SAN DIEGO – Volvo Trucks announced its 2014 Safety Awards winners on the exhibit hall floor of this year’s ATA Management Conference & Exhibition. Along with co-sponsor Michelin America Truck Tires, Gӧran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North American sales and marketing, presented Kriska Holdings Limited and Britton Transport each a check for $25,000 in honor of their commitment to safety.

“We are here today to highlight something that is very important here at Volvo trucks, and that is safety,” said Nyberg. “Safety doesn’t happen by chance; safety is a choice.”

Kriska Holdings Limited of Prescott, Ontario, Canada, won the Volvo Trucks Safety Award in the over 20 million miles category. The family-owned and operated operates a fleet of 340 trucks specializing in trans-border service. In 2013, the company had an accident frequency rate of just 0.25, while logging more than 32 million miles in operation.

“Safety is part of our culture at Kriska and the people who deserve the most credit for the accomplishment that we’re here celebrating today are our drivers and operators,” said Mark Seymour, president of Kriska Holdings. “Safety is not negotiable at our company.”

Seymour plans to match the $25,000 and use the money to purchase vacation vouchers to award the safest and most esteemed drivers in the company’s fleet.

Kriska provides its new drivers with at least four weeks of in-cab training from one of 16 veteran driver trainers. Drivers also have the ability to enhance their skills and knowledge through the use of the company’s in-house driver simulator. The company also developed a safety and performance bonus program, which rewards Kriska operators with cash incentives for driving three months without a safety incident.

Britton Transport of Grand Forks, N.D., received the Volvo Trucks Safety Award in the under 20 million miles category. Britton Transport began operations in 1980 as a truck brokerage service. The company handles a diverse range of cargo, including machinery, building materials, foodstuffs and general commodities.

For current CDL holders with less than two years of experience, Britton Transport developed a driver finishing program. This nine-week program offers inexperienced drivers an opportunity to gain hands‐on experience from Britton Transport’s expert driver trainers. Britton Transport also emphasizes continuous learning, with each of its drivers assigned at least two required safety courses per quarter. With a fleet of 97 trucks, Britton Transport had an accident frequency of 0.32 in over 9.2 million miles of operation.

“At Britton Transport, it’s not by accident, we work really hard at safety,” said Jim Stockeland, president of Britton Transport. ”We each have families and we want them home safely, just like our drivers.”

Stockeland plans to invest the money into the state trucking association to reignite a safety program that will assist fleets throughout the state, as well as investing in new safety improvements for their vehicles.