Creating a safe work environment for drivers is a large part of who Sweetie Boy Transportation is today. In 2020 the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that more than 1 in 3 long-haul truck drivers experienced a serious crash during their time working on the road. 127 people were reported to have been injured in a crash while driving for work. Mitigating this risk is discussed with AutoPilots and Car Haulers alike every day. Director of Hub Operations and AutoPilot Safety, Hayden Nachtigal speaks about how Sweetie Boy works to make safety a top priority for all employees.
With over 200 employees, and most of them being on the road, making sure that everyone is being safe on the road is no small task. The professional transportation industry has nailed down this issue with the creation of apps such as Samsara, which Sweetie Boy uses to monitor CDL drivers. The drive service market for such apps is newer, but over time Sweetie Boy has found ways to monitor safe driving. Hayden Nachtigal speaks about how we measure our AutoPilot’s safe driving by saying, “ We use Mentor by eDriving to measure our driver’s overall safety. With the app tracking 5 major categories: Speeding, Distractions, Hard Accelerations, Harsh Braking, and Cornering”. The app uses these metrics to create a score out of 850, much like a FICO credit score. By analyzing the scores throughout the company, Sweetie Boy is able to accurately measure how safe AutoPilots are on the road. The Director of Hub Operations and AutoPilot safety goes on to speak about how these analytics are important to improving the safety metrics of the apps drivers use, “ The Mentor program we use is ever evolving and sometimes requires us to pass along the information to Mentor to improve the program”.
Safety is constantly at the forefront of Sweetie Boy’s mission. Hayden says, “We are extremely focused on being safe everyday. Once our drivers punch in or put on their safety vest they are professional drivers”. Every day our drivers are held to a higher standard, and the effort drivers, dispatch and hub managers put in shows that. Giving drivers a clear understanding of how their Mentor score works is a part of that, “(We have) Monthly safety meetings going over trends and specific topics we need to improve on as a company with safety. Daily and weekly coachings by the AutoPilots specific manager, going into the detail about each infraction to understand the situation that led to the infraction. This way the driver learns and improves their overall driving”. AutoPilots have also turned to a friendly competition, comparing safety scores to see who can do the best at each hub.
Overall, safety is the top priority of office staff and drivers at Sweetie Boy. Whether it’s abiding by federal standards or finding ways to go above and beyond those expectations, Sweetie Boy’s team works hard to ensure the safety of all drivers on staff. Unsafe driving is corrected, and the safety standards are always upheld and maintained.
Thank you to Hayden Nachtigal for participating in this post and for speaking on AutoPilot safety within Sweetie Boy Transportation.
