WITH an accident frequency of .144 per million miles for 2001, Usher Transport Inc of Louisville, Kentucky, has won the Outstanding Performance Trophy in the National Tank Truck Carriers 2001 Tank Truck Safety Contest. Usher was selected from a group of 11 carriers that won the Grand Award in their respective mileage categories for the calendar year. This is the first time the carrier has won the prestigious NTTC award.
Usher Transport also is taking home the Grand Award as the winner in the 13 million to 15 million miles class in the Competitive Safety Contest, the Honor Award in that same mileage category for the Personnel Safety Contest, and a 17-year Improvement Award.
The management team leading the winning company includes Bill Usher Sr, chief executive officer; Bill Usher Jr, president; Alan Usher, vice-president; and Mike Baker, safety director.
The Outstanding Performance Trophy is awarded annually by Heil Trailer International of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is presented to the carrier that is judged to have had the best comprehensive safety program in the tank truck industry during the previous year.
Contest judges this year were: Robert Craig, Research and Special Programs Administration, Department of Transportation; Alan Roberts, Dangerous Goods Advisory Council; Paul Rankin, Reusable Industrial Packaging Association; and R C Powell, Virginia State Police.
NTTC conducts four annual safety contests. These include a Competitive Safety Contest in which carriers compete in separate mileage classes; the Safety Improvement Contest in which a carrier competes against its own record for the previous year; a Personnel Safety Contest that is based on injuries per hours worked; and the Outstanding Performance Contest.
Awards to safety directors in charge of the winning programs were presented at the NTTC Tank Truck Safety Council annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, in April. Winning companies will be recognized at NTTC's 54th Annual Conference & Tank Truck Equipment Show in San Francisco, California, May 19-21.