Trimac, G&D Trucking/Hoffman secure NTTC’s prestigious Heil Trophy

The National Tank Truck Carriers (NTTC) revealed the big winners of its 2019 North American Safety Contest during a virtual Tank Truck Week presentation hosted by acting NTTC president Ryan Streblow on Sept. 22.

Trimac Transportation claimed the Outstanding Performance Trophy, also known as the Heil Trophy, in the Harvison division for carriers with operations covering more than 15 million miles; and G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation secured the top award in the Sutherland division for carriers at or less than 15 million miles.

NTTC originally planned to recognize the winners during its 75th Anniversary Annual Conference in May in Washington DC, but the event was cancelled due to the coronavirus.

“We’re honored to continue to have this opportunity to support NTTC and its membership, even in these unusual COVID-19 times,” said Doug Chapple, CEO of EnTrans International, parent company of Heil Trailer. “Heil and NTTC have been doing this together for 37 years, and one of the highlights each year is trying to recognize the best of the industry.”

Representatives from Trimac Transportation, left, and G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation received their coveted Heil Trophies during the virtual North American Safety Contest presentation.

The annual award recognizes tank truck operations in North America with the best safety programs and records each year. The awards, which represent the gold standard for safety in the tank truck industry, are part of NTTC’s mission to encourage and promote safety and success for all its carrier and fleet members.

Trimac secured its third trophy with an accident frequency of .681 in the over 90 million miles class of the 2019 Competitive Safety Contest. Trimac also earned the top safety honor in 2002 with a frequency of .362 accidents per million miles, and in 2007 with a .386, before the contest was split into two mileage divisions in 2014.

The company, which along with the NTTC this year is celebrating its 75th anniversary, also won a Merit Award in the Personnel Safety Contest and was listed among the Improved Safety Carriers.

“On behalf of the over 3,500 men and women of Trimac and the McCaig family, we are honored to accept this award,” said Bill Marchbank, chief operating officer at Trimac, who was joined in Houston by Roger Martinez, vice president of operations for the Southwest region; Lance Hagler, North American director of safety and security; and company driver Bill Roop.

“There are many great companies at NTTC with outstanding safety records that have received this award, and it’s humbling to be included among them.”

Robert Beach, VP of safety and risk management at Trimac who logged in from Toronto, also thanked Heil and NTTC, along with company leaders and employees, including their more than 1,100 professional truck drivers, and detailed the Rooted in Safety Program improvements that helped the company secure its first Outstanding Performance Trophy in 12 years.

“I have to give credit for this award to our employees who have worked really closely with us to improve our safety culture by embracing the significant change of direction we began a couple of years ago,” he said. “Tactically, our senior management supported the doubling of our salaried field-level safety professionals, and we changed their focus from being auditors to being coaches and trainers, which really helped improve the trust levels of our employees, along with the results we’re getting.

“More importantly, strategically we embraced a socio-technical safety system that moved our focus away from looking at industry-standard, lagging indicators and replaced it with a focus on leading indicators heavily centered around our employee reporting of not just near misses, but having everyone actively search for and find—and have the company fix—issues that have not actually occurred, especially those that can have a significant impact on people, property or the environment.

“This shift in strategy was combined with a significant improvement in our incident investigation process. We looked beyond just the actions of the individual, but also how the organization may have been inadvertently contributing to incidents. Concurrent with that work, a significant amount of activity doing a full employee-led hazard analysis of each of our processes, and translating those into new employee vetted SOP’s and training materials, is well underway.”

G&D Trucking claimed its second trophy in three years with an accident frequency of .091 per million miles in the 7-12.5 million mile class of the 2019 Competitive Safety Contest. G&D won in 2017 with a .090 rating. G&D this year also snared a Grand Award in the Personnel Safety Contest and was listed among the Improved Safety Carriers.

“I virtually accept this on behalf of the entire organization, G&D Trucking and Hoffman Transportation,” said Jerry Curl, director of operations at G&D. “To be named a champion among such an elite group of professionals is truly an honor. This award demonstrates our entire organization’s collective efforts toward safety and professionalism, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When many stayed home, drivers showed up every day to keep our country running.”

Curl was joined by Kevin Hoffman, G&D’s president and CEO; Jordan Hoffman, vice president of sales; and members of their families.

“When I look at this trophy, and it says on it Hoffman Transportation/G&D Trucking, I don’t even think about that,” Kevin Hoffman said. “What I think about is all the faces and people within this company, and how humbled I am. With the efforts they put forth for the safety of the motoring public, themselves and their families, they’ve all bought in.

“We look at safety as being personal … so I want to thank them for all the hard work they do every day.”

He also made sure to call attention to employees in every department of the company, from dispatch and maintenance, to the 140 professional drivers who made G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation’s safety achievement possible.

“I can’t think of a profession that is more necessary than what our truck drivers, especially tank truck drivers, are doing in our country today,” Kevin Hoffman said. “They are out on these roads during these times when they don’t have restrooms to go to, it’s hard to get fuel, and they’re getting the job done, and they’re getting the job done safely. They are most definitely my heroes.”

The North American Safety Contest is conducted in two stages. Stage 1 evaluates Recordable Accident Frequency based on recordable accidents per million miles. Grand Award winners by mileage class in Stage 1 then compete in Stage 2 for the North American Safety Championship in divisions named after the association’s first two presidents: Austin Sutherland (1945-72) and his successor, Cliff Harvison (1972-2005).

This year’s North American Safety Contest was sponsored by Marquee sponsor Heil, Platinum sponsors Act 1, EnTrans and Tremcar; Gold sponsors Ridewell Suspensions, The Jack Olsta Co. and Civacon; and Silver sponsor SDI.

The 2019 judges were David Heller, Truckload Carriers Association; Sarah J. Reboli, National Propane Gas Association; Sgt. John Samis, Delaware State Police; and Greg Rhoads, American Chemistry Council.

Past Heil Trophy winners

(Since award split into two mileage divisions in 2014)

2014: Tidewater Transit Co., Harvison; Wynne Transport, Sutherland
2015: Miller Transporters, Harvison; Carbon Express, Sutherland
2016: Groendyke Transport, Harvison; GLS Transport, Sutherland
2017: Gemini Motor Transport, Harvison; G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation, Sutherland
2018: Groendyke Transport, Harvison; Tandet Logistics, Sutherland

2019 Competitive Safety Contest

Merit Award winners

Less Than 3.5 Million Mile Class: Ee-Jay Motor Transports
3.5-5 Million Mile Class: Frontier Transport, NA
5-7 Million Mile Class: DKL Transportation
7-12.5 Million Mile Class: Dixon Bros.
12.5-15 Million Mile Class: M.C. Tank Transport
15-18.5 Million Mile Class: Grammer Logistics
18.5-31.5 Million Mile Class: Schwerman Trucking Company
31.5-40 Million Mile Class: Slay Transportation Co.
40-90 Million Mile Class: Duprè Logistics

Honor Award winners

Less Than 3.5 Million Mile Class: Genox West Transportation, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company
3.55 Million Mile Class: A.J. Weigand
5-7 Million Mile Class: R.O. Harrell Trucking
7-12.5 Million Mile Class: Wynne Transport Service
12.5-15 Million Mile Class: Tandet Group TLI, TDI, CTI
15-18.5 Million Mile Class: Usher Transport
18.5-31.5 Million Mile Class: Linden Bulk Transportation
31.5-40 Million Mile Class: Bulkmatic Transport
40-90 Million Mile Class: Groendyke Transport
Over 90 Million Mile Class: Pilot Travel Centers

Grand Award winners

Less Than 3.5 Million Mile Class: Vickery Transportation, Transmark Logistics, Glendenning Brothers, J&S Transport, AG Energy Transport, Poolsure
3.5-5 Million Mile Class: Iowa Tanklines, LSP Transport
5-7 Million Mile Class: Newman Carriers
7-12.5 Million Mile Class: G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation
12.5-15 Million Mile Class: RST
15-18.5 Million Mile Class: Atlantic Bulk Carrier
18.5-31.5 Million Mile Class: CLI Transport, Andrews Logistics
31.5-40 Million Mile Class: J&M Tank Lines
40-90 Million Mile Class: Oakley Transport
Over 90 Million Mile Class: Gemini Motor Transport, Trimac

2019 Personnel Safety Contest

Merit Award winners

Less Than 3.5 Million Mile Class: Genox West Transportation
3.5-5 Million Mile Class: Iowa Tanklines
5-7 Million Mile Class: R.O. Harrell Trucking
15-18.5 Million Mile Class: Atlantic Bulk Carrier
18.5-31.5 Million Mile Class: CLI Transpor
31.5-40 Million Mile Class: Bulkmatic Transport
40-90 Million Mile Class: Superior Bulk Logistics
Over 90 Million Mile Class: Trimac Transportation

Honor Award winners

Less Than 3.5 Million Mile Class: Ee-Jay Motor Transports
3.5-5 Million Mile Class: A.J. Weigand
5-7 Million Mile Class: Newman Carriers
7-12.5 Million Mile Class: Wynne Transport Service
12.5-15 Million Mile Class: M.C. Tank Transport
15-18.5 Million Mile Class: RST Industries Limited
18.5-31.5 Million Mile Class: Ergon Trucking
31.5-40 Million Mile Class: Florida Rock & Tank Lines
40-90 Million Mile Class: Oakley Transport
Over 90 Million Mile Class: Gemini Motor Transport

Grand Award winners

Less Than 3.5 Million Mile Class: AG Energy Transport
3.5-5 Million Mile Class: LSP Transport
5-7 Million Mile Class: DKL Transportation
7-12.5 Million Mile Class: G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation, Harmac Transportation
12.5-15 Million Mile Class: Tandet
15-18.5 Million Mile Class: Usher Transport
18.5-31.5 Million Mile Class: GenOx Transportation
31.5-40 Million Mile Class: Slay
40-90 Million Mile Class: Duprè
Over 90 Million Mile Class: Pilot Flying J

2019 Improved Safety Carriers