TCW CREATES CULTURE OF SAFETY TCW’s Willian Spivy 2015 Joseph Kaplan Safe Driver Award Recipient


BY STEVE BRAWNER Contributing Writer


About 15 years ago, Nashville-based


TCW wasn’t happy about its safety record, so it decided to do something about it: cre- ate a culture of safety. “We call it uncompromised safety,


which basically means that we’re not going to allow anyone or anything to prevent us from operating safely, and that ‘anyone or anything’ could be equipment or it could be a customer,” CEO Scott George said. “It could be a dispatcher or a manager or a driver. No one is above the mandate that we’re going to operate in an uncompro- mised safety approach.” The result, George said, has been a


reduction in the frequency and severity of accidents. Someone has noticed. In September,


TCW was recognized with the John Arnold Award for Safety Excellence by Raffles Insurance, a captive insurance group with more than 400 similar partners sharing the risk outside the general insurance market. The award was given in the Transportation and Warehousing category. George said that, instead of “throw-


ing a lot of people at it,” the company decided instead to have a safety mindset. It spec’d tractors with safety technology, provided safety bonuses for drivers, and, recently, created master coaches — driv- ers with proven safety records to men- tor and educate fellow drivers, serve as additional eyes and ears on the road, and commend behavior that is consistent with the company’s safety culture. Managers are involved in ride-alongs and other coaching opportunities.


Q3 2015


REALLY TRIED TO CREATE A CULTURE OF SAFETY AS OPPOSED TO JUST A POLICY OF SAFETY,


“FROM A 10,000-FOOT LEVEL, WE HAVE


SO WE TRY TO INTEGRATE THAT INTO EVERY BUSINESS DECISION THAT WE MAKE AND EVERY


POLICY THAT WE HAVE AND EVERY ORIENTATION THAT WE HAVE.”


SCOTT GEORGE, CEO, TCW


“From a 10,000-foot level, we have


really tried to create a culture of safety as opposed to just a policy of safety, so we try to integrate that into every business decision that we make and every policy that we have and every orientation that we have,” George said. “And so we’ve tried to make it more of a cultural approach than just a policy approach, and I think it’s paid some significant dividends. You don’t get there overnight, so it’s been a conscious effort on our part.” One of the carrier’s master coaches,


William Spivy, was recognized September 29 at the National Safety Council’s Annual Award Ceremony in Atlanta as the 2015 Jo- seph Kaplan Safe Driver for the East South Central Region. Spivy has driven more than 4 million miles without an accident. Ac- cording to a TCW press release, when asked what advice he would give other drivers, he said, “Life is full of lessons. All you have to do is look around and learn.” The company was founded in 1948 by


Scott’s grandfather, Howard, as a warehous- ing company — the “TCW” is an abbrevia- tion for “Tennessee Commercial Warehouse”


TENNESSEE TRUCKING NEWS


— and later led by Scott’s father, Phil. Scott took over the reins of the company in 2003 upon the death of his father. Warehousing is still part of the compa-


ny’s business model, but the focus moved to trucking. The diversified company has expertise in hauling general commodi- ties — intermodal, truckload and distribu- tion. Its 475 drivers, about 95 percent of them company employees, haul a variety of products, including chemicals, lumber and automotive goods. The company’s headquarters are in Nashville, and it has 12 terminals throughout the Southeast. Spivy isn’t the only TCW driver to take


home some hardware recently. In 2011, TCW driver Robert Oldham received that same prestigious award. This year’s Tennes- see Trucking Association Driver of the Year is Tommy Mays, a 45-year veteran with five million safe miles under his belt. “Obviously, our drivers are the ones


that are responsible for the results that we’re seeing, so where there’s an opportu- nity to nominate them for these awards, we take every advantage of that,” George said. TTN


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