1,800 Drivers | LTL Fleet

The Pitt Ohio Safety team faced the challenge of reducing accidents with limited time to do so; then technology came into play. The numbers they found were game-changing: Reduced claims by $400,000.

Pitt Ohio Background

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Pitt Ohio is one of America’s leading LTL fleets which also offers supply chain, small package, and truckload services across North America. Their “Just Say Yes” attitude has led them to the forefront of new technology adoption. By allowing for advanced technologies to be tested and adopted throughout their operations, they have created new and amazing opportunities to improve the operations and safety of their fleet.

Goal / Solution

Pitt Ohio wanted to use the latest technological advancements to evaluate over 3,000 drivers in order to define who is most at-risk for a crash or incident. With this information, the ability to proactively assign corrective training and a course of action to prevent any incidents was deemed critical to improving safety. With lower crashes and incidents, the ability to reduce claims, worker’ compensation, and driver turnover was presented.

Results

Reductions in accidents and incidents led to a 48% reduction in claims in only 1 year. Additional time-savings and efficiency provided by this new way of analyzing driver risk and additional pinpointed driver attention contributed to an unforeseen 43% increase in driver retention.

“We take a lot of pride in staying ahead of the curve. It’s done wonders for us.”

– Chuck Hammel, Founder & CEO, Pitt Ohio

How They Did It

To combat this serious problem, the Pitt Ohio safety team implemented a new, cutting-edge data aggregation and predictive analytics platform to help them organize their driver data into one single system, which today has evolved into the Idelic Safety Suite. The platform analyzed all of their driver data (both internal and external systems) such as driver demographics, crashes, telematics events, incidents, violations, onboard video alerts, background checks, medical tests, training, HR write-ups, equipment and asset maintenance, and a whole host of other data sources. By connecting and storing all of this critical data in one organized location, the team gained the ability to see the complete 360 degree view of their drivers’ behavior, maximizing both visibility and efficiency of their safety operation.

Now, with the clear identification and understanding of their most at-risk drivers, the Pitt Ohio team was able to drill deep into their data, view the driver events and behaviors that lead to crashes, and then determine the best course of action tailored to addressing and correcting those specific problem areas at the individual driver level.

After a year of deploying the new system, Pitt Ohio achieved a drastic decrease in crashes due to this proactive and hands-on approach to tracking driver behavior. This increase in personalized training, additional time to make meaningful contact with drivers, and the reduction of termination-resulting crashes contributed to a measured increase in driver retention. In addition to tremendous results in safety, the team also saw noticeable savings in their employees’ time from less data entry, automation of compliance, and no longer having to manually organize and track their driver files. With both internal and external systems now connected, a single source of truth of driver data was created. More importantly, the ability to predict and prevent crashes became a reality, leading to reductions in significant costs.

This driver-focused approach paired with a willingness to adopt new technologies helped Pitt Ohio reach the industry’s pinnacle of safety success, evident in the winning of numerous ATA President’s Trophies for being one of the safest fleets on the road.