If you can’t be safe, get out: Laskowski

by Truck News

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – If you can’t be safe and compliant in trucking, get out, said Steve Laskowski, the president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) and the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) at the Truck World kick-off breakfast event on April 19.

In the wake of the Humboldt, Sask. bus collision on April 6, that involved a transport truck and killed 16 people aboard the Humboldt Broncos’ junior hockey team bus, Laskowski stressed that there is no room in trucking for operators who do not embrace a culture of safety.

“Last week in Saskatchewan reminded us all of the responsibility we have as an industry as we share the road with the public,” he said. “The highways are our workplace.”

While all the details of the crash are still not known, it has been circulated that the truck driver was to be approaching a stop sign.

“We’ve had a lot of calls and soon we’ll learn the facts of the collision,” Laskowski continued. “The facts may show other things, like things we may need to do in our industry. And I can assure you, that with the leadership of my two chairs, our folks are prepared to move with Transport Canada and provinces across Canada to make the changes that are required (as a result of this) collision investigation. I can assure you that our recommendations will reflect our commitment to safety and will reflect the culture that OTA and CTA stand for.

“We must stick to an ethic and culture of safety and compliance. In 2018, what we face is a number of issues that challenge our principles in compliance. We have major issues facing our industry…things like non-compliance on hours of service, mechanical safety. These are things that cannot go wrong anymore.

“As organizations, what we need to do is get behind associations and make sure that everyone understands that to be in trucking, we are a great and proud industry, we are the safe operators and the vast majority in this industry are safe operators who embrace a culture of safety. A principle of profit is good but not at the expense of non-compliance. And if you can’t stick to that, get out.”

Newcom Media’s Joe Gilonna also announced at the kick-off breakfast that Newcom will be donating $5,000 to help the families of the victims and the first responders of the bus crash.


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  • Well isn’t that great that the president of the OTA is already pointing the finger at the the truck driver of the Humboldt crash.
    Then goes on to say that our industry is full of non compliant operators when it comes to hours of service. And the industry is full of trucks with mechanical issues.

    What has this guy done to benefit any of us in the trucking industry ?