Safety is more than a tagline

The word “safety” is everywhere in the trucking industry. It is talked about nearly every day in the press, Congress has zeroed in on it, and most carriers will say that it is their top priority. With all this attention, it’s easy to believe that safety has become cliché, or merely a convenient tagline.

At the Truckload Carriers Association’s 2021 Safety & Security Meeting, you will learn that this could not be farther from the truth. This three-day conference, set to be held June 6-8 in St. Louis, brings together truckload safety professionals from both small and large carriers, as well as industry-leading providers. During the numerous networking opportunities and particularly in the much-loved “Safety in the Round” sessions, attendees can share the challenges they’re facing within their company and seek input and solutions from their peers.

Attendees come back year after year because of the importance of these roundtable discussions, proving the adage that “there are no secrets in safety.” This crowdsourcing of best practices enables participants to take real-world knowledge back to their own companies after the conference is over and provides them with a network of friends and mentors upon whom they can rely throughout the year for advice and guidance on pressing safety issues.

Beyond this, the meeting lineup of speakers for 2021 demonstrates that the conference is designed by safety professionals, for safety professionals. Key topics to be covered include building successful entry-level drivers, dealing with data overload, determining impairment and establishing a response plan, and managing teams moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic, just to name a few. This year’s conference will also feature a panel discussion titled “Safety from the Driver’s Seat,” during which a company driver and an owner-operator will sound off on the latest safety technology being added to trucks, and what human aspects should be considered when weighing these new options.