I went to the 2012 Safety Forum and Luncheon on October 25, 2012 at Newlands Golf and Country Club in Langley. I sat with some safety colleagues from the Trucking Safety Council of BC and listened to the details of this year’s winners.
The MC was John McMahon, TSCBC’s executive director. After the ceremonies, he said he was glad to see three trucking companies recognized. The TSCBC is a Certifying Partner designated by WorkSafeBC to work on safety with industry.
The winners in trucking and transport:
- Versacold Logistics/EV Logistics, who won in the Transportation of Goods category
- Air North – who recently earned COR certification from TSCBC – received Honourable Mention in Transportation of Goods
- DCT Chambers Trucking Ltd. , who won the TruckSafe Organizational Excellence Award sponsored by WorkSafeBC
Growing safety culture
I asked John, via email, why it’s significant that three trucking companies are recognized? Here’s what he said:
“We are seeing a growing trend in the industry to demonstrate a commitment to achieving a high standard of health and safety management. This is borne out when we look at the rising numbers of BC Trucking companies, large and small, who are becoming COR Certified.
“There is definitely greater awareness amongst trucking companies of the importance of having a sound health and safety management program that not only protects their workers but everyone that comes into contact with their businesses, from pedestrians to other road users. These three companies thoroughly deserve to be honoured in this way and I take my hat off to them for leading by example, well done.”
I asked John if he sees a growth in safety culture in trucking and related industries in BC.
“Absolutely,” he said. “ As more companies are recognized for their safety performance achievements the safety culture in our industry will grow even stronger as the realization that good health safety equals good business sense and increased profitability. As they say in the business: ‘It’s a no brainer.’ ”
“Employers in our industry are very aware that they are in the public eye more often than some other industries. That is why many of them have engaged with our organization – to help learn about safety legislation and best practice in their industry… The best want to get better and that is always a great goal for any industry.”
New SafetyDriven website launched
Find out more about safety in BC’s trucking and related industries at the cool, new SafetyDriven website – just launched last week and a great example of what industry safety associations are offering.