Dear Friends, What's With All This Truck Driver Training Talk?

Truck driver training. 
Do we do it? 
Does anyone tell us that it Must Be Done? 
Who would regulate such a thing? 



John Farquhar
Summit Risk Solutions: summitrisksolutions.ca
1 226 802-2762
John@summitrisksolutions.ca


Chris Harris
Safety Dawg Inc: safetydawg.com
Chris@SafetyDawg.com
1 905 973 7056

Transcript

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Hey, good morning. Good day. Good afternoon. Whatever time you happen to be watching this. Thanks for joining us here on the trucking risk and insurance podcast with our hosts, Chris Harris and myself, John Farquhar. And Hey, we're here to have a little fun. We always like to have fun. I'm sure you like to have fun. So, Hey, let's have fun. Yay. We're going to talk about training. The last podcast that Chris and I were talking on, we talked about preventable measures with regards to having an incident or a collision. So today we thought, well, Hey, let's kind of follow that theme a little bit and let's talk about what should we do after the fact, if we've found an incident that's preventable, how do we get that message to the drivers? Well, it's through training. So we're going to talk a bit about that today. So sit down, grab your coffee and join in. Yay training. Everybody loved training. That's exactly what I was going to say. Everybody loves training. The drivers. Love it. The safety department loves arranging it. Exactly. Operations loves telling drivers. Hey, we've got you scheduled for trading. It's like going to the dentist. Don't you like going to the dentist groups? Well, not when I do, when they go, Hey, everything's good. Get outta here. Good checkup. Here you go. Here's your new toothbrush on your way. Yeah, but yeah, if I have to sit there and let the bent is do their thing, That that's where I guess it's, it's a, it's a challenge when providing training for drivers and staff and whatnot, we need to make it fun. We've got to make it interactive. We got to make it enjoyable so that the drivers will enjoy being there and learning something new. So that becomes the challenge for those that are delivering the training. Well, yeah. And, and it's funny you say that because I'm doing a driver meeting tomorrow. Can you imagine in person drivers meeting? I Haven't, I haven't done a two hour to two and a half hour driver meeting in like two and a half years now. And I honestly, I'm trying to think of what am I going to say for two and a half hours that will keep them, you know, somewhat interesting. Yes, yes, exactly. Exactly. Yup. John, maybe we should start off with why is training so important? Well, it's, it's, it's important because it helps us hone our skills. It helps us raise the bar in our knowledge, It helps us be at what we do, you know? And it helps us break bad habits, All those things why? Well, the government says, and this is where a lot of trucking companies forget that the government says you have to train your employees. To my knowledge, they don't say that you have to do it yearly or monthly. They just say, you got to do it. And that's not under the highway traffic act that's under the occupational health or labor code or, or somewhere around there. Yep. And the labor code part two. Yeah. And well, that's, if you're federally regulated and of course Ontario or, and each province Health and safety will cover your provincially and whatnot. Yeah. Yeah. So for the drivers, just remember this isn't a punishment. This is a government requirement, Right? Exactly. If you want to be the best driver possible, then you want to get the education. Think of training as education, not, you know, like you say a punishment, let's think of it as education. It's like, I'm going to class, I'm going to learn something new today. You know, I've signed up for a course because I want to know more about that particular topic. So that's how you need to address training is going okay. I'm hoping I'm looking forward to this interactive fun opportunity to spend two and a half hours with Chris Harrison of Safety Dawg, because he's going to give me some new educational information, something that, well, maybe I do know about that already, but he's going to help bring it to the forefront and refresh my memory, or he's going to share something I'm going to go, oh wow. I never knew that that's great information. That'll help me prevent a collision in the future. Wow. How much of safety and safety training is new? Not much, not much. A lot of it's still the same old stuff. You know, it it's, it's, there's been some new stuff with new technology, but when it comes down to hours of service, how to stay legal, you know, defensive driving skills, speed, and space management. A lot of that stuff is still the same old, same old, but unfortunately we have a lot of drivers that don't seem to pay attention or the companies are not providing the training. So the drivers are not getting that education that they need to hear. So what might be old to some guys really is due to other drivers because while they've never been provided that training before Well, and it serves as a good reminder, I'm working on a case. So I get the opportunity from time to time to, to work for lawyers. And there was a 17 truck, sorry, 17 vehicle crash on the 4 0 1 and I'm doing some analysis of, of what happened. And it starts off, it's a snow storm and other situation. And the driver that did most of the damage swears that he had a good following distance for the conditions he's following another company, truck, another truck from his company. And this truck comes to a sudden and complete stop. The one that he's following. And guess what? Now he's got to make an emergency maneuver and try to avoid hitting his buddy unsuccessful. I won't give all the details cause it's in the court, but in this driver truth in his deposition, he says I had great following distance, but that's what he believed, John. Yep. Yep. And unfortunately, in my opinion, as a safety person, he didn't have adequate following distance because he did hit his buddy. Yep, yep. Right. So I wasn't able to stop in the confined area that he had provided himself. Yeah. And he says, well, I gave myself extra space. Yeah. But it wasn't enough like Extra space. Well, how do you explain that to a driver when he he's of the belief, John, that he had adequate space, what would you say to them to try to get them, you know, you're laughing and I understand, and we're both on the same page. He didn't have adequate space or he was traveling too fast for conditions. Whichever one you want to call it. But how would you try to convince this driver now? Because I'm doing a driver meeting tomorrow, as I already said, and this could come up, how do I convince the drivers that, that space wasn't adequate, no matter what the driver thought? Well, I, I think a good challenge here is, is to teach the drivers, coach the drivers, educate the drivers on what adequate space is. And there's mathematical equations for this, right? The truck travels at so many feet per second, basically By second 88 feet per second at what? 55 or 60 mile an hour or something like that. But yeah. You know, so I need to have so many feet per every second and oh, well, hang on. Let's talk about how fast does it take to stop the truck, right. Fully loaded or partially loaded, you know, there's, there's perception, time, there's reaction time, then there's break leg time. All of that adds up to about a second and a half. So by the time I get my foot on the pedal and apply the brakes before the air actually gets in there, I've traveled a second and a half. Well it's 88 feet per second. Wow. I'm, I'm pushing 120, 130 feet really quick. So I need to have that buffer. And then I need that much more of what it's going to take to get this vehicle stops. So, you know, add into what you're talking about. Additions, road, conditions, environment, you know, how many seconds was he actually behind the vehicle versus how many seconds he should have been behind the vehicle. So, You know, I think that's where it's really important to provide those details, to help a driver, better understand what is adequate and what is, what they think is adequate. So giving in, thanks for the tips. Because as I said, I'm doing this tomorrow, but getting back to training who else? Well, I'll, I'll just say it instead of, because I don't want to stump you, but the damn insurance industry also wants training. Yep. Yep. Exactly. Well, and, and, and it shouldn't stop at drivers, right? It shouldn't, it should encompass everybody in the company, you know? Yeah. There might be certain training opportunities or coaching opportunities that you may not share with dispatch or operations, but they still require training as well. You know, maintenance staff require training managers require training, how to deal with certain situations. Drivers, even safety professionals are as ourselves. We love to get training because we want to know what's the new, latest gadget that's going on? How is that being managed? Wow. Oh, that's a new idea. How we're putting a spin on that. I want to know more because that's how we're going to educate the people we touch and a safety manager in a company should be well well-trained so that they can share that information with their people, their drivers, their operation staff. Yeah. And just when you mentioned new gadgets, but let's give a shout out to truck world, April 20 something first, Right? First 21st to the 23rd, 21st to the 23rd and all the new gadgets are going to be there. Hey Johnny, are you showing up? I am. I will be there on Saturday. I I've tied up on the Thursday into Friday, unfortunately, but I will be there on the Saturday.'cause I think I'm going to do some live broadcasts from there. Oh, that'd be fun. I'll try to make sure I get into one of them on Saturday. You will. I mean our hats for where's my hat, my hats way over there. Yeah. So you one sec, Look at that Professional Lockton load. Her perfect safety gear us still. Yeah. Okay. So why else are we training To be better, to always be better? Well, And we, we are considered professionals in the industry. We are, we are professional drivers. So as professional drivers, we're held to a much higher standard by law enforcement, by the courts, by insurance companies, you know, by our peers, you're a professional driver. Why are you driving like that? You need to know better. Well, the best way you're going to learn is training. Get out there, get some education at 10, those driver training sessions, it will make you a better driver. And there are some people who can do a driver meeting and it's not boring as the correct. Correct. Yep. But at the same time, the audience, right, the drivers that are sitting there receiving the training, don't sit there like a bump on a log and fall asleep during the training check interactive and ask questions of the person that's providing the instruction and the training. You know, these people that are standing up in front, you know, Chris Harris of Safety Dawg, who's standing there spending his well-earned time to educate your people is expecting questions, expecting interaction, because that shows you're interested. That shows you want to learn more. And then Chris can share more information with you. And we can, you can bring up scenarios, examples, because there's going to be some guys in the room that just, aren't going to ask those questions. And that's unfortunate. Well that, and I really think it has a lot to do with the speaker too, unfortunately. Oh, you can unfortunately have some really bone dry bone head speakers. So Yeah. And unfortunately the message really hasn't changed a heck of a lot, you know, safe driving is slow down, give yourself more space. Right. And basically that's my message. And it takes me two and a half hours to say it, You know? And so you've got to be somewhat dynamic and excited and you've got to present different scenarios and, you know, w w we both got a little great. And so we've got different stories that we can share with drivers that hopefully make the presentation interesting. But the story should highlight the Problems. Yes, Exactly. Exactly. Right. It's gotta be directly These two to share examples, like you say, but at the same time also kind of analyze it, diagnose it and come up with a solution. You know, there was, obviously, if you got an example, there was obviously a solution for it. Well, instead of giving away the solution, let's work with the people that were sitting in front of give the example and say, okay, well, what would you have done differently? You know, how could this have been avoided and help these people sitting in front of you get their little minds thinking, get the wheels going Well. And again, when you say, how could this be avoided, John, what do you say in this is the struggle I have. Sometimes the driver goes, I had adequate space. I can't help it evolve was on black ice. If I, if the weather was so bad that I hit the vehicle in front of me, I had great space. And th this is the struggle sometimes. Yeah. Unfortunately weather is not an excuse. You know, it's still care and control of the vehicle. So, you know, so it, it, it comes back down to analyzing what were the common factors that caused this crash? You know, you think you may have adequate space, but now we've got to look at well, let's determine what space did you have? What space should you have had? How fast should you have been going for the conditions that were happening? You know, all these things need to come into play. And, and that's where you take the analysis portion. You bring it back and treat it as training to the drivers to go, okay, you thought this, but this is what you should have thought. This was what would have been better for you to be thinking. And maybe they didn't maybe based on their training, they had, they thought this was adequate space, but really it, it wasn't enough. So Re-education, And let's talk a little bit, tying it back to the previous video where we did talk about preventability. Sometimes training has to be remedial. In other words, not punishment, but a reeducation because the driver made an error again. Exactly. Why are we doing remedial? Yep. We're improvements. Improvements. I'm going to, I'm going to throw this weird analogy out there, and I think it fits really well. Are you a sports fan? That's somewhat of the loss. Who's your favorite sports team? Well, right now team Canada for the world cup. Perfect. Okay. So team Canada. So what's interesting about a team Canada or any team out there is they play hockey and this team in particular plays hockey, Sorry. I was referring to soccer world Cup soccer, The world cup. You can't at a hockey team anyway. Okay. So soccer. So, so what are they doing when they're not playing soccer, Practicing training, right? So in the world of truck driving, you driving down the road is practicing, right? I'm practicing my driving skills. I'm enacting them into play in the game. But if I don't play the game properly, then somebody needs to reeducate me. So you know what, when a soccer team loses and they go, wow, some bad plays here, guys, we've got to get back in the training room. We've got to work on this training opportunity and make sure we play the plate correctly. That's the same thing with a driver. It's no different. I need to get better at the play, right? So I might, you know, practicing driving, but am I doing it the proper way? That's where the training comes in and any great sports team out there. They constantly train. So if I want to be the best driver out there, I need to constantly train and driving. Getting experience is not training. That's practicing. That's where you're using those skills. You learn and applying them. But when you start to pick up bad habits, because you're not training properly, we need to get back into the training room. We need to get back into the simulator. We need to go for road evaluations and learn, okay. I had a crash. I obviously didn't do something correctly. Help me through the remedial training, helped me be better. So I don't have this again. And then for those that don't have the crash, that's where it becomes refresher training to say, guys, want to keep your skills home, keep your tight so that you will not have these types of incidents that other people have learned from other people. Don't go through the experience yourself. Yeah. Who in the hell wants a crash? I mean, Exactly my paperwork painted, but now I'm at work. You know, I don't have a truck to drive if it's my own truck, I'm in trouble. Well, even if it's a minor crash, think of the, the time that you're not being paid. And as you say, all the paperwork, and then you get to meet some jerk, like me in an office to have an interview for us, you know, how did this happen? Yeah. It's just such a waste of energy. It is, it is, you know, welcome those training opportunities to learn and hone your skills and prevent that incident from ever happening. And, and I always love the guys that go, wow, but it wasn't my fault. You know what? Just like we talked to the last video, it doesn't matter if it's your fault. Was there something you could have done to prevent that incident from happening? Because if there was then you weren't driving properly, there was an opportunity for you to prevent that incident. And maybe it was, I just need to back out of it, let that car go by. You know, I don't need that space. You're the professional. You're held to a higher standard. And not just that you're held to a higher standard, you've got so much more practice because you're doing all these miles. You should be the better driver. And you know, the destruction that a 70, some odd vehicle with 80,000 pounds can inflict on everyone. So, yep. Let's be, I would. How would you feel if you inflicted that pain on somebody else and now they can't go home at night or something happens and now you're hurt and your family is now distraught because you're not coming home tonight. You know? So, You know, it's all preventable. I, you and I both are the same page. All incidents are preventable. There's no need to have these scratches if we drive properly. Yeah. I don't know whether they all are, but certainly the other people say like 95% are preventable. I, I guess I look at it from both sides, right? If both parties are driving properly, they're preventable for both sides. Well, yeah, I think the 5% comes out with vehicle component failure and different things like that. But certainly 95% of the crashes are caused by human. Yeah. But these new trucks that are worth like 220 to $250,000, they don't have component failures too. They get kinda spend that money. They've gotta be perfect. They are expensive today. Hey, we got to wind up. What else? Anything else to say about training? Why to driver training? Who wants it? Yep. I, I think it's, it's an opportunity. Open your mind, you know, think positive. Don't go draining again. No, you know what? Everybody has somebody they cheer for in a sports team or people that are really good at what they do. And oh, by the way, who gets paid more money when it comes to sports, the guys are that are the best at it. Right? So if I continue to take all the training and improve and improve and improve, I'm going to become a better driver. People are going to see this companies are going to go, wow, you haven't had any crashes in five years. You haven't had any violations in five years. How do you do it? I take training. I get in there, I get constant continuous training. I refresh my mind constantly and take whatever training I can, because I want to be the best out there because I want to make the big money. And it's possible. You look at this, those veterans that have been doing this for a long time, never had a crash. You see, those guys were rewards 4 million miles, crash, free, no preventable incidents or anything like that. And what are they doing? They're getting top dollar at the company they're working for because of their experience. And well, maybe they're a trainer now. So they're making more money than a, than driving. Maybe they're the owner of the company now, because they're not driving. You know, there's, you can progress, but you've got to stay good and be better in order to get to those top positions. Well, in some of the top positions that I'm thinking of, quite honestly, private fleets often pay better than the Molson's the Tim Horton's, those guys Molson's even around anymore. But you know what I mean? Those private fleets often pay better, but they want the cream. So yes. Well, and that's where you can negotiate that a little bit. Cause you go in there looking at a job. I'm looking for a guy with five years experience. Well, you know what? I got 10 and I'm crash free for 10 years. Look at my abstracts. I've never had a violation. I take all this training and whatnot and they're going to be like, wow, top drop. Let's take it for a road test. So they take you for a road test. You go, wow. Their minds are blown because you're so good at your job. And when they say, okay, well we're going to pay you 60 cents a mile and you're going to go, no, you're going to pay me 65 cents a mile because of what I bring to the table. And they're not going to argue. There's going to be people out there that have no problem paying for more to get that top qualified driver. Yeah. Great stuff, John. I think that is how we should end it. Do you want to do a quick wrap up? Hey, training, training, training. It's a good place to be. And if you're looking for assistance and providing training for your drivers and staff get ahold of the Safety Dawg, Chris Harris or myself, John Farquhar at summit risk solutions, our contact information is in the show notes below. We'd be happy to help you out. And thanks, John, my friend that was John and I talking about a truck driver training, and I'm sure you're getting value from all of this. Would you please click a like and subscribe to the trucking risk and insurance podcasts? That's it for this week, John Farr choir summit risk solutions and your co-host Chris Harris Safety Dawg. We are.