Women In Trucking Blog

From Cab to Cargo: Why Safety Is the Smartest Investment in Trucking

Written by Women In Trucking Staff | Jun 30, 2025 5:57:34 PM

Safety is the foundation of success in the trucking industry. Every mile traveled carries not only valuable freight, but also the responsibility of keeping drivers, other motorists, and cargo safe and secure. As one of the most essential sectors of the economy, trucking moves the majority of goods across the country—yet it also operates under demanding conditions that can lead to serious risks if safety is not prioritized.

The importance of safety in trucking goes far beyond compliance with federal regulations. It’s about creating a culture where every individual, from the driver to dispatch, values prevention over reaction. A strong safety culture leads to fewer accidents, injuries, and fatalities on the road. It protects lives, reduces costly downtime, minimizes liability, and boosts morale across the workforce. Drivers who feel safe and supported are more likely to stay with their employer, take pride in their work, and perform at a higher level.

A Safety Culture at Air Products

For many companies like Air Products, a world—leading industrial gases company and WIT corporate member, safety is built upon the core values of the company. In the case of Air Products, its Environmental, Health & Safety Policy explicitly focuses on safety by including such elements as:

  • Continually improving EHS performance by setting clear objectives and targets, enhancing our management system, promoting accident and incident prevention, encouraging employees to take proactive approaches on working conditions and behaviors, and routinely communicating our performance results.
  • Designing and operating our facilities and distribution systems to promote the efficient use of energy, resources, and pollution prevention principles to reduce environmental impacts in accordance with our policies; and protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, and communities.
  • Developing and producing products that can be manufactured, distributed, used, and recycled or disposed of in a safe, secure, and sustainable manner.
  • Ensuring EHS accidents, incidents, nonconformances, hazardous situations, and near misses are identified, reported, and investigated, and corrective actions are implemented.

Air Products employees embrace the company’s safety culture and take their responsibilities seriously. For example, Oshawna White, Site Supervisor-Operations, currently is the Terminal Manager for Air Products’ Lancaster and Bethlehem distribution teams. There she’s responsible for managing more than 60 drivers, two groups of vehicle mechanics, and several supervisors.                

Her ability to develop solutions to complex problems has been well demonstrated many times over, perhaps most prominently as it relates to the safety of her teams. In 2023, she organized a safety engagement session with her Lancaster driver team, pulling regional leadership and EHS together for a three-day session focused on personal safety, driver safety and safety culture. This effort resulted in a measurable improvement at her site and has since been formally replicated at other locations as part of a larger corporate safety initiative.

For these successes, White was named as a 2025 “Top Woman to Watch” by Redefining the Road, the official magazine for the Women In Trucking Association.

Schneider: “Safety First and Always”

This is a core value that is a number one priority at Schneider, the Green Bay, WI-based leader in transportation and logistics services that offers regional and long-haul truckload, expedited, dedicated, bulk, intermodal, brokerage, warehousing, supply chain management and port logistics solutions.

As part of the company’s “Safety First” value, Schneider has recognized yearly career milestones for drivers that exemplify safety and excellence. These awards include the Million Mile Driver Award, the Consecutive Safe Driving Award and induction into the Haul of Fame.  

Schneider has 780 active company drivers who have driven more than 1 million miles safely. In 2023, 32 drivers were inducted into the Haul of Fame in 2023 including five drivers who reached the impressive milestone of 4 million safe driving miles.

Andrea Sequin is a committed and dedicated leader at Schneider, responsible for instilling the company’s core value of “Safety First” across the business and in new associates and drivers. As Director of Regulatory Services and Driver Training at Schneider, a premier provider of transportation, intermodal and logistics services, Andrea ensures compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations for Schneider’s fleet of over 12,000 drivers and owner-operators. She also leads the 200+ associates in the Schneider Driver Training Academy team who are responsible for welcoming nearly 300 new drivers to the Schneider family each week. Because of these accomplishments, Sequin was named a 2024 Top Woman to Watch by Redefining the Road, the official magazine for the Women In Trucking Association.

Sequin’s role is not only ensuring accountability for all divisions at the company to comply with Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, but also make sure Schneider associates are properly onboarded and trained to uphold the highest level of service, safely. She spearheaded the renowned Driver Training Program at the company, which is focused on building strong, career-long skills enabling program participants to build successful careers in the industry. In fact, feedback has shown the program is often one that Schneider drivers tell their peers about as an impactful benefit of joining the company.

For many WIT corporate member companies such as Air Products and Schneider, safety in trucking is not a box to check—it’s a long-term commitment. It's what builds trust with customers, respect within the industry, and peace of mind for drivers and their families. As the industry evolves, one thing remains clear: safety is not just good practice—it’s good business.

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