Truck Safety Coalition Recognizes Schneider National’s Don Osterberg with First-Ever Distinguished Safety Leadership Award
Green Bay, Wis. – June 1, 2010 – The Truck Safety Coalition, a partnership between Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.) awarded its first-ever Distinguished Safety Leadership Award last week to Don Osterberg, senior vice president of safety, driver training and security at Schneider National. With highway safety advocacy groups and trucking companies long considered to be more foes than friends, the award is truly unprecedented in the industry and could prove to be a turning point in the relationship between the two groups.
“Don has always pushed the industry envelope when it comes to safety on our nation’s highways,” said Jeff Burns, a board member of both P.A.T.T and CRASH and National Transportation Counsel for the Truck Safety Coalition. “Don doesn’t just talk about truck safety. He pursues it with a vengeance and follows up with persistent reassessment and improvement, with the ultimate goal of saving lives.”
The award presentation was made at the opening ceremonies of the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference, in Baltimore, Md. The Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference is organized by the American Sleep Apnea Association and is co-sponsored by the American Trucking Associations with support from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
Burns noted that the award is extremely important to the Truck Safety Coalition. We've never recognized a trucking industry executive in this way before, he said. I hope it's a watershed (in relations between the advocacy groups and trucking).
Osterberg agreed. I believe there is a quiet majority in trucking who recognize that this could represent the dawning of a new era of collaboration and civility between organizations that have often been at odds with one another, Osterberg noted. “I am optimistic we could be taking this in a new direction.”
During his tenure at Schneider, Osterberg has led many initiatives designed to ensure the highest levels of safety for the motoring public and company drivers, including the installation of speed governors on all company truck engines, placement of electronic onboard recorders in all trucks and the screening of all drivers for sleep apnea. Osterberg and Schneider’s efforts have made a difference.
“Fatigue-related crashes have dropped by 27 percent and the fatal crash rate has dropped by 59 percent at Schneider under Don’s leadership,” noted Burns. To top it off, he's done this while he's saved the company money, Burns said. Through his leadership there is now absolute, hard solid proof that safety need not be sacrificed to promote productivity.
FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro also attended the event. There's a strong commitment to safety in the trucking industry, she said. And there's a strong commitment to safety among the safety coalitions. It's a matter of listening for that common ground. But I also think it takes real leaders (like) Don Osterberg.
“I have long viewed myself as a public safety advocate, and I am honored to receive this recognition from the Truck Safety Coalition,” said Osterberg. “Through collaboration, we can work toward the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries. I am privileged to work for a company with a core value of safety first and always. Our commitment supports a proactive approach to safety leadership.”
About Schneider National, Inc.
Schneider National, Inc. is a premier provider of truckload, logistics and intermodal services. Serving more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE 500 companies, Schneider National offers the broadest portfolio of services in the industry. The company’s transportation and logistics solutions include Van Truckload, Dedicated, Regional, Bulk, Intermodal, Transportation Management, Supply Chain Management, Warehousing and International Logistics services.
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