COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — Averitt Express recently honored its Cookeville service center associates for an impressive safety milestone, as they had zero preventable accidents or workplace injuries throughout 2018.
Cookeville service center director Pete Ziegler attributes the milestone to associates working smart on the dock, in the shop and out on the road. Another factor, he says, is experience – 25 of his team members have 20-plus years of service.
“They take their time and look at every single piece of freight, and they think of the best way to move it,” Pete says. “I think that has a lot to do with having experience. It’s extremely important to have a team that is focused on safety. Safety is something we talk about every single day, and our team is made up of good, smart people.”
Cookeville city driver David Adams has accumulated nearly 39 years of safe driving during his Averitt career, and he chalks up his success to not resting on previous accomplishments.
“It’s a day-to-day thing,” David says. “You can lean back on your experience and think about it, but I like to say that every time you push the buttons to roll, it’s a new day. You’ve got to do the routine things and checks in your head day after day after day. You’ve got to stay focused and not take anything for granted. It doesn’t matter what you did last year. The moment you’re in the truck, you’ve got to keep safely doing what you do.”
To honor Cookeville service center associates for their accomplishment, Averitt presented them with a 2018 Safety Champions award and treated them to a breakfast celebration.
Averitt’s Cookeville-area service center is located at 1199 Salem Road, and its corporate headquarters is at 1415 Neal Street.
Photo: Several Cookeville associates show off their Safety Champions award after they had zero preventable accidents or workplace injuries in 2018. Pictured are: (front, from left) preventive maintenance associates Buddy Hallums and Darrell Bohannon, along with (back, from left) city driver Greg Brady, shop leader David Young, city driver Brandon Jones, preventive maintenance associates Chris Wilson and Jon McDonald, city driver Danny Lesko and preventive maintenance associate Mike Haney.
