Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/730311
Cover Story 14 October 2016 BestDriverJOBS www.bestdriverjobs.com topics relevant to the household goods transportation segment. "The IC conference is about rela- tionship-building," adds Roberts. "As important as relationships are with our customers, it is twice as important to have those relationships with our driv- ers." The company also hosts an awards ceremony at its IC conference to honor its top-performing drivers with safety performance and driver-of-the-year awards. All five-star-rated drivers are recognized with plaques, and the top three drivers are presented with ad- ditional monetary awards in front of their peers. Daryl Flood also has improved its onboarding process to establish its safety culture at the beginning of its relationship with new drivers. Roberts says online training courses serve their purpose in the onboarding process, "but safety culture in particular is as much about relationships as content," he says. Once drivers have toured Daryl Flood headquarters and met with vari- ous department representatives who lay out the company's expectations for drivers to maintain their qualifica- tions, they then meet with Roberts in his office, a practice he says is vital for the driver to understand the corporate commitment to safety. "Most of the time in this industry, a driver has a negative connotation toward a safety professional," says Roberts. "That initial meeting allows us the opportunity to set the tone that the safety department is a good place to go," rather than a place focused solely on remedial training and scrutiny. "We talk about how the team performs and how they have to perform as an indi- vidual to foster teamwork." Through increased communication to Daryl Flood drivers such as monthly email newsletters and regular phone calls by safety department personnel, safety has become a positive experi- ence. "Drivers come by and spend time in the safety office because they want to, not because they were called here," Roberts says. Another factor in Daryl Flood's improvements has been the safety de- partment's desire to "celebrate the little wins," as Roberts puts it. The company rewards drivers on a quarterly basis for 100-percent compliance with perfect logbooks and documentation, clean roadside inspections and no HOS vio- lations or recordable accidents. "I don't do their logs for them, I don't send in their paperwork on time, and I can't make them be neat," says Roberts. "We have to guide them through the orientation process, and at the end of the day, they have to per- form. Then we celebrate that." Even retraining events for underper- forming drivers are treated with posi- tivity. If a driver has an issue with a logbook, safety personnel will start the discussion talking about the driver's particular strengths before addressing where he needs to do better. "Usually it is an eye-opening experience, taking that approach rather than beating the driver up over it," says Roberts. bdj