For the fourth consecutive year, at the Jugos del Valle – Santa Clara (JDV-SC)Transportation Safety Summit, the focus with its suppliers of finished product transportation and production inputs was on making road safety a non-negotiable priority and aligning all efforts to reduce all aspects of operational risk.
The JDV-SC leadership is clear that while transportation is outsourced, the implemented processes and elements such as training must be shared and, therefore, must be aligned in their objectives .
This effort is part of JDV-SC’s commitment to achieving the highest safety standards in alignment with its carrier partners and for the benefit of all the ecosystems where they converge.
“We cannot tolerate a lack of maintenance, processes, or training for operators. We must be strict and not compromise,” said Juan Carlos Jaramillo, general director of JDV-SC, at the start of the Transportation Summit.
The focus is on comprehensive safety, said Eugenio Domínguez, Supply Chain Director at JDV-SC, “We care about the physical and emotional health, not only of those who work for the company, but also of the community. That’s why the first element is ensuring that operators are safe .”
In this scenario, JDV-SC is focused on training operators and ensuring they assume technical skills , as well as identifying how to improve training processes.
Vicente Zenit, Director of Safety at The Coca-Cola Company , described that they must accelerate preventive practices so that they become a culture, and where efficient execution in operations stands out, a change in cultural mentality, “the safety culture must be focused on people ,” he considered.
An additional point raised by Zenit was that of recognition and accountability, in order to establish a clear responsibility matrix.
As part of the program, one of its transportation providers, Autotransportes Pilot , also participated. Gerardo Jiménez, the carrier’s general manager, presented the company’s ongoing safety models.
“Today we already have specialized road safety departments, because companies are focused on assuming greater responsibility in this area. Those of us who manage transportation fleets are jointly responsible for what happens inside and outside the vehicles,” Jiménez emphasized.
For this reason, various strategies are being implemented to address the health of operators, resulting in greater road safety. These strategies include involving families and maintaining close ties to promote better conditions.
Leonardo Gómez, executive president of the National Association of Private Transportation (ANTP) , highlighted that Mexico is above the average in Latin America in terms of the Accident Rate per million kilometers, above six per million kilometers, while the average is four .
“However, the accident rate for companies participating in the National Road Safety Award is just 0.59, which makes it clear that these types of initiatives are relevant,” said Gómez Vargas.
Another factor highlighted by the ANTP’s executive president is that while there is a severe shortage of operators, there is also a shortage of instructors, as a way to generate more professionally trained personnel to operate these types of units.
These are the elements that the 4th JDV-SC Transportation Safety Summit seeks to address in order to confront the issue of road safety, which the various participants agree is multifactorial and must be addressed with diverse strategies.
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