Thorough safety and training sets Reliance up for private fleet success

With a focus on small orders with quick turnaround and expedited processing services, Reliance, Inc. is a global diversified metal solutions provider. The company, founded in 1939, has a network of more than 320 locations in 41 states and 12 countries. It provides value-added metal processing services and distributes over 100,000 metal products to more than 125,000 customers in various industries, making it the largest metal service center company in North America.

Reliance consists of a family of 64 separate corporations worldwide, including 37 U.S.-based companies with their own U.S. Department of Transportation numbers and private truck fleets.

Reliance, Inc.'s specific private fleet comprises 190 trucks and 200 drivers dispatched from 27 locations. Products hauled include plate, coil, structural steel, beams, bar, tube, pipe, channel, and various other metal products.

However, the entire Reliance family of companies' private fleet operations include some 1,800 trucks—mostly opened and curtained flat-bed tractor-trailers—and drivers logging approximately 93.5 million miles per year.

"I like to think we are the best," Don Taylor, director of fleet safety and compliance, told me. "We set strict performance expectations for our drivers. They work in very challenging environments."

A typical driver's day involves a 50- to 150-mile route with 15-20 stops. Drivers are all company employees, and equipment is procured through full-service lease partnerships.

Taylor joined the company 14 years ago and previously served as a risk engineering consultant specializing in commercial motor fleet safety and compliance for a major insurance company. He leads a corporate fleet safety team of seven members that manages the private fleet.

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On that team is Darla Roberts, CTP, who completed National Private Truck Council's Private Fleet Management Institute in January. She is currently assigned safety oversight of 600 power units.

"High safety standards govern every run," Taylor said. "For example, we have a very strict policy on accidents—such as a zero-tolerance 24-hour reporting rule. We operate trucks equipped with collision mitigation equipment, spec'd with state-of-the-art safety features."

The fleet began using dashcams in 2018. "We got full support from upper management to install forward and driver-facing cameras, later adding back-up and side-facing cameras as well."

This camera-use profile is above current private fleet benchmarks in NPTC's Benchmarking Survey, which found that 80% of private fleets use in-cab cameras, 36% use back-up cameras, and 24% deploy side cameras.

"Every collision, however slight, is scrutinized," Taylor explained. "Many of our accidents are caused by four-wheel passenger vehicles engaged in at-fault driving. A majority are not preventable—there is nothing our driver could have done."

Reliance's overall recordable accident rate—0.46 DOT recordable accidents per million miles—for its combined private fleets is even better than NPTC's Benchmarking Report. According to federal data, scores at this level year after year make private fleets three times safer than the general trucking industry.

A contributing factor in company safety is attracting and retaining a quality team of drivers. "We offer among the best compensation and benefits packages in the industry for our drivers," Taylor said. "Our annual turnover is under 25%, which approximates NPTC's benchmarking turnover percentage for 2024."

Another factor is requiring training in the company's specialized cargo security program before a driver gets behind the wheel. "We will make a conditional offer of employment subject to a five-day turnaround to conduct a background check and driver qualification file approval," Taylor said.

During this period, the driver is on payroll undergoing a complete cargo security orientation. Only after this training is complete, the background record cleared, and the driver qualification file is approved, is the driver allowed to drive.

More than 400 driver candidates go through this process every year.

Looking ahead, Taylor shares that AI active safety technologies that meet regulatory guidelines are of interest to fleets. "As great as the new technology is, however, we never lose focus on the driver as an individual. We want to expand our view of safety, especially through the innovations in driver management protocols introduced at other leading private fleets. That's why being part of NPTC is so important.

"Participating in Council events and Darla—and others in the future—completing the Certified Transportation Professional program helps give us a well-rounded view of other world-class fleet operations so that we can further improve our own," he said.

"We only wish we had joined sooner!"