicates it’s reduced preventable crashes by 30%, reduced fatigue as a factor in crashes by 27%, and lowered its fatal crash rate by 59%. He also pointed out that Schneider had zero fatal accidents in 2009, compared to nine in 2004.
“To top it off, these safety initiatives saved the company money as well – providing hard, solid proof that safety doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice productivity,” Burns (at right) pointed out. “[Schneider] has lowered its workman’s comp costs, its insurance premiums, even its fuel costs as a result of these efforts.”
Yet Burns admitted that making a long-term commitment to safety like this is very hard in one respect; a fleet really never knows how many crashes it really prevents. “You never can really identify those whose lives were saved because efforts like these prevented a crash,” he explained.
Osterberg for his part strongly believes work on improving trucking safety is never really going to end. “We have to manage the risks as best we can,” he said. “We’re an imperfect company, but I believe we’re taking the right approach. The safety issues in this industry, while profound, can be solved. We just have to roll up our sleeves and set ourselves to work on them.”
Jeff Burns presents at Sleep Apena and Trucking Conference
Osterberg Safety Award Breaks New Ground
By Oliver B. Patton
Over the years there have been some hard words and even harder feelings between the trucking industry and safety advocacy groups, but last night something new happened.
Last night the Truck Safety Coalition, a partnership between Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers, presented a Distinguished Safety Leadership award to a trucking executive.
The award went to Don Osterberg, senior vice president of safety at Schneider National.
It was presented by Dawn King, the daughter of a man killed two days before Christmas in 2004 by a Schneider National driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel. "Dad would have approved," King said, noting that Osterberg's characteristic of looking for ways to solve problems reminded her of her father.
Osterberg's achievements in safety are well known to the trucking industry. His pioneering efforts in fatigue control, driver wellness and the use of safety technology, as well as plain old safety management, have yielded impressive statistics. Since he's been at Schneider, fatigue related crashes have dropped by 27 percent and the fatal crash rate has dropped by 59 percent, said Jeffrey Burns, an attorney on the board of CRASH and PATT.
"To top it off, he's done this while he's saved the company money," Burns said. "Through his leadership there is now absolute, hard solid proof that safety need not be sacrificed to promote productivity."
Burns added that the award is extremely important to the Truck Safety Coalition. "We've never done what we're doing tonight," he said. "I hope it's a watershed (in relations between the advocacy groups and trucking)."
Osterberg said he would not want to overstate what the award might mean to industry-advocacy group relations, but he is optimistic. "I believe there is a quiet majority in trucking who recognize that this could represent the dawning of a new era of collaboration and civility between organizations that have often been at odds with one another," he said.
"I'm not naive enough to believe that we would agree on everything but if you think about it there's a higher calling here to be served. If we can work together on the topics we agree on I believe we can be very powerful and accelerate the improvement."Anne Ferro, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was on hand for the event and expressed a similar sentiment.
"There's a strong commitment to safety in the trucking industry," she said. "And there's a strong commitment to safety among the safety coalitions. It's a matter of listening for that common ground. But I also think it takes real leaders, (like) Don Osterberg."The presentation was made at the opening ceremonies of the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference, which is being held near Baltimore, Md., through today.
By Oliver B. Patton
Over the years there have been some hard words and even harder feelings between the trucking industry and safety advocacy groups, but last night something new happened.
Last night the Truck Safety Coalition, a partnership between Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers, presented a Distinguished Safety Leadership award to a trucking executive.
The award went to Don Osterberg, senior vice president of safety at Schneider National.
It was presented by Dawn King, the daughter of a man killed two days before Christmas in 2004 by a Schneider National driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel. "Dad would have approved," King said, noting that Osterberg's characteristic of looking for ways to solve problems reminded her of her father.
Osterberg's achievements in safety are well known to the trucking industry. His pioneering efforts in fatigue control, driver wellness and the use of safety technology, as well as plain old safety management, have yielded impressive statistics. Since he's been at Schneider, fatigue related crashes have dropped by 27 percent and the fatal crash rate has dropped by 59 percent, said Jeffrey Burns, an attorney on the board of CRASH and PATT.
"To top it off, he's done this while he's saved the company money," Burns said. "Through his leadership there is now absolute, hard solid proof that safety need not be sacrificed to promote productivity."
Burns added that the award is extremely important to the Truck Safety Coalition. "We've never done what we're doing tonight," he said. "I hope it's a watershed (in relations between the advocacy groups and trucking)."
Osterberg said he would not want to overstate what the award might mean to industry-advocacy group relations, but he is optimistic. "I believe there is a quiet majority in trucking who recognize that this could represent the dawning of a new era of collaboration and civility between organizations that have often been at odds with one another," he said.
"I'm not naive enough to believe that we would agree on everything but if you think about it there's a higher calling here to be served. If we can work together on the topics we agree on I believe we can be very powerful and accelerate the improvement."Anne Ferro, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was on hand for the event and expressed a similar sentiment.
"There's a strong commitment to safety in the trucking industry," she said. "And there's a strong commitment to safety among the safety coalitions. It's a matter of listening for that common ground. But I also think it takes real leaders, (like) Don Osterberg."The presentation was made at the opening ceremonies of the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference, which is being held near Baltimore, Md., through today.
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