Nagle Companies Safety Director Lee Pargeon knows a thing or two about truck safety. As an Ohio State Trooper for twenty-one years, he spent seventeen years assigned to the Findlay post in charge of Ohio Department of Transportation Safety Inspections. Pargeon said, “In seventeen years I never stopped a Nagle truck.”
Pargeon recalls why he wanted to retire from the Ohio State Trooper service and come to work at Nagle Companies. “I came to Nagle for a few hours using the Nagle cross dock offloading another company’s vehicle looking for contraband and I ran into the owner Ed Nagle and I guess we really hit it off as we have the same values. I told myself that this is a good company and this would be a good place to work.”
As the Nagle Companies Safety Director, Pargeon is focused on driver safety. He defined his responsibilities this way: “I oversee hours of service compliance for all the drivers, I keep track of vehicle registrations, all the permits and all the things that go with that all the registrations. We have cameras on the drivers and we have coaches that review the video footage and review any violations. I keep track of those reports as well. So I am responsible for basic compliance. The maintenance department is focusing on the vehicles. I’m concentrating on the drivers, their qualifications, making sure they are safely driving. We also keep track of the physicals and of course we need to do the random drug testing so I maintain all those records too.”
Pargeon reports that driving for Nagle means drivers are working with excellent equipment. “We have up-to-date equipment, we’re not running junk trucks. We have a good maintenance department; the drivers’ issues are going to get fixed. If there is an issue, you tell the maintenance department and it’s going to be addressed. There is going to be a result to the mechanical issue.”
The working environment at Nagle Companies is very strong in Pargeon’s opinion. He said, “It’s a family organization so if you like a family-type organization, a family atmosphere, that’s what Nagle is. We want a team, I want to emphasize team, a family at Nagle and engage drivers who want to come to work. I always take this philosophy you know when dealing with people that I want to treat people like I would want to be treated if I were in their position whichever role you’re in, so it’s kind of like the golden rule. That is why I wanted to get here at Nagle, we’re family-oriented and we have safe equipment. We are going to keep track of you, but as long as you’re doing the right thing, there should not be an issue as long as you are doing what you are supposed to be doing.”
Pargeon feels that drivers play a vital role in Nagle Companies’ Safety Program. He said, “I would say we are partners, because I am behind this desk on the safety end of it, but it is up to the driver. The driver is the only one in control of the vehicle. So I can’t make the driver fly straight but we want to emphasize that it is a partnership, it is a team partnership in which the end goal is safety, we want to be as safe as we can be out there.”
Nagle Companies has even implemented an incentive program to reward drivers with an excellent safety performance. He described it this way: “We’ve implemented a new safety program, where we provide monthly and quarterly rewards starting small and building up. It is paid annually and paid in December so we can award it in time for the Christmas holiday as long as you’re employed at Nagle. We want to incentivize safety and that’s what we’re doing with this program which is here at Nagle.”
“Make good decisions out there, think about that it’s not just you out there, you’re interacting with other people. Just keep in mind that you’re a professional and lastly make wise decisions. If there’s something in your off-duty time just make sure you’re not doing something that jeopardizes what you’re doing for your livelihood, your CDL, that would affect you down the road. Just think twice before you do something that is questionable and make smart decisions.”
