Transport showcase promotes safety advances in trucking

Toll safety boss says event has drawn positive feedback from owner-drivers.

 

Toll has wrapped up the Transport Safety Showcase for another year, with the event drawing leading manufacturers to demonstrate safety advances in the trucking industry. 

Products from the likes of Volvo, Kenworth, Maxitrans and Mercedes-Benz were on display during the one-day event, which Toll hosted at its Tennyson depot in Queensland on November 10.

The day also featured the Australian Trucking Association’s safety truck and stalls providing information on workplace health and safety, GPS tracking tools, drugs and new innovations in transport equipment.

Volvo provided its rollover simulator for the day to allow visitors to experience what it is like when a truck rolls and to demonstrate the importance of wearing a seatbelt.

Toll national risk and safety manager Lawrence Daniels told Owner//Driver Toll’s main aim from the day was to to share ideas about safety in the trucking industry.

 

 

“Our biggest goal is to share ideas and to demonstrate safety within the transport industry. Safety is one of Toll’s key values and constantly strives and works towards identifying opportunities to create a safer workplace,” Daniels says.

“It is important that these initiatives are shared throughout the industry and being able to host the Transport Safety Showcase creates a fantastic opportunity for everyone to come together and share great safety initiatives.”

Daniels says the rollover simulator gave people a real appreciation of the risks truck drivers take each time they get behind the wheel.

“Truck drivers are tasked with the huge responsibility of ensuring they are continuously managing their fatigue, their speed along with managing the traffic conditions and the environment in which they operate in,” he says.

“When it comes to innovative ideas for heavy motor vehicles, Volvo is one of the leaders in the industry.”

Daniels says the event has generated positive feedback, particularly from a lot of owner-drivers and smaller transport companies.

“It’s a great opportunity for them to come along and experience how some of the larger companies are managing safety,” he says.

“Most small businesses don’t have the infrastructure and designated safety personnel to manage safety and find that one person is tasked with multiple roles, so this is a great platform for these small operators to be a part of.”

The showcase is the brainchild of the Queensland Department of Workplace Health and Safety. The November 10 event marked the third time the showcase has been run, and the second time Toll has hosted it.

 

 

Photography: Brad Gardner