Great West Casualty Company Blog

Fuel costs have traditionally been the largest line-item expense for motor carriers. According to the American Transportation Research Institute (2017), “[Fuel costs] generally account for approximately 30 to 40 percent of a motor carrier’s cost per mile.”1 If fleet managers want to optimize their operations and reduce costs, they should focus on instilling a culture that embraces fuel economy.

Professionalism in the workplace benefits you, your peers, and your employer. Exhibiting professionalism can bring you an inward sense of pride, self-respect, competence, and job satisfaction. Your peers will mirror your behavior in the way you treat others and approach your job, while your employer will view you as a reliable team player. Read the information below, and ask yourself if there are actions you can take to present yourself in a more professional manner.

Remember in Oliver Twist when the hungry boy quietly approached his unforgiving master and asked him to fill the boy’s bowl with more gruel? Safety directors might relate to this feeling when requesting funds for new safety initiatives. Regardless of the company’s culture, selling safety to the keepers of the company coffers can be met with frustration and resistance, especially if the financial return on investment (ROI) has not been calculated beforehand to justify the expenditure.

Every motor carrier has a company culture that reflects the organization’s values. This culture can be positive and beneficial to the organization’s success or negative and cause it to stagnate or even fail. In either case, positive or negative, a company’s culture is contagious. People tend to adopt the values of those around them, especially at work, and infect others with the good or bad. That is why positive values are so important to motor carriers.

Why is on-time reporting of liability claims important?

  Great West Casualty Company’s underwriting guidelines are developed using data from industry studies and evaluating the MVRs of drivers involved in claims. American Transportation Research Institute, for example, conducted a study that found a reckless driving violation increases a driver’s crash risk by 325%. An improper turn increases crash risk by 105% and excessive speeding increases crash risk by 56%. Factors such as these, as well as years of experience and crash history, can all impact an Underwriter’s decision to insure a particular driver.

How does a company go from that “Ah-ha!” moment where they are all jazzed up about a new idea that will revolutionize the company to actually making it happen? This conundrum is common in the realm of safety especially when a company realizes what it needs to do, like instilling a culture that values safety, but then does not know how to achieve it. Those “Ah-ha!” moments can be fleeting if one does not act swiftly and purposely to build momentum and make their idea a reality.

"Earned. Never given." is a phrase used by the Marine Corps to describe the golden eagle, anchor, and globe emblem presented to all graduates of basic military training.

There are many motor carriers that are either unable or unwilling to bring their drivers together for collective, formal safety meet-ings. Reasons for this include; operational tempo (24/7 customer service requirements), a geographically diverse or remotely do-miciled driver force, and use of all independent contractor drivers.