Chair Leroy Taggert welcomed new and existing members to our most recent meeting on September 23rd. He then asked Executive Director Andrea Johnson to introduce the CDRA Safety Awards application for 2025. Open only to members, the deadline to apply for 2025 Best Practices in Safety Award recognition will be November 14th, 2025. This program is free to members and involves self-reporting on a wide variety of safety criteria. The awards application may be found here. Andrea emphasized the importance of starting your annual assessment of your safety program, regardless of how developed your program is at present. “The program is all about your staff arriving home safely,” noted Andrea. 

Next, Allison Rock, Safety Consultant | Business Insurance at Marsh McLennan Agency, provided essential fleet safety training designed to address today’s most pressing risks and regulatory updates. Allison is a Safety Consultant based in Minneapolis, Minnesota with over eight years of experience in environmental health and safety across diverse industries. Members discovered how to prevent fatigue caused by long work hours, navigate rural roadways and school zones with heightened vigilance, and reduce incidents linked to distracted driving and common injuries. Best practices for avoiding overweight vehicles, safely tarping, and securing loads were shared, and smart protocols were considered that will help to ensure compliance. 

For those who were unable to join us for this detailed presentation, we invite you to view the recording here (pass code: n38g$%J+) and share it with other staff at your facility. The recording will continue to be available for a limited time. There is no limit to the number of staff that can take part in these informative safety discussions! We hope that you will consider joining us for the next meeting on December 2nd.