The National Private Truck Council will host its annual National Safety Conference September 10-11 in Herndon, Va.
, outside of Washington, D.C.

"Private fleets have earned a reputation for unsurpassed safety excellence," said Greg Whisenant, chair of the NPTC Safety Committee. "According to NPTC's 2009 Benchmarking Survey, private fleets reported a rate of 0.78 crashes per million miles, better than the performance registered by the trucking industry as a whole. Such strong performance can be attributed to building a culture of operational excellence, forged through continuous learning, training and best practices. One outstanding opportunity to enhance safety performance will occur at the seventh annual National Safety Conference."

The conference will feature presentations and discussions with government representatives, panelists and safety advocates and practitioners, to give attendees ideas about implementing safety programs.

The event will cover the following topics:

•Creating a Culture of Safety: Hear from two private fleets that established a culture of safety and how it has already produced dividends.

•Safety for the Long Haul: Large Truck Crash Risk, Causation, and Prevention: Get insight into critical information needed to support the safety initiatives, strategies and management philosophies to improve safety of commercial trucking operations.

•CSA 2010: Listen to how the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to achieve its mission of reducing commercial motor vehicle crashes, fatalities, and injuries through better ways of identifying high risk carrier and driver behaviors and applying a wide range of interventions to correct these high risk behaviors before they become chronic and habitual.

•NPTC Best Practices Safety Guide: Identify any gaps and opportunities in your existing fleet risk management approach by investigating your performance in a number of safety related areas including: leadership; culture; screening and selection; orientation and training; driver well-being; regulatory compliance; safety performance monitoring; motivation and reinforcement; incident management; vehicle inspection, repair and maintenance; and social responsibility.

•Accident Reconstruction and Commercial Vehicle Crash Scene Management: Learn more about proper documentation of crash scene physical evidence, which is one of the most important phases in the commercial vehicle accident reconstruction process, assessing fault and determining liability.

•Safety Technology Review: Examine the federal government's evaluation of the effectiveness of active safety technologies.

•Inoculating Your Fleet from Liability Exposure: An Attorney's Perspective: Get an attorney's perspective on how your fleet may be vulnerable and what you can do to help shield your operation from such claims.

•The Role for Truck Fleets in Enhancing Transportation Safety: Look at real-world solutions to truck safety issues instead of simply trying to assign blame.

•National Driver All-Stars Recognition: NPTC will honor the best ambassadors of private fleet customer service.

For more information about the National Safety Conference, or to register for the meeting, visit www.nptc.org.