A collection of interviews and case studies featuring our clients talking about their successes using the Infinit-I Workforce System.

Remembering Those Who are Gone and Dedicated to Keeping Others Safe

Remembering Those Who Are Gone And Dedicated To Keeping Others Safe

In honor of Memorial Day, the team at Infinit-I Workforce Solutions would like to thank all members of our armed services. We stand with you.

We express our sincere gratitude to the ones who are no longer with us; the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may be free.

Thank you for your service.

Also, a huge thank you to all the truck drivers over the road who spend countless hours away from their family and friends to support their fellow Americans. You are the backbone of the supply chain.

Memorial Day weekend poses a higher risk for truckers because of road construction, the influx of traffic, and increased fatality rate.

Road Construction

Not only are traffic fines increased in construction zones, so is the risk of fatal accidents. In fact, a whole week in April is dedicated to raising awareness because construction zones are so dangerous.

State DOTs, road safety organizations, government agencies, and private companies come together every year to present National Work Zone Awareness Week. Their goal is to save lives, reminding all drivers to use caution, especially when encountering work zones.

In 2018, 34% of fatal work zone related crashes involved the death of a professional driver. Often, preventable actions cause these crashes such as improper following distance, distracted driving, excessive speeds, etc.

The confusion and frustration that exists in construction zones is normal for truck drivers. They encounter work zones frequently due to the nature of their job.

Keep in mind, four-wheelers are responsible for most CMV accidents. The truck driver and/or the company can still be taken to court, however, even though it’s not their fault.

Influx of traffic

As the summer begins, Memorial Day kicks off road trips, family vacations, and parties. We’ve all been stuck at home, slowly going stir crazy. Shelter in place recommendations have been relaxed as we enter a long-awaited 3-day weekend.

While the rest of the country practiced social distancing, truck drivers got used to less traffic  Drivers have been able to drive faster and deliver loads in a shorter amount of time.

Truckers need to be mindful that this weekend will bring people out of their homes. They will see a large increase in the amount of commuter traffic all over the country.

Increased Fatality Rate

Even though traffic has decreased over the past few months, motor vehicle fatality rates have gone up. The National Safety Council says the United States has seen a 14% increase in the number of fatal accidents since the quarantines started.

All drivers are taking advantage of the less congested roadways. Average speeds have increased, and as a result, this careless driving has caused more accidents.

Some states have seen massive increases in the number of driving fatalities. Arkansas’s number has increased by 16% compared to last year. Louisiana has experienced a 23% increase and Connecticut’s number skyrocketed by 42%.

“Disturbingly, we have open lanes of traffic and an apparent open season on reckless driving,”

Lorraine M. Martin, President and CEO of NSC encourages everyone to drive with caution, especially during the pandemic and crisis. She says driving safely is our civic duty.

“If we won’t do it for ourselves, we should do it for our first responders, our law enforcement and our healthcare workers, who are rightly focused on coronavirus patients and should not be overwhelmed by preventable car crashes.”

– Lorraine M. Martin, NSC president and CEO.

Experts’ Advice

The expert advisory board of Infinit-I Workforce Solutions has advice for trucking companies who are concerned about the health of their company. They have recommended the following best practices to ensure the safety of highways, truck drivers, and the general public:

Create a ‘first-in-class’ safety culture.

The goal of every safety department is to reduce accidents, reduce CSA, and ensure safety is always ‘top-of-mind’ for all employees. The best way to achieve this goal is consistent communication and frequent training.

 

Offer your truck drivers continual safety training.

One of the main challenges in the trucking industry is routing drivers to the terminal to attend safety meetings. Infinit-I Workforce Solutions has virtually solved that problem for good.

The learning management system allows companies to deliver personalized safety training to any employee, anytime, anywhere.

 

Test their retention.

You may be thinking, “How do I know if my employees will pay attention to these safety videos?”

Great question!

On the LMS, you have the option to make them take a test on the content. Users cannot skip the video or halfway pay attention because they will have to start over if they fail the test.

 

Document everything.

If you’re working in the logistics industry, you’ve heard it a million times: “If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.”

In most legal cases involving CMV accidents, the first thing a litigation attorney asks for is the safety training records of the driver involved.

Infinit-I Workforce Solutions offers automatic, electronic reporting and tracking. You never have to worry about sign-in sheets or completion record signatures ever again.

 

At Infinit-I Workforce Solutions, we are so grateful to all those who work hard to keep the American dream alive and well.

Please take extra caution this weekend so your family’s next Memorial Day won’t be in honor of you.

 

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Do You Need Online School Transportation Training? Interview with Calcasieu Parish School Board

DO YOU NEED ONLINE SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION TRAINING? INTERVIEW WITH CALCASIEU PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Calcasieu Parish School Board Shares Life Before and After Online School Transportation Training

Mary Bass Fontenot, Director of Transportation with Calcasieu Parish School Board (CPSB) shared with Infinit-I Workforce Solutions what life was like before and after implementing online school transportation training for the bus drivers in her department.

Mary filled the roles of teacher, assistant principal, and bus driver before becoming the Director of Transportation for CPSB. She now oversees a fleet that logs more than 1.9 million miles annually for their regular bus route.

Mary has used the Infinit-I Workforce system since July 2015. She uses the system to help train both full and part-time drivers. The parish employees 400 drivers and transports 16,000 students a day with 318 buses.

Question 1: What Was Driver In-Service Like Before Online Training?

Back in 2013, when I was a driver, training was being taken care of during in-service. We would have all of the drivers come in for a day before school started. There would easily be 500 people in a room, including drivers, aides, and subs.

The in-service would include different topics presented for the drivers. We would have a sign-in sheet and an agenda with different presenters. We would sit through this for training.

At the end of August, we would have all of those drivers come in again for another four-hour in-service, and we would break them out into smaller sections.

I remember one year it was a chiropractor who came to talk about stress, or an insurance rep, or different things like that. As a driver sitting there, I felt like the information wasn’t always good, helpful information that would help improve the driving experience.

Plus, with the sign-in, you’ve got people talking and not paying attention. Only the first five rows are paying attention, you’ve completely lost the rest of the group.

As I moved into the role of Director of Transportation, I felt like it was very important that we tighten training up a bit. I didn’t feel comfortable that people were really getting good beneficial training.

Question 2: Why Did You Decide to Implement Online School Transportation Training?

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We approached training from a risk management standpoint. We got our loss prevention company involved because it’s really all a liability issue. That’s what all of this comes back to.

We got a lot of feedback from our stakeholders before we ventured out. If this was not something our loss prevention provider was on board with, we would not have done it.

It’s all a liability standpoint. I was terrified as a new director to think “What happens when we have an event? Will someone ask where they received their training?”

I questioned whether the sign-in sheet and a summary of what was covered would be enough to prove training occurred. That was the main motivating factor to move into online school transportation training.

Anytime I can say “I can produce a certificate of completion. I’ve got the data to show when they logged in and how many attempts it took them to complete the learning module. It’s really a no-brainer from the liability standpoint.

Question 3: What Was Corrective Action Training Like Before Infinit-I?

Before online school transportation training, drivers had to sit through the training on how to become a new bus driver. For example, when the next class would roll around, drivers who needed remedial training would come in and sit in the back row. They would be there for the four hours, and that was their remediation.

There were problems with this. What if that particular night they were covering something that had nothing to do with what they needed remedial training on? The training was not meaningful, and the drivers were not getting anything out of it.

The drivers were frustrated and mad. It was a lose-lose for everyone because the whole point of remedial training is to try to remediate what caused the accident and improve the drivers so it wouldn’t happen again.

Question 4: How Has Online Training Changed Your Remedial Training?

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I did away with that method of training and reformatted the procedural part of the accident protocol. On the first preventable accident, we no issue online school transportation training modules.

We see tail swing, backing, not sure of bus spatial awareness, and bumping mirrors over and over and over. That’s the majority of your accidents. So, I wanted to give corrective action on the event of their particular incident.

If their accident was due to tail swing, then I assign a training module to be specifically on tail swing. If it is a backing accident, I assign remediation training on backing. I want it to be meaningful; something that will help you improve as a driver.

Question 5: How Has the Support Team Helped You with Online Training?

I can’t tell you how much of our success is squarely because of the customer service team behind the Infinit-I Workforce system. When we were first initiating this, I could just call.

I felt like I knew my client service representative (CSR). She would say, “Whatever you need us to do, that’s what we’re here for.”

We really don’t do anything as far as the maintaining. I will add a new user, help with a password or reset, and go in to see if they’ve completed all their training. My CSR helps with everything else.

For example, our last remediation, I called our CSR and said, “These people, this is what I need for them to have scheduled, and this is the timeline.”

That was it. She took care of it. That part of it is huge.

For our monthly school transportation training, I’ll call or email the CSR and tell her what modules I need to rollout. She sets it up, and I’m done with it.

Don’t let the possibility that you don’t have enough staff in your office hold you back. Infinit-I is superb at fulfilling the ins and outs of this program. They’re fantastic.

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How Online DOT Training Helped Blitz Express with Audits, Depositions, and Driver Onboarding

HOW ONLINE DOT TRAINING HELPED BLITZ EXPRESS WITH AUDITS, DEPOSITIONS, AND DRIVER ONBOARDING

Derrick Washington, Safety Manager at Blitz Express in Farmers Branch, Texas, was the client speaker at our Safety Boot Camp January 23rd in Irving, Texas.  Derrick spoke about how the Infinit-I Workforce System has really helped his company during DOT audits and depositions. He also shared ideas for how to improve driver adoption of online training and how to improve driver onboarding using online training for “pre-orientation”.

Video Interview with Blitz ExpressWatch the Full Interview

 

 

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Online Training Q&A with
Derrick Washington
at Blitz Express

Blitz ExpressTell us about Blitz Express 

We’re a small, but growing, family owned business. When I started with them, they only had nine trucks. Not nine new trucks. Just nine trucks. The oldest thing we have on the fleet now is a 2015. We have a fleet of 72, with 30 or so trucks coming in over the next 60 days.  It was easy to keep up with the safety and logs and all that stuff with 20 trucks. With just 72 trucks, this program, the Infinit-I Workforce System, actually allows us to run so much more efficiently. The program itself, hands down, changed the whole dynamics of our company.

Truck Driver Safety Training Online AdoptionHow did you improve driver adoption of online training?

At first, it was a nightmare. You have these guys who have been trained with bad habits. We were doing a lot of corrective action. It was so funny. I had a driver who got a citation for illegal backing. He called me and told me that he had graduated from the Smith-System and worked at bigger companies, and he didn’t think he needed to watch the video.

I said, “So you got an Illegal Backing violation, and you don’t think you need to watch the video?” 

He said, “So you mean to tell me I can’t back up with my flashers on?”

I said, “Hence the reason why you need to watch the video.”

The other hard thing about implementing online training at first are the dinosaur truckers. You know, drivers with the flip phones. We call them a dinosaur. You’re able to really evolve those guys with the Infinit-I Workforce System.  Most of the new guys we bring in are already tech savvy, but with the dinosaurs, we would bring them into the yard to do the training. We set up a computer with strictly the Infinit-I Workforce System, and they would go into the office train and test.

Fleet Safety Training Online Driver Adoption IdeasHow do you handle drivers who don’t complete their training?

I lock them out of their QualComm, and I’ll tell their dispatcher “I gave him 14 days to complete the videos, and he is seven days overdue. Once he delivers, he is not moving from that spot because I’ll lock him out of the QualComm.”

Then I sit, and I wait for the phone to ring. Because I know it is coming. The dispatchers work with me. They know I don’t play when it comes down to training.  Training is the one thing I don’t play about. I’ve had to do that a few times, and word spread around.

What really helped me to connect with the drivers though is I sold them on the fact that I am doing this for their own good. You know, I’m doing this for them because if someone sues, they are going to sue the driver, too. 

How to Train Drivers on Technology in the CabHow do you use the system to train on other technology in the cab?

We were able to incorporate some of the OmniTracs info for the drivers that were not really familiar with the eLog system. We could just easily email that to them on their phone through the Infinit-I Workforce System. They look at it at nighttime when they are in the sleeper berth. So that’s been a really really good thing.

Truck Driver Orientation Checklist IdeasHow has online training helped with onboarding new drivers?

I created an online pre-hire orientation training on hours of service and things the guys should know coming into orientation. The way we structured it helps us to qualify new drivers before orientation. When you send that content to a prospective driver, and he takes the time and goes through 45 minutes to an hour of videos, and he actually tests on it, that lets us know that this guy is for real about wanting to come to work. We send the content to a lot of drivers, and they never do the videos.  I would say 3 out of 10 prospective drivers do the training. So it allows us to know they won’t show at orientation before we schedule them to come. In the past, we had spent countless time and energy buying a bus ticket or a $600 dollar plane ticket, and the drivers didn’t show up for the plane or the bus.

Additionally, since we incorporated online pre-orientation, we have cut out a whole day of orientation. We can get drivers in one day, and send them out the next day. It is no longer three to four days of lost revenue. Instead, drivers are coming in with the knowledge about hours of service, accidents, cell phones, texting and driving. We send them all of that training in pre-orientation.

The employment verification is only going to tell you so much. I call the education part of it my “Trucker IQ Test”.  When you send the drivers that online training information, it lets you gauge what they understand. If a driver has to watch something five times, it lets you know they have an issue with that topic. They really don’t understand it, so you want to take extra time educating them on it when they come in one-on-one before you send them out on the road.

We used to show these videos in a breakroom with these guys watching them. They would nod off. It puts them straight to sleep.  That doesn’t happen with the online training.

Fleet Safety Training Online Driver Adoption Ideas

How do you handle drivers who don’t want to do the pre-hire orientation?

We do get some drivers who don’t finish all of the pre-orientation videos prior to coming in to orientation. We lodge them at the Holiday Inn, and they have a computer there. They finish the training videos there.  We have orientation pay, and it is part of the orientation pay for you to have those pre-orientation videos done.  Payroll will look to see if they have the videos done before they pay drivers their orientation pay.

If they don’t do the pre-orientation, that’s not the guy for you. You’ve got to wonder, “How are they going to interact with your dispatchers? How are they going to be with communication?” Think about it.  The driver is at home alone doing the pre-orientation. If he doesn’t have the time to do this at home, how much time do you think he is going to put into safety when he’s on the truck? 

Online Safety Training Video LibraryHow would you describe the content available on the Infinit-I Workforce System?

The content alone is so vast. You can choose from things like illegal lane change, backing, and/or parking.   Plus, you can create your own content.

How to pass a DOT Safety Audit with Online Safety TrainingHow has the Infinit-I Workforce System helped with DOT audits?

The one thing that really ate us up when we got DOT Audits was the safety. Because they don’t really care about anything other than that. They want to see the safety part of things.  Now, when drivers have accidents, we send them training to be aware of their surroundings.

In audits since implementing Infinit-I, when the DOT field officer was looking at the logs and citations, every single time he would say, “Well what did you do about…”, and we could show him the corrective action training.  That made a believer out of me.

We had an illegal backing citation. We had a speeding citation. We had an illegal lane change citation. All of the corrective action training content is actually in this product. So you can actually document the citation, send the driver the training content, and once he finishes, you’ll get a certificate and documentation showing that you’re actually trying to do something to make sure that your company is safe out there.

Infinit-I is a must have now that everything is going electronic. I am telling you when when that auditor is standing in front of you with a paper in front of him going through all your unsafe driving citations, and he’s going to ask you, “What did you do about this?” That’s a lot of paperwork you have got to have if you are handwriting it and filing all these hard copies.

With the Infinit-I Workforce System, you can just go back into the system and look to see who did what training. You can put the name of the driver in, and it shows you every training that they’ve done.

Giving a Deposition in Trucking LitigationHow has the Infinit-I Workforce System helped with depositions?

When you hire someone and send out a pre-hire orientation training, it doesn’t stop there. We set it up where the first six months, we send videos to those guys on different safety aspects. One of the things that really helped is when you pull the PSP, you can see where drivers have had problems in the past, and you can send them training content specific to those violations.

I’ve been through a deposition before. When they pull a driver’s records, they’ll ask you, “Did you know that this guy with the reckless driving, he had this on his PSP?”

I can respond, “Yes sir, I did. We did a corrective action for that, and we gave him training on it.”

You are showing that you are doing what you needed to do before you put this guy in the truck.

How has the Infinit-I Workforce System helped you manage your role?

There was just too much paperwork. I can’t imagine doing 700 truck safety without having this product. When we got Infinit-I, we had 52 trucks. Now we have 72, and we are growing. Before I had Infinit-I, I’ll be honest with you, it was a mess because I do the recruiting and safety. So it was just a mess. You can only do so much.

Online Corrective Action Training for Truck DriversHow have you managed corrective action training with the Infinit-I Workforce System?

I’ve been with the company for a total of five years. In December, we went through a lot of PSPs. We sent the drivers a lot of corrective action training because at the end of the day, if one of these guys ends up in the accident, and they pull the record, they’ll go back 10 years to try and prove negligence on the company.

Some of these guys had a lot of violations, especially with the owner-operators. That’s where we were having the most issues. The owner-operators with their PSP was a big issue for us. But we got them corrective action on a lot of things that they had on the PSP.

Additionally, I have guys that do 8- or 10-minute pre-trips, when we require a 15-minute pre-trip.  So I will send them the pre-trip inspection video and explain they have to get the pre-trips done properly.

When someone gets a citation, I give them 3 days to get corrective action training done. If it’s not done, we are still small enough that I can look on the OmniTracs at 8:00 at night and see he is sitting. I pick up the phone and call him and tell him to do the training. I just do not want those issues. I have been through a deposition, and I do not want to do that ever again.

Truck Driver Safety Training Online Adoption

How did Infinit-I affect your driver turnover?

It went down drastically because we have been able to negate through the guys and qualify the ones that we bring in using the pre-hire orientation videos.  We screen out those guys who wouldn’t have made it anyway.

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2 Reasons Charlie’s Produce Recommends You Attend Engage

Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program | Charlie's Produce Testimonial

Jorge delToro, Safety Director at Charlie’s Produce, recently attended the Infinit-I Boot Camp Program at the Vertical Alliance Training Campus in Irving, Texas. The goal of the event was to teach Jorge, and other attendees, how to maximize online training to build a strong safety culture in their transportation companies.

During the event, Jorge sat down with us and shared why he was glad he had taken advantage of the opportunity to attend the event.

What Charlie’s Produce Learned at the Engage Evaluation Program

Question: Tell Us a Little Bit About Your Company
My name is Jorge delToro. I work for Charlie’s Produce. We’re a wholesale produce distributor on the West Coast with about eight branches. We have about 280 drivers and 240 trucks. As far as customers, we have everything from restaurants to grocery stores. We really just excel in produce distribution.

Question: Why did you come to the Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program?
I came to further develop our training program. We’re at a place where we feel we’ve hit baseline, and we want to do more to really excel. I think we owe it to our drivers, and we owe it to the public to keep stellar safe drivers out there. I feel that this program can help us achieve that.

Question: What are two things you learned at the event?
Just how much record-keeping comes into play and how such a simple little thing really is brought up in really serious accident conversations when we talk about liability. I think that is what stood out to me the most.

The second thing I learned was just how easy you can achieve that record-keeping. Not only to be compliant, but also to limit and mitigate your risk.

Question: If one of your colleagues was thinking about coming to an Engage event, what two reasons would you give them to come?
There’s a number of reasons. ]I’d say the opportunity to ask questions. I know that sometimes people like the instant answers. For me, it’s been really beneficial to think of a question about the product and to ask it right here. I know a lot of times you can’t do that over email or phone conference. I think that’s a really good benefit for my peers to attend.

One of the things I noticed here was just an opportunity to network and discuss similar challenges we all face with training and record-keeping and dealing with that issue. I think it’s great to see what other carriers are doing in that sense. To see what they have in place.

Question: What did you learn during the event that may change your current training program?
I learned how uniform your system can be, yet at the same time, you can cater it to your specific operation. For us, with our specific branches, and even within those branches and the different types of drivers that we have (over the road, local, short haul, and non CDL drivers). It’s nice to bring consistency but also know you can cater to our specific needs.

About the Engage Evaluation Program

Our Engage Evaluation Programs are free, two-day, hands-on classes designed specifically to teach you how implement online training. The event is the fastest way for you to discover what your training program should look like, all while networking with like-minded industry professionals. You’ll learn how easy it is to reduce your liabilities, establish a culture of safety and excellence in your company, and empower your employees.

Click Here to learn more and reserve your seat to our next event.

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How Reed Hurst Trucking Transformed Safety Training

How Reed Hurst Trucking Transformed Safety Training

Vertical Alliance Group hosts monthly webinars featuring clients who have made significant improvements in safety, compliance, and cost-saving by fully utilizing their Infinit-I Workforce System. The following is a synopsis of an interview with Pat Bode, Director of Safety & Driver Recruitment from Reed Hurst Trucking, Inc. Pat shares how Reed Hurst Trucking transitioned to using online training, how that change has positively impacted their company, and success tips for other Infinit-I clients.

Tina: I am so pleased to interview Pat at Reed Hurst Trucking. Over the last five years, Reed Hurst Trucking has used the Infinit-I Workforce System and integrated it into their safety training program. The Infinit-I Workforce System has more than 800 training videos specific to the trucking industry and HR-specific topics. My first question for Pat is, “Can you share with us just a little bit about your fleet and Reed Hurst Trucking? How many drivers do you guys have?”

Pat: We are a specialized hazmat carrier. We specialize in cryogenics: liquid CO2, liquid natural gas, oxygen, and helium. We have four locations. Our corporate office is in Pocatello, Idaho. We have locations in Utah as well as Cheyenne, Wyoming; Cortez, Colorado; and unmanned satellites in Texas and North Carolina.

We average about 70 to 75 drivers. We’re looking at growing here in the next six months to over 100 drivers. But for the last several years we’ve been averaging right about 70 drivers. About 95% of our company is company drivers. Maybe four drivers are owner-operators. A couple of them outright own their trucks and we a couple are leasing trucks from us.

Tina: Do you require those owner-operators to do the same training that you expect your company drivers to do?

Pat: They’re operating under our DOT authority, so yes. They are required to attend and do all safety training just as a company driver would.

Tina: We talked about your company, what about you?

Pat: I’ve been in transportation over 20 years. Most of those years, I’ve had my hand in some aspect of safety. So, I’ve always believed safety and operations can work together. And that’s how I’ve operated over the last 20 years.

I’m the only guy in our safety “department.” Vertical Alliance is a key part of that working. Their customer service reps are great. I make a single phone call or send an email. I get the information I need, usually within minutes or at worst an hour or two. My rep is always calling saying, “Hey, what do you need me to do?” So, the customer service people have taken a lot off my shoulders in helping manage the program. For those who are already using the system, rely more on your customer service representative.

Tina: So, you’re using the Infinit-I Workforce System, and you rely on your Customer Service Rep. Our reps are there to do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. They want to help you manage your program. We always want our clients to reach out to their reps. 

Pat: Definitely. When I first started, they were helping me by answering all my questions. And after a couple of months, I started relying on them more and more. They never say no. They’re always willing to go that extra mile and make sure I have what I want.

Tina: You’ve built an awesome online training program over the last several years, can you walk us through what your training program looked like before you went online?

Pat: Our training program was more of an orientation with the terminal manager. We had quarterly safety meetings, trying to get any required training in. The problem was operations, that’s how we make our money. So, we couldn’t tell the customer “no” and have everybody in the safety meeting. And, we weren’t hitting everybody. And we had to fly people in from the satellite locations. It was a hit or miss process, and it was almost impossible to make sure that everybody had all the required training.

Tina: So, when you started looking for an online training platform, what was your biggest concern?

Pat: Making sure we had the right content and that we were 100% compliant with everybody throughout the company. Compliance was a big concern. What I liked about Vertical Alliance is that they said, “Hey, here are some of our customers. Give them a call and ask them yourself what they think.” That sealed the deal for me.

Tina: You guys do a great job with training. You put a portion of your orientation online, and every driver now goes through that portion of their orientation online. How long was your orientation before that, and how much time is your in-person orientation now? 

Pat: Our orientation was running about four and a half days before we could get the driver out in a truck and earning money. Now, while they’re waiting for the results of their drug test, I set them up in Infinit-I for the online training. So now my orientation time is down to about two days. In person, we’re still doing all the DOT file and company policies. And, we go out and teach the Smith System, driving around town for the rest of the afternoon. It’s just the stuff you can’t put online. This system gets them in the truck and earning money a lot faster.

Tina: How have your drivers, your new hires, reacted to taking a portion of the training online?

Pat: A lot of them like it. They’re feeling like they’re getting an exclusive deal. They’re making money sooner. They’re all for that. The faster they can start making an income, that’s what makes them happy.

We don’t pay our new hires for the time they spend in online training before the in-person orientation. It’s a legal issue. They’re not official employees yet. So, that’s helped reduce some of our orientation costs. The benefit to the driver is that, instead of sitting in an orientation in our office getting minimal pay, they get in a truck where they’re making good money faster. The driver gets to get in a truck fast and support their family.

Tina: What do you do for drivers that are not familiar with technology or who do not have a computer? 

Pat: Occasionally, yes, we run into that. Some do it at the library. Some sit at a computer in our office. Worst case, we let them know they have to do all the training when they come in.

Tina: I know you’re going through a lengthy review process right now on policies and procedures. Can you walk us through how you’re deciding which policies need to be reviewed and what that process is?

Pat: I’m reviewing all our current policies. One of our challenges is getting policy changes out to all our drivers and making sure to send a list out to the terminal manager. You need to have them sign off that they’ve read and understood the policy. It’s been a two or three-month process. 

Now, we’re putting all our policies onto Infinit-I. We send an email out to everybody saying, “Hey, you got a quick safety memo, please read through it and acknowledge that you’ve read it.

We have a record of their name, date, and signature certifying that they are who they are and answering a couple of questions for the knowledge base. It can be pulled up at any time by any of the administrators. It takes a week, not three months.

Tina: You do a lot of custom training. A few years ago, you did training designed to teach your drivers about different technologies in the cab. Can you explain how you came up with the idea to create the training video, what equipment you used, and how the training was viewed by the drivers? Was it beneficial? What was your ultimate feedback?

Pat: I have a video blog that I call “The Safety Corner.” I use a little GoPro camera and my phone video camera. We’ve been running Omnitracs or old Qualcomm since 2012. We’ve been on electronic logs. But a lot of drivers were having problems with navigating a GPS. I just walked people through how I would do it as if I were talking to them on a one-to-basis. My customer service rep got it uploaded to our online system. And, I assigned it to our drivers.

As a safety department of one, I don’t have time to make videos. With Infinit-I, it’s a good mixture. The drivers like the custom content. It’s not a video that they’ve seen over and over. Doesn’t matter what company the driver goes to, he’s going to watch the same video because we all have similar videos. But the custom content is a good way to break up the monotony. Especially when it’s personalized to exactly what they’re doing.

My drivers are acutely aware that every month they’re going to need to log in and take 15 to 30 minutes of training. We tie that into our quarterly safety performance bonus. Drivers must have 95% of their safety training done to receive their bonus. 

Tina: So, do you think that safety bonus has helped you with the driver adoption of the online training? 

Pat: Not really. I have a great group of guys and gals who are all very safety conscious. If I don’t have monthly training up on time, I get drivers calling saying, “Hey, you putting training up this month? What’s going on? Why are you slacking?” So, the drivers enjoy it. To be eligible for their quarterly bonus, they must have 95% of the training done.

If they’re more than four months past due, we may have the driver come into a terminal and may redispatch their load. They lose money. They start out with three percent of their gross for the quarter. Any incident, damage, a performance issue goes to a quarterly review board. A driver’s bonus may be reduced. 

Tina: You don’t just use the system for your drivers. You also train your maintenance department. Why did you decide to do that? How do you decide what your maintenance team is going to be trained on? 

Pat: We started realizing that maintenance guys are always there. So, we have our maintenance guys do quarterly training. We bring all the required training, lock out, tag out, fall protection, hazmat, Osha power tools, tire inspections. All that’s online, and it helps us keep all our training documented in one central spot.

Tina: Is there anybody else at Reed Hurst, besides the drivers and the mechanics, who take the training online?

Pat: Yeah, the dispatchers. We require our dispatchers to do the same training that drivers do. That’s important for me because they need to understand how the driver’s being trained. What’s kind of unique with us is my CEO, CFO, and COO are listed as drivers, and they get all the driver training. And, they have to get it completed, or I call them to harass them about it. It’s actually kind of funny because the drivers know Billy Hurst, our CEO, is doing his training. And I’ll get phone calls occasionally, “Hey did I get mine done before Billy got his done? Senior management wasn’t going to ask our drivers to do something that they weren’t doing, and they stuck with it. 

Tina: That’s how you build a strong safety culture. So, you talked a little bit about monthly training. How do you decide what you’re going to assign on a monthly basis? How frequently do you decide what you’re going to train? Is it done at the beginning of the year? Do you do it on a month to month? And how do you pick those topics?

Pat: I do it month to month. I analyze if there are issues that we’ve had over the last couple of months that we need to have training on. Our 72-hour road and brake check are usually in September. There are seasonal issues, like winter weather driving and jack-knifing. GHS. First aid. 

Tina: You haul hazardous materials. You sue some of our Infinit-I hazmat training, you use some custom hazmat training. Can you walk us through how your drivers have responded to taking their hazmat training online? Walk us through a little bit about the custom pieces that you’ve put up and kind of how you do the online hazmat training.

Pat: We use Infinit-I online hazmat as well as training specific to our industry and to the products that they’re are hauling, whether it’s CO2, LNG, and so forth. They get it live with their trainer, and we follow up with videos. After, they get a level one inspection; we get a write up on that level one. As a follow-up training for a particular driver, I may specifically assign some CSA videos if they’re not good at maintenance or pre-trip inspections.

Tina: How do you manage the program? Do you monitor to ensure your drivers are completing their assigned training?

Pat: I monitor it usually on a weekly basis. Some reports are set up to automatically come to me. Our HR manager will run a report every payroll to see who has completed their required training for that month so that they can get paid for the appropriate payroll period as well.

Tina: You talked about corrective action training. Can you walk us through how you do online training and in-person meetings when your drivers get any violation?

Pat: Immediate retraining is usually an assigned video. And then, depending on the violation, the terminal manager may have a phone conversation or bring them in. Depending on the severity, we have corrective action steps which may include follow-up meetings as well as additional training. With Vertical Alliance, it’s all right there in that same neat package. So, we have documented, in the system, re-training and any corrective action training as well as any documentation a terminal manager made. 

Tina: How do you think the online training portion has impacted your company’s safety program? 

Pat: It has impacted our safety immensely. Six years ago, I would have cringed it you told me we had an audit. Now, I know I’m fully in compliance. I can prove I do continuous safety training and corrective action training. A couple of years ago, I had a driver that had a blowout. By the time we got him back to the terminal, he says, “I just watched that video and I did exactly what it told me to do.”

Tina:  If somebody is a safety director who’s just started with the Infinit-I Workforce System or they’re contemplating using online training of any type at their company, what’s the best piece of advice you’d give them about how to get started with it?

Pat: Just pull the trigger. It’s something that I think every good safety program needs to have. When I was doing my research, all the other programs were canned programs. They strictly used their information; you couldn’t add anything to it. With Vertical Alliance, I can put up my videos and make my custom content. It’s the same price range as these other programs. That was a no-brainer for me. If you’re looking at this as an option to improve your safety department, I can tell you, in my opinion, that you will see benefits within the first year. So definitely do it.

Tina: Do you have advice on how you got the owners to “buy in”?

Pat: I showed them where we were in compliance, what it would take for me to get everybody in compliance without online training. Safety affects the bottom line, but it’s hidden. Depending on your fleet size, if you can prevent one accident that saves you $5,000, that pays for a good portion or all of the Infinit-I annual fee.

Tina:  As a client, you’ve attended our Engage Evaluation Program. It was called Bootcamp back then. What was your biggest takeaway from attending that event? 

Pat: It showed me how to use the system in some ways that I wasn’t using it or hadn’t even thought of using it. I’d recommend it. You walk away with new ideas. I learned from other clients. The networking and seeing what’s working for another company, or what’s not working, was a benefit. That was the biggest thing. 

Tina: Awesome! Yes, we realized that our clients needed more in-depth training and ideas. That’s why we’re doing these webinars. And, once a month, we do an all-day client-only event. It runs from 8 until 2 or 3. We teach you how to use some of the “hidden features” and jewels of this system. There are things that clients didn’t know the system could do.

Not yet a client of Infinit-I Workforce? Join us at our next 2-day Engage Event

We would like to show you the benefits of online training and ensure it is right for you, I encourage you to come out to our next two-day event. We know that you’re still learning about how to build your training program. We’ll teach you how to use the Infinit-I Workforce system. And, we also teach you some of the nuts and bolts of building an online safety program and creating custom training.

If you’re interested in attending an event, sign up for our next Safety Boot Camp.

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RS Concrete Attends Engage Evaluation Program

RS CONCRETE ATTENDS ENGAGE EVALUATION PROGRAM

This month we welcomed 13 trucking companies to the Vertical Alliance Training Campus in Irving, Texas, where we taught them how to maximize online training and build a strong safety culture. Two of the people who joined us were Irma Salinas and David Caudillo, both of whom work for RS Concrete in Houston, TX. During the event, Irma and David sat down with us and shared why they were glad they had taken advantage of the opportunity to attend.

What RS Concrete Learned at the Engage Evaluation Program

Question: Tell Us a Little Bit About Your Company
We are a family-owned business for concrete manufacturing. We deliver all ready mix concrete. We’ve been in business since 1992 are are the largest family-owned concrete business in Houston. Owned by a Hispanic actually and the body that’s us

Question: Why did you decide to come to the Engage Evaluation Program?

Our insurance agent, Kimberly, is the one that put us on to checking it out. She got one of the sales rep down to Houston, and we had a meeting there. We liked the program and think it fits our company just because of the hours that our drivers work. That’s why we made it over here.

Question: What are two things you learned at the event?

How important safety meetings, trainings, and orientations are for our drivers. And how we can actually implement them and make drivers interested in them … once they’re hired and before they’re hired. And how quick and easy the meetings can be.

Question: If one of your colleagues was thinking about coming to this event, what are two reasons you would give them for coming?

They should come once because everybody here, and this company, knows exactly what they’re talking about. They’re very knowledgeable. What they’re saying the product they’re selling, their expertise is awesome. The people they bring in here know exactly what they’re talking about, exactly what companies need in order for them to get their job done for their companies

Question: What did you learn during the event that may change your current training program?

Document. How important is it for you to have everything documented and in place in the event a tragic event, or any little bumper-to-bumper happens. You know, it’s just how important it is to have it signed and to document.

 

About the Engage Evaluation Program

Our Engage Evaluation Programs are free, two-day, hands-on classes designed specifically to teach you how implement online training. The event is the fastest way for you to discover what your training program should look like, all while networking with like-minded industry professionals. You’ll learn how easy it is to reduce your liabilities, establish a culture of safety and excellence in your company, and empower your employees.

Click Here to learn more and reserve your seat to our next event.

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How the Infinit-I Workforce System Connects with Tenstreet via API Integration

HOW THE INFINIT-I WORKFORCE SYSTEM CONNECTS WITH TENSTREET VIA API INTEGRATION

Can the Infinit-I Workforce System integrate with Tenstreet and other software?

One of the unique things about the Infinit-I Workforce System is how easily customizable it is to fit the unique needs of your business. For example, many of our clients  utilize Tenstreet for their driver recruiting software.  Through an API, we are able to integrate our training platform with Tenstreet software, making it very convenient for their drivers and managers to have all training and onboarding records housed within the Tenstreet system.

 

Client Spotlight: Road Runner Transportation Services

Kevin Traynor, Training and Orientation Manager for Road Runner Transportation Services, explains how their company customized the Infinit-I Workforce System to API with their driver recruiting software, Tenstreet.

 

What is an API?

API stands for Application Programming Interface. It allows programs to talk to each other. It is a software to software interface.

How API WorksThere are three types of APIs:

  1. Local APIs
  2. Web APIs
  3. Program APIs

We primarily use Web APIs.  Our APIs allow the Infinit-I Workforce System to communicate with various software platforms. The API allows data to be transferred between our system and those software platforms.

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How Keller Logistics Successfully Implemented Online Training into Their Safety Program

How Keller Logistics Success Implement Online Training Into Their Safety Program

eth Woodbury, Director of Safety and Wellness for Keller Logistics Group, was the client speaker at our Engage Evaluation Program November 7th and 8th in Irving, Texas.  Beth spoke about the Infinit-I Workforce System and how her company deployed it successfully, saving both time and resources across the company.

Video Interview with Keller LogisticsWatch the complete interview

About the Infinit-I Workforce System

Infinit-I Workforce System Features

Click to Request a Demo | Online Employee Training System

Online Training Q&A with Beth Woodburry at Keller Logistics Group

Before you started using the Infint-I Workforce System, did you have any perceptions about online training, or any concerns about it?

I really didn’t know anything about online training before. I guess probably one of the concerns we had was how many people had access to online, to Wi-Fi mobile devices. We found that most of our drivers have access in one way, shape, or form, whether it’s in the office, mobile hotspot, tablet, or cell phone. We do required trainings every month, and we get 100 percent compliance.

What’s the primary use of the Infinit-I Workforce System? Is it just safety training, or orientation, or other things?

We use it for everything. We start out with driver orientation, as well as orientation with our general laborers and our forklift drivers, as well as our temps. We run a lot of temps through our repack business, probably 30 or 40 a week. This makes it a lot easier to get that training done, that OSHA required training for the temporary employees.

How did your drivers react to the Infinit-I Workforce System when you first introduced online training?

We did it softly, so we kind of left it optional. We didn’t put any penalties for not watching their videos, but then we started incorporating it with their safety bonus program. And we really haven’t had any issues.  They like it in the fact that we use Vertical Alliance now as our primary means for getting the message out to drivers for whatever we want to get the message out to them for.

It was only a portion of the people reading the newsletter, only a portion of the people that have e-mail, not everybody text messages, but we know that 100 percent of our drivers get on to watch these videos.

We just implemented a policy that said you have to turn in your bills of lading or you won’t get paid. We wanted to make sure everybody got that message before we put that down, and 100 percent of our drivers did. And it’s time stamped. There is no disputing whether they knew about it or not. It is 100% communicated.

Do you have company drivers or contract drivers?

They’re all company. Local, regional, over-the-road. Some are based in Illinois. Some are based in Wisconsin or Texas. We have drivers we don’t see regularly, but they’re all company drivers.

As you were implementing the Infinit-I Workforce System, were there any challenges you had to overcome?

I don’t really think there were. Erin is our customer client representatives. She does a real great job as far as getting the custom content uploaded and working with us to get the questions we want put on there.

How long did it take to get everyone using the Infinit-I Workforce System?

I think it was a two-year process. It’s some time commitment too for monitoring. There are reports you can run to see who’s in compliance and not in compliance.

We run a little bit different of a business, having general laborers, and forklift drivers, and drivers, so that was more of a challenge coordinating that training. I have Sara now, and she helps me get that done. She’s our training coordinator, so she’s taken that over. But with Vertical Alliance, it makes it very easy to get it done.

Do you manage the Infinit-I Workforce System, or does Sara?

We do it jointly. We discuss what training topics we want to have monthly. We have monthly training topics. Our warehouses have weekly “Take Ten for Safety.” We use it for our mechanic training that we do, our safety training that we do weekly.

If we’ve had a work comp incident, we try and get the message out through Vertical Alliance, “You know we had this happen. We want to prevent it from happening again.” We get the training out that way.

Do you make your own assignments, or does Client Services do that for you?

We do our own assignments.

How is Client Services working out for you?

She’s great. Erin’s a big help. We were having some issues with a little bit of push back from our HR and driver manager staff that orientation was taking too long because the drivers are having to re-watch the videos. We talked to Erin about it, and she introduced us to the total clicks, and that made everybody happy. She’s been a great asset for problem solving some different things that we’ve had.

Can you share with us a little bit more about the custom content you are creating?

One of the biggest ones we did was a couple of months ago when we were seeing a lot of DriveCam videos where drivers were using cell phones. We realized we needed to put a policy down right now. So, the owner, Brian Keller, put out a custom video that was direct from him that basically laid out our policy that says, “We’ll give you one time we see you with a phone. The second time, you’re terminated.” That had a really good effect on the fleet. I mean we did have an incident not long ago, but the number of events dramatically went down.

Has the Infinit-I Workforce System training impacted your accidents or incidents?

I don’t have anything concrete with that. We’ve done a lot in the last 12 to 24 months to try and reduce accidents as well as worker’s comp accidents.

We do a lot of communication through Vertical Alliance. If there’s something we want people to know, we put it up on the Infinit-I Workforce System. It’s just the most surefire way to know that they got the message and the most economical.

Our H.R. department emailed out our 401k required notices this last week, and it was a thick book of you know the annual notification. I said, “We should have just put that on Vertical Alliance. It would have saved a lot of postage, a lot of time, a lot of people stuffing envelopes. And it’s guaranteed that they got it. You know.”

How would you say the Infinit-I Workforce System has impacted your job?

I think it’s made it easier. Initially, with any program it’s going to have its learning curve. But I think it’s made it easier. An easier way to get messages out.

We do our post-accident countermeasure all through Vertical Alliance, whether it’s a video or upload PDF.

My insurance company, when they do our captive audit every year, they always ask for what was my current reaction to this accident or this accident. And I can just print a report out of Vertical Alliance and show that that it was done through there. It’s an easy means to get the corrective action done. In less serious accidents, I can do it remotely. Just have them login. “Hey it’s up online. Go in and look at it, and let me know when you have it done.

Recently we’ve just started doing DriveCam coaching through there. Drivers can log into DriveCam through that portal. But putting them up on Vertical Alliance, it gives them a single point of access. They don’t have to remember multiple user IDs and passwords. So, they can log in. “Hey, you have an event to look at. Let me know when you’ve looked at it, and then call me, and we can talk about it.”  And then we are coaching them right through Vertical Alliance.

How do they know they have an event?

Through PeopleNet message. We send out a fleet message. We usually try and get it up the first week of the month, and they have until the end of the month to get them done.

We work with all our fleet managers every week. We have a meeting, and we let them know who’s outstanding. Once we get down to the last couple days of the month, there might be two or three stragglers, and we really hit them hard. Because our safety department is motivated to get these done, so they’re making calls there. “What do we need to do? Do we need to get you to someplace to watch them, or what can we do to help you?”

The fleet managers are also making calls because they are vested in having that done as well.

What percentage of hours does a driver spend doing online training in orientation vs. your entire orientation?

I would say 10 or 20 percent. We still like to have that one-on-one experience. We have put up drug and alcohol videos. We put some wellness videos on there. We’re very, very big into wellness. We have a wellness coordinator. We also own our own clinic, so we’ve done a custom video that tours our clinic and talks about our services that our clinic provides to our employees at no charge. That’s helped increase our clinic usage as well.

A lot of what we do is custom. How we want to do a pre-trip inspection. How the state teaches it and how we want you to do it are a little bit different, and this is what we want you to look at. I would have to say it’s usually about three hours of videos, and it’s all videos.

We don’t do any HR paperwork. We still are having that one-on-one contact with them. So online training is about three hours of the orientation process.

When you started using the system, was there anything you found that you weren’t expecting?

I think all the time we come up with things like “We should put that on Vertical Alliance, why didn’t we do that? Why didn’t we put these 401K things up?”

Right now, we are using a process driven system for all of our departments to where we’ve taken every job task, whether it’s auditing logs or doing payroll, and we’ve actually written processes for every task, everything that people do.

Take auditing logs. We’ve went through what we do when we audit a log. If my log auditor is sick for a week, or two weeks, or goes on vacation, and I need somebody to come and fill in, they can reference this process.

We pay a separate service right now, but we’re looking at transitioning it all over to a Vertical Alliance, so that we have all our processes documented within a click. People can come in, and we reduce our downtime. We still get our logs audited, and we have a documented process. If we ever get audited by the DOT, or we’re involved in litigation, we have that process documented, and we trained our people on that process.

What do you like best about working with Vertical Alliance Group?

I like the tracking and traceability of the training. We used to do monthly trainings, accident countermeasures, all via paper. We’d mail it out, put it in their paycheck stubs. They’d send it back, and I’d have this big stack of paper that we’d have to go through and monitor and manage. And then somebody forgot to put their name on it or you couldn’t read it. This is just all right there at my finger. You can run a report and literally in 30 seconds you can see who has done it and who hasn’t done it. Nothing to scan and file. It’s all right there.

How did you implement this into your safety bonus program?

Well the fleet managers are incentivized via a bonus. They have a safety portion built into their quarterly or annual bonus. Drivers get a weekly safety bonus. We give them the deadline that they have to watch it by the last day of the month. If they don’t, they lose their weekly safety bonus until they get it watched. We pay 3 cents a mile safety bonus every week, it’s about $75. So, if you don’t watch it for one week, you’ve lost 75 bucks averaging 2500 miles. You don’t watch it for two weeks, that $150. They watch it.

We haven’t seen an issue once we started. You’re really putting some teeth in it, and we tie it to the safety bonus. They watch it. We call them. It should never be a surprise when somebody doesn’t get their safety bonus. They should know that it’s coming because we tell them. That last week leading up to the end of the month, we’re calling them. We’re reminding them. Their fleet managers are calling them. Again, it should never be a surprise that they’re not getting that in their check.

Is there anything new that you’re planning in the future?

Wellness is huge for us, so we are probably going to start using it more. I have a full-time wellness coordinator that works under me. I’m doing more videos, cooking videos. We give every driver a crockpot when they hire on, so we’re probably going to put some cooking videos out online. We’ll probably do some in-truck exercises. We hear a lot how drivers can’t exercise. We’ve run functional capacity exams, and we have a physical therapist as well on staff, and so he does a lot with rehabbing drivers. So probably doing some of that kind of stuff, but more working in the driver wellness. We’re doing a lot of communication right now for Sleep Apnea as well. So probably more rolling it into wellness, trying to capitalize on that piece now.

Reduce trucking accidents by at least 18%

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