Page 36 - ATR 4 2021 digital

Hotline Trucking

Safety expertise and resources are only a free phone call away
with ATA’s director of safety services

By Bethany May

Managing Editor

On June 18, Mike Brust,
director of safety services and loss
prevention for Arkansas Trucking
Association, started his day in
Magnolia, Ark. He was visiting car-
rier Bo Moses Trucking to conduct a
mock audit.
The company had just purchased In fact, he won’t charge a dime for Fund and has since taken over safety
a new facility across town and was pre- the service. What he offers is free. services as well.
paring to move in. The building has a Carriers in the state can invite His 25-year transportation career
big open area for desks and office space Brust to walk their property, comb began decades ago. After high school,
up front, and giant shop doors rolled through their file cabinets, look for Brust joined the Army and was active
open around back where a few mainte- violations to safety and DOT rules, for two years along with six years of
nance professionals have already started so they have a chance to work with Army Reserves, earning enough money
to work. Vice President of Operations an expert and create a safer work- for college at the University of Arkansas,
Nicole Beeson invited Brust to conduct place for employees. This service is where he studied transportation and
an audit for Occupational Safety and possible through funding from the logistics. During school, he joined
Health Administration compliance. Arkansas Commercial Truck Safety and U of A’s transportation club. There, he
During a mock OSHA audit, Brust Education Program. The first $2 mil- found American Freightways, which
shows up with a heavy reference book, lion collected each year from a portion has since been acquired by FedEx
at least 6" thick. Neon paper flags hang of truck registration fees are awarded Freight. He completed six months of
out of the pages, where he has tabbed to roadway safety initiatives. In 2015, Freightways’ management training all
important rules. He asks for documen- the ATA applied for funds to support over the United States, got his Class
tation of certifications and inspections three programs, including a full-time A CDL and learned to deliver freight
and recordkeeping. He walks the prop- safety resource. Since then, the associa- before managing terminals in Abilene
erty, pointing to outlets, light bulbs, tion has employed a director of safety and San Angelo, Texas.
cleaning stations and signs. He takes services to serve as a liaison with the When he moved back to Arkansas
photos of everything he observes. After FMCSA, Arkansas Highway Police, to work in the company’s general office,
he leaves, he compiles a report of every OSHA and other regulatory bodies. This he eventually found his place in the
OSHA or DOT violation and sends it to expert also provides safety and regula- safety department. As a terminal man-
the company, along with references to tion expertise to all carriers operating ager, he’d been executing safety policies
each rule and resources to make cor- in Arkansas at no cost. through injury and accident prevention
rections. But unlike a real audit, Brust programs and conducting drug and
won’t send a bill for every infraction. WHEN SAFETY CALLS alcohol saliva tests, but when he joined
(The actual penalties for first-time seri- Brust joined ATA’s staff in 2019 as the department in 2006, his under-
ous OSHA violations can range from the director of loss prevention to serve standing of the safety world opened.
$964 to $13,636.) as a resource for the ATA Self Insurers’ 

36 Issue 4 2021 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT