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DISTINGUISHED SAFETY AWARD Michael Vix
BY TODD TRAUB Contributing Writer
From the beginning of his career in
the trucking industry, you could say that Michael Vix has beaten the drum for safety. Literally. Vix worked part time as a freight han-
dler on the dock at Central Freight Lines in Houston while he was attending junior col- lege. He quickly learned there was a right way and a wrong way to do what appeared to be some of the simplest tasks, like loading 55-gallon drums on a cart. Looking back on it, Vix agreed that
beating the challenge posed by the unwieldy containers constituted one of his first indus- try safety lessons, and he has been an advo- cate of the right way ever since. Proof of his success lies in Vix’s Texas
Trucking Association Distinguished Safety Award. “It’s extremely vital,” said Vix,
Regional Safety Manager at Southeastern Freight Lines in Houston. “Anything we do has to be done the right, safe way where every one of our associates arrives in one piece and goes home in one piece.” Born in Texas, Vix, 47, lived briefly in
his parents’ native Louisiana before moving back to Texas as a freshman at Clements High School in Sugar Land. He enrolled at North Harris Community College (now Lone Star Junior College) in Houston, work- ing the loading dock part time and enrolling in a Central Freight Lines “dock to driver” training program to get his CDL. The load- ing dock offered good pay, good hard work for a young man and a chance to learn dif-
22 Summer 2016
ferent aspects of the trucking business, including safety. Vix volunteered to work at terminals in other cities, as a driver to learn how other terminals were run. “I just basically wanted to be the best driver I could,” he said. It was driving that brought
him to Southeastern Freight Lines, which was opening a new terminal in Houston. Vix got in on the ground floor as part of a group of just eight associates in 1995. He became a safety specialist in 1999,
overseeing safety practices at four service centers with duties that included adminis- tering the same kind of dock to driver pro- grams that he learned from. “One of my responsibilities was to
train dock associates that worked on our platform to help them get their CDLs, and become successful drivers at Southeastern” Vix said. He became Southeastern Freight Lines Regional Safety Manager in 2003 and was suddenly responsible for the safety of 22 service centers in three states, managing five safety specialists and overseeing the safety needs of 900 drivers and 1,400 asso- ciates. His territory changed in 2012 with Southeastern’s growth and the addition of a new region, putting Vix over 15 service centers in Texas and Louisiana, three safety specialists and 600 drivers. But Vix’s philosophy has not changed.
He is all about preventing safety problems rather than reacting to them “to have our focus in the areas where our efforts are best suited”. He believes safety and operations go hand in hand. He feels it is important to be up to date on any trends positive or neg-
Photo: Jon D. Kennedy
ative and communicate to people, why safe- ty matters. “It’s about working through a process and sharing the importance of why we do the things that we do,” Vix said. Married with a college age son and
young daughter, Vix enjoys the great out- doors, camping and bow hunting when not preaching safety. But he has a hard time not staying involved in TXTA and trucking safety in general. Among his many former and current
boards, committees and organizations, Vix is chairman of the Houston Council of Safety Professionals, is a regular participant in the Texas DPS Safety Challenge and is a member of the TXTA Safety Management Council Executive Committee. He is a former winner of the Joe M.
Atkinson Distinguished Safety Award and Safety Professional of the Year from the Houston Council of Safety Professionals. “I’ve have been blessed to work for a
great company with great leaders and own- ers, at Southeastern. I also have learned so much from both the HCSP and TXTA organizations and the mentors that help me develop over my career. They have shared a tremendous wealth of knowledge, and examples about all aspects of the trucking industry. I have been so fortunate to be a part of this great safety family throughout the years.” R
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