Nationwide Rail Services Gains Safety Advantage With Each Drop-And-Hook
NRS shared with their insurance company how the SmartValve reduces driver injuries by conducting a live demonstration with the assistance of Rush Truck Centers.
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NRS shared with their insurance company how the SmartValve reduces driver injuries by conducting a live demonstration with the assistance of Rush Truck Centers.
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If Nationwide Rail Services were to include “safety” as a line item in its assets, it wouldn’t seem far-fetched to its insurance carrier. The 30 drivers employed by NRS perform 300 to 400 drop-and-hook operations every day, with a chance for injury each time — more so as the average age of the driver increases. But NRS is proactively mitigating workers’ compensation costs, and its insurance carrier is participating in the process.
“Our company’s success is built on a foundation of safety,” says NRS President and CEO Joseph Barton. “We take great pride in our strong relationship with safety coordinators and trainers at our insurance carrier in our ongoing quest for top-notch safety.
“Many of the trailer lots that NRS supports have trailers wedged in too tight to access landing gear, the lots are uneven from years of trailer storage, and, due to new [federal] rules, drivers have limited time to wait for yard trucks,” he explains. “All this results in drivers having to get in and out of the cab far more often with each drop-and-hook.”
NRS discovered that drivers getting in and out of the cab account for the highest number of trucking injuries, with the second highest resulting from the strain involved in adjusting landing gear. With an average of $55,000 per workers’ comp claim for significant, non-fatal drop-and-hook related injuries, NRS looked for a solution to keep drivers safer and healthier.
Rush Truck Centers in Huntley, Illinois, recommended the fleet install the Hadley SmartValve, an electronic height control system with advanced features to make drop-and-hook operations faster, easier, and safer. NRS installed the SmartValve system on five of its International ProStar day cabs in September …Read the rest of this story
