KING CITY, Ont. – After a day of educational seminars, the PMTC and Zurich announced the winners of the Private Fleet Safety Awards at the conference dinner.

John Deere Canada (represented by John Van Geest, manager of Canadian logistics and fleet services) and The TDL Group (Stephen Birtley, director, logistics) were the winners of the award because of their overall safety regime and over the road records.

“Along with Zurich, we at the PMTC congratulate the management and drivers of these fleets,” said PMTC president Bruce Richards. “The efforts of everyone involved with these fleets, and many others in the PMTC membership points to their desire to keep road safety foremost in their operations.”

John Deere has operated its private fleet for more than 38 years in Canada and its fleet personnel includes more than 150 people. The company is C-TPAT, CSA and FAST approved and is a two-time winner of the Private Fleet Safety Award.

New hires for the company are required to have clean abstracts and must pass a series of pre-employment tests (drugs, alcohol, written, and road). New additions also have two full days of in-house training.

John Deere conducts full investigations after every incident, and offers an award program for its drivers. Finally, the company’s CVOR violation rate is only 6.5%.

The TDL Group is one of the most visible private fleets in Canada.

New hires at TDL are subjected to multiple interviews, reference checks, a road test and physical assessment. They also received two-day orientation with a driver trainer and four weeks with an over the road trainer. In addition, all drivers receive an annual performance review.

TDL  Group  has an incentive program for their safe drivers and its CVOR violation rate is enviable at less than 3.9%.

The competition is open to all Canadian private carriers and Zurich has been the sponsor since the awards’ inception.