The American Trucking Associations wants to know how much transportation companies are spending annually on safety programs and practices.
So the organization has put together what it calls a "first-of-its-time" project, asking carriers of all sizes to respond to a comprehensive survey to quantify the amount.
Dave Osiecki, executive vice president of the American Trucking Associations, said the in-depth project took more than two months to prepare. He predicts the results will be valuable, providing better data than the organization's previous estimate that the industry spent $7 billion annually on safety measures in 2014.
The figure is believed to be much higher.
"In the past, we have collected some data on how much the industry spends and invests in safety each year, but we haven't done a sort of full-blown comprehensive safety investment survey," Osiecki said. "We have data. It's maybe not as comprehensive or robust as what we would like."
Bill Graves, president of the American Trucking Associations, said in a statement that safety is the highest priority of the industry and the association. The 112-question survey is open to all for-hire and private motor carriers, regardless of their membership in the organization.
Every facet of safety-related expenses is examined in the questionnaire, which covers industrywide topics such as drug testing, driver medical programs, motor vehicle record checks, on-board safety technology, maintenance, hazardous materials, training and crash records.
The survey asks for a carrier's positive results from urine and hair tests in 2014, what percentage of a company's fleet was equipped with speed limiters, and the number of field safety and compliance personnel on staff.
The organization also is seeking financial information pertaining to safety, such as the the total cost for the purchase, installation and maintenance of electronic logging devices, sleep apnea testing and safe-driving bonuses awarded to drivers last year.
The American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry, and its mission is to "effectively advocate and communicate efforts designed to improve safety and profitability for our members," according to its website.
"This is about telling our government officials what our investment is and where it goes and really to educate them so they're more aware of what we do and where the money is spent and how much of a commitment there is to safety in this industry," Osiecki said.
The American Trucking Associations promises other benefits for the data collected, intending to use it to create a safety investment benchmark for carriers to evaluate company expenditures.
Osiecki said the organization has dabbled in establishing benchmarks before but is now "jumping in with both feet" with the comprehensive safety survey. Information collected will be aggregated by operations type and company size, meaning no individual carrier will be identified in the survey.
Participating companies also will receive a free copy of the benchmark publication and an invitation to a participant-only webinar discussing the results.
Dennis Hilton, vice president of safety at CalArk International in Little Rock, said his company planned to participate in the survey. So does Maverick USA in North Little Rock.
Dean Newell, vice president of safety and driver training at Maverick, said having a way for trucking companies to compare themselves with industry standards will be beneficial for all carriers.
"As a longtime and early adopter of safety technology, we've closely weighed the return on investment of these technologies and are firmly of the belief that they are extremely beneficial on many levels," Newell said in an email. "A formal survey that can quantify the spend, the return on investment, and the technologies available is a positive thing for all transportation carriers."
Osiecki estimated the American Trucking Associations conducts between six to 12 surveys a year on industry topics and typically receives hundreds of responses. He stressed it's not the organization's core business, but Osiecki said it supplements advocacy goals.
The association is hoping to compile a robust data set for the latest safety survey, which must be completed by Aug. 14.
"There's a lot of potential uses for this," Osiecki said. "But in terms of what we gain, we're going to gain a lot of insight into what all corners of this industry does and how they spend and how they invest in safety far beyond what we've done in the past."
Business on 07/29/2015