• Tuesday, December 24 – Half day, minimal support staff
• Wednesday, December 25 – Completely closed
• Thursday, December 26 – Half day, minimal support staff
• Tuesday, December 31 – Half day, minimal support staff
• Wednesday, January 1 – Completely Closed

Thank you and enjoy your holidays!

As a special note:

The December holidays are a great time to visit family or friends, but the roads can be treacherous during these winter months. Please make sure you are prepared for winter road conditions before you leave. We recommend that you “know before you go”.

That is, use this mobile friendly webpage to check the current weather and road conditions before commencing on your road trip and make adjustments to your plans accordingly: Drivebc.com/mobile

Our office will be mostly closed on Monday November 11 for Remembrance Day in Canada. We will have a few employees available on that day.

Elise Lefevre (elisel@tandptrucking.com) in Canada will be available on call on Monday November 11 to service our customers and drivers alike.

Ryan Foran (ryanf@tandptrucking.com) in the USA will also be available all day for point to point USA customers and shipments.

Have a great long weekend!

Sam Pattison
President
T & P Trucking

Elise Lefevre (elisel@tandptrucking.com) and Sam Pattison (samp@tandptrucking.com) in Canada will be available on Monday October 14 to service our customers and drivers alike.

Ryan Foran (ryanf@tandptrucking.com) in the USA will also be available for point to point USA customers and shipments.

Have a great long weekend!

Sam Pattison
President
T & P Trucking

That is why we were so excited to receive an award from the Trucking Safety Council of BC recognizing our efforts.
While we didn’t do it for the rewards or recognition, we’re sure you’ll agree that it’s always nice when someone recognizes and appreciates your work.

However, though we may have only just received this award, our efforts towards improving safety and supporting WCB safety standards started a long time ago.

Safety First

Every industry has specific safety regulations they need to meet, and trucking is no exception. Since T&P trucking started up their first truck back in 1080, we have worked hard to stay up to date with all safety regulations. Even today when there are new changes to the safety standard we update and train our drivers and employees as needed.

Because of having safety so ingrained in our work, it didn’t take long to recognize the benefits of maintaining safe working practices and we felt the desire to go above and beyond the required safety rules. This feeling resulted in encouraging all of our employees to embrace a ‘safety mindset’ in all aspects of the workplace, not just in our truck yard where the dangers are obvious.

We also wanted to show others what we were doing so we started sharing tips, reminders and safety ideas on our Instagram. Facebook, and LinkedIn pages. In this way we could share our own safety efforts and encourage other companies to improve their safety standards as well.

It wasn’t long before WCB noticed that we put a high value and importance on safety. They asked us if we would donate the use of our time, drivers, and yard to help them film safety videos about jobsite safety. We jumped at the opportunity and just a few months later the videos were ready.

These videos turned out awesome and you can check them out below:

Getting Noticed

It was never our goal to improve safety just so we could be recognized, but when we were able to apply for the COR (Certificate of Recognition) program we thought it would be a great idea.

The whole T&P team was excited when we finished the course and received our recognition from Safety Driven BC:

Further Recognition

The Safety Driven organisation has been making great strides towards encouraging all companies to increase their safety efforts. They even held an event recently that showcased some of the local businesses’ efforts towards safety and awarded some companies with a certification plaque.

The T&P team were further excited to learn that T&P Trucking had been nominated for not one but two awards! We of course were happy to attend the event and had a great time meeting other like-minded companies who care for safety as much as we do.

Here are some pictures from the event:

That last picture is our Manager Sam trying vigorously to remove fingerprints off the reward, so we of course had to touch it again when he was done, haha.

We really appreciate these awards and plan to continue working safely in all aspects of our industry. We also want to encourage and challenge other local companies to step up their safety game and hopefully we can see them at next years awards!

If you would like to learn more about the Benefits of COR and learn how to enroll, click here or on the image below.

We want everyone to have a safe long weekend and enjoy the weather. If you’re planning some outdoor activities, the weather doesn’t look too terrible.
During your weekend activities keep an eye open for a rare Full Blue Moon, it should be fully visible on April 19th.

Why would someone want to be a truck driver? Freedom from the office? Higher earnings? Being your own boss? These sound like great reasons to us, yet there are many trucking companies that are facing the growing struggle of attracting millennials to the trucking industry. Let’s see why and what each trucking company can do to change that.

A New Career

Attracting millennials to the trucking industry isn’t impossible, but many who fall into the ‘millennial’ classification are ones who want a job with a purpose, to feel like what they do actually matters.

Part of the problem in the truck driving world is recruiters who describe the job as a way to “see the country”. It is these kind of broad statements that mislead many into starting a career as a truck driver thinking it will fulfill some sort of travel fantasy rather than being a physically demanding job.

Every industry has good and bad aspects, so glamourizing only the good things can bring people into the industry with the wrong idea. It doesn’t take long before they realize there’s more to the job then what they were told and decide that this isn’t what they wanted and just quit. This can cost a company a considerable amount of time and resources.

The origin of this problem comes from shielding the bad aspects of the job, which means you bring the wrong people into this industry, so of course they won’t last. Anyone who is in the business knows that the literal driving of the truck is only one aspect of the job.

Being that a trucking job is tough and overall involves plenty of hard work, how can a trucking business find the right kind of people and then keep these new drivers?

In it for the long road

Like we mentioned previously, companies need to show that they have a purpose or a driving force for why they do what they do. This can resonate with future employees and help them see how your goal fits with theirs.

Another important thing many companies are missing is being real with what life in the trucking industry means. You need to show the heart and soul of your company. If you are interviewing potential recruits, be real with them and tell them the worst parts of the job. You don’t need to be overly negative, but make sure they understand what they are getting into. It will work to your advantage in the end because you will end up with a driver who actually wants to be there and enjoys their job.

Now that you have someone who actually wants the job, the next step is showing them how they are part of the team and that you will help them succeed.

A Career for Life

At T&P Trucking, we love seeing our drivers continuing to succeed in the industry. That is why we always start with teaching new drivers exactly what the job will involve and how to best manage their time so they will enjoy their job and hopefully have a successful career in the industry. We also help new drivers understand how to best manage their time so they will enjoy working and earn a comfortable wage if they continue to work hard.

Safety is also a large part of what we help new drivers understand. By starting them off learning the right way to load and unload trucks, secure loads, and transport their load safely, we help reduce the risk that these new drivers will injure themselves. Injuries for drivers can not only impede on their recreational activities, but it can also negatively impact their financial situations. That is something no one wants to see.

We also try to help our drivers have a happy working life by making sure they aren’t away from their families for too long. Being a family run business, family values are important to us and we want to keep that vibe right down to each driver.

To sum it all up, by being honest with potential new drivers, training them to be successful, and helping them find a happy balance between life on the road and their personal family life, it IS possible to bring in (and keep) new, young drivers.

References

www.truckinsurancequotes.com/millennial-drivers

www.trucknews.com/how-to-attract-new-drivers

Contributors

Rob Morris

Support Staff

Sam Pattison
General Manager
+1 (800) 668-1325 ext #1260
samp@tptrucking.ca

Need For Change

Ask anyone in the trucking industry about the type of training they received before becoming a truck driver and you will get a very mixed review. While some companies offer great training, others keep it to the bare minimum. This process obviously does not build confidence with the public, not to mention increases the risk for other drivers that share the road with commercial vehicles.

Many individuals today are capable of operating their own personal car or small truck on the road. However, when it comes to commercial vehicles many don’t seem to recognize the vast differences between the two. Stopping distances, lanes changes and blind spots are just a few of the many areas that prove the skill set from personal driving do not translate over to commercial driving.

It’s reasons such as these that Marc Garneau, the Transport Minister for Canada made an announcement that the minimum entry-level semi-truck driver training standards will be developed for next January. An important step in this process is getting the importance of this training for truck drivers recognized in the National Safety Code.

Once this standard entry training is in the Safety Code it will help ensure that all future truck drivers across Canada will have the necessary skills and knowledge to safely operate these vehicles.

These proposed changes are entirely based around safety. It is hoped that we will never again have to hear about thirteen injured, and sixteen people dying from a commercial vehicle accident as we did on April 6 2018, in the Humboldt bus crash.

What to Expect

Garneau plans to work with all of the provinces across Canada to ensure the rules and regulations for commercial vehicle training are similar. We are all one big country so it makes sense that we should have a unified standard of safety. Not to mention that many long haul drivers’ routes cover all the way across Canada, so every province would want to ensure that the drivers driving on their roads are all properly trained.

If all goes according to plan, by January 2020 we should see these new regulations start to roll out across Canada.

Start the Change Now

You don’t need to wait until 2020 to start proper safety training.

If you are a truck driver or if you work for a transport company that uses commercial vehicles, can you say that your drivers are properly trained? If not, speak to your employer about implementing proper training.

It has never been easier to get good training for drivers. There are so many online resources that can help you get started.

One such resource T&P Trucking used is that of a great initiative from SafetyDriven – Trucking Safety Council of BC. They offered 1 on 1 mentorship with their advisors to help with our health and safety program. We highly recommend you check them out and see how they can help you.

If we all do are part to stay up to date with new and improved safety training and information, we can hit the roads with full confidence knowing that the drivers behind the wheel of commercial vehicles have actually gone through proper training.

Resources

www.cbc.ca/news/federal-regulations
www.hg,org/causes-of-semi-truck-accidents

Contributors

Rob Morris

• Friday, December 22 – Closing early at 12:00 pm
• Monday, December 25 – Completely closed
• Tuesday, December 26 – Completely closed
• Friday, December 29 – Closing early at 12:00 pm
• Monday, January 1 – Completely Closed

Thank you and enjoy your holidays!

As a special note:

The December holidays are a great time to visit family or friends, but the roads can be treacherous during these winter months. Please make sure you are prepared for winter road conditions before you leave. We recommend that you “know before you go”.

That is, use this mobile friendly webpage to check the current weather and road conditions before commencing on your road trip and make adjustments to your plans accordingly: Drivebc.com/mobile