Healthy Trucking Kiosks Offer Innovative Advertising Opportunities
Quote of the Day
Today we give you not one but several quotes, all from the legendary British prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill was known as a great political leader and statesmen, but his wonderful command of the English language allowed him to craft some glorious insults, such as these gems from an era when wit (rather than 4-letter words) ruled:
* “He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”
* “A modest little person, with much to be modest about.”
* George Bernard Shaw to Churchill: “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend … if you have one.” Churchill in response: “Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second … if there is one.”
* An exchange between Churchill & Lady Nancy Astor after a tense dinner party: She said, “Winston, if you were my husband, I’d poison your tea.” Churchill’s response: “Nancy, if you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
The Drivers' Health Correlation Problem
By Barry Pawelek Sr.
More than 75 percent of trucking companies have had one or more of their drivers involved in an accident, but today I’m not talking about accidents involving company equipment. Today, I’m talking about accidents involving the driver’s body.
In one of our surveys for 2007, Walk A Mile America followed three drivers who have had accidents. Two were overweight by 150 pounds or more; the third driver was of normal weight according to government health and wellness standards.
One of the overweight drivers came out of his truck, slipped on wet pavement and went down on his shoulder. $150,000 dollars later, the doctor’s report said that if the driver wasn’t so fat, this would have been a normal shoulder fracture. Instead, the company paid for a compound, muscle-ripping, disabling lifetime shoulder injury. See the correlation?
We have a weight problem in this industry and all the recruiting dollars you spend won’t make new potential drivers look at an industry as one they could die for. Companies can put in gyms at the corporate office and give all kinds of physicals and therapy for free, but it won’t make a difference if it doesn’t get to the driver who travels from Point A to Point B every day.
Drivers change only if they see a need for them to change. In 2007, we questioned more than 3,000 of the 120,000 drivers who asked for information concerning their health. We also knew that most of these drivers worked for companies that have sent them health informational newsletters already.
Why haven’t companies put the correlation problem together yet?
Workmen’s comp is driven by claims. When a single claims climbs to a six-digit amount, insurance companies look for the increase in their cost to be passed to you. How many of these potential accidents waiting to happen are on your payroll today? Isn't it worth taking a look at a non-profit health company that sees the drivers every day when they’re not working, explains to them why they need to be healthy and offers them games that show how out of shape they really are? Drivers know us because we are here at the travel centers every evening.
When any industry shows a great potential for this type of claim, it is just a matter of time before your company’s profits are affected by this driver-driven health cost. Insurance companies don’t lose money, but your company will lose money through higher premiums.
So what can a company do?
Well, for one, sponsor driver health programs like Walk A Mile America that work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – programs that positively impact drivers’ health throughout the industry. When a driver sees you’re paying for some of their health information and your name is attached to an industry change, they begin to listen. Then maybe the drivers, the carriers and Walk A Mile America can change the industry’s lifestyle.
Barry Pawelek Sr. is the co-founder of Truck Stop Events International, an incorporated, non-profit health information and research company that focuses on truck drivers and their health issues. Pawelek has more than 25 years working with and around truck drivers and truck companies. The company’s “Walk A Mile America” initiative (www.walkamileamerica.com) is a step-by-step program that encourages drivers to walk a mile while bringing about a healthy lifestyle change.
