Driver Safety

We undergo extensive driver screening in the hiring process including credit checks, drug screening, physicals, criminal and court background checks, drivers license background checks, driver testing, and intensive interviews. Once hired, our drivers receive extensive classroom and on the job training prior to being permitted to doing a solo run regardless of their prior background.  Our driver turnover rate is an industry low of less than 10%.  Over two thirds of our driver fleet is certified and trained in MSHA regulations.

Once hired, our drivers have on-going safety meetings and employee updates, and of course, continuous refresher training.  We have been fortunate that our fleet is better than industry averages according to Department of Transportation SafeSTAT ratings. Our drivers and equipment are below the national average in roadside out-of-service violations for logging, vehicle out-of-service violations and hazardous material violations.  Thatcher Transportation has not had a DOT reportable accident since 2005. Thatcher has not had a chargeable DOT accident since 2003. Our drivers are seasoned, trained, and second to none in the chemical industry. Thatcher’s average driver has over 14 years of chemical transportation experience. Our last annual review of moving violations for our entire driver fleet of over 30 drivers had only one moving violation in previous twelve months.

All incident/accidents are fully investigated and a root cause analysis performed.  Action is taken to prevent any recurrence of any similar incident.