OTA Dispatch Issue 2 2019

8 Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch I’VE LEARNED A LOT from watching my wife over the years. She, in turn, learned from watching her mother and listening to stories handed down from her grandmother. My wife makes patchwork quilts. This is a hobby and a craft handed down from earlier generations. There actually is a lot of interesting history behind this tradition. Initially farm and food products were shipped in barrels. Between 1840 and 1890 cotton sacks gradually replaced barrels as food containers. Women quickly discovered that these bags could be used as fabric for quilts and other needs. It took a while for feed and flour sack manufacturers to realize how popular these sacks had become with women. Eventually they saw a great opportunity for promoting the use of feed sacks. First feed sacks began to be sold in colors then around 1925 colorful prints for making dresses, aprons, shirts and children’s clothing began to appear on feed sacks in stores. By the late 1930s there was heated competition to produce the most attractive and desirable prints. This became a marketing initiative to induce the sales of one brand of feed over another. Patchwork quilts utilizing cut out squares of leftover fabric from these materials became quite popular. The practice evolved and handmade quilts were a very common wedding gift for young couples and were often mentioned specifically in wills due to their sentimental significance. It was not uncommon, in early American culture, for quilts to reflect a mosaic of a woman’s life, often including swatches of material from memorable events such as pieces of a wedding gown or a child’s baptismal garnment. 1 Making a quilt such as these requires multiple ingredients including squares of fabric, batting material, a sturdy fabric backing material, and thread to hold it altogether. Each of these plays its own important role. The fabric squares are the visual components which convey meaning and hold the most significance. Quilt batting is used as a layer of insulation between fabrics. Batting is the filling of quilts and makes them warm and heavy. They provide substance. Quilt backing is the bottom layer of the quilt sandwich, a three-layer packet made up of the quilt top, batting, and backing. The backing provides strength in assembly that keeps the entire quilt integrally whole as the three layers are decoratively stitched together. If you think about it, a patchwork quilt is the perfect metaphor for a company safety culture that will stand the test of time and be maintained through a succession of company management. First of all, consider what might constitute the fabric squares of a safety patchwork quilt. Such squares will likely include the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Rules, Drug and Alcohol Testing, Company Safety Policy, Driver Meetings, Worker Compensation Training, Pre-Trip Inspections, Driver Qualification Files, Vehicle Accident Reporting and Investigation Plan, Driver Training, Hazardous Materials Training, Hours of Service Compliance, Security Plan Training, Function-Specific Training, Commercial Driver License Endorsements, Permits, Cargo Securement Training, Road Inspection Procedures, Driver Retention, Safety Incentive Program, Driver Analytics, and the like. These squares alone constitute little more than a list of ingredients. Just as the ingredients of a cake do not have corporate substance until they are appropriately mixed together and baked, these safety squares do not constitute a “safety culture” absent further attention. REGULATORY COMPLIANCE Grandma Can Teach Us a Few Things About a Culture of Safety By Gregg Dal Ponte, OTA’s Director of Regulatory Compliance 1. www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/feedsacks.htm