Taking a good look in the mirror

Each mirror station consists of painted targets, either on the ground or on a fixed object such as a wall. The driver then positions his truck in a certain spot, and adjusts the mirrors using the targets to gain the greatest visibility. Many drivers are amazed at the difference the adjustments make.

It's hard to believe that something as small as taking time to adjust mirrors can help lower accidents.

Faced with ongoing sideswipe incidents when changing lanes, it is exactly this small procedure that's helping our Transport team in Florida lower these types of accidents.

With the help of Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, the team adopted a mirror check station program to help drivers minimise the effects of blind spots. Launched through the US Transport Safety Department and with the help of our terminal managers, this new program initially went live across terminal locations in Mobile, Alabama and Como, Mississippi in December 2005 and is now available at all terminals.

In the third quarter of YEM 06, Rinker Materials Transport had a total of 13 preventable lane change accidents – that's 1.4 accidents per month. In the first quarter of YEM 07, preventable lane change accidents were down to one a month.

The reduction in these types of accidents is also thanks to monthly tailgate and quarterly meetings with drivers. In addition, driver managers at all locations send out daily safety messages to their drivers via pagers and our tracking system, Qual-Comm. The value of constant reminders of the importance of safety can never be forgotten.

"We are very happy to see the positive progress, although we are still not where we would like to be," says Judd Brogden, Transport's Northwest Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi safety manager. "This program - as well as others - will continue to help us reach our goal and achieve Zero4Life."

If you are interested in obtaining more information on the mirror check station, please contact Judd Brogden, Transport Division safety manager by e-mail at rbrogden@rinker.com, or by phone at 877-447-4450, Ext. # 4.

New Zero4Life award for Readymix

Readymix has a new annual award - The Laurie Jensen Zero4Life Award - and the inaugural winner for 2006 is Phil Lobegeiger, Humes safety coordinator in South East Queensland (SEQ).

After a long career in the Navy, Phil started work at Humes Yandina in quality and safety during the late nineties. His excellent work at Yandina made him the obvious choice when Humes was looking for a safety coordinator to take on the challenges of SEQ.

Phil was a key player in lifting SEQ's safety performance from the worst on record in 1999 (with a TRIFR of 250-plus) to one of the best in 2005 (with a TRIFR of 18.1). This area is still going strong today with no lost time injuries for the past three years.

"Phil never misses an opportunity to have a discussion with anyone who will listen about Zero4Life, what it means to him, what it means to them and why it's so important," says David McKelvie, national safety manager. "But he also takes it one step further by surveying and measuring people's understanding of the value and goal – then revising his strategy to suit.