Daimler Truck Southern Africa (DTSA), in partnership with Trucking Wellness, has impacted the lives of thousands of truck drivers by providing access to a range of health and wellness services.
These include primary healthcare services through fixed roadside wellness centres, fully-fledged mobile wellness centres and the DTSA key account customer’s Fleet Owner Workplace Wellness Programme.
Pool Transport officially became the tenth key account customer to complete the programme under the guidance of the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI)’s Trucking Wellness Project on April 19.
The programme, which started in 2013, is an exclusive value-added benefit for key account customers. It incorporates all employees but takes a unique approach to driver health to minimise the impact of disease and ill health on the business’s operations and total cost of ownership.
The program has evolved over the past 11 years, enhancing content to meet emerging customer needs.
This year Pool Transport was a catalyst to align the DTSA Fleet Owner Workplace Programme with Road Traffic Management System (RTMS) accreditation, developing the first fatigue management policy and assisting in the development of a medical certification process for truck drivers.
Pool Transport managing director Dirkie van Zyl said the company prioritises the wellness of drivers as “a joint responsibility of the company and employees to fulfil our duty to directly contribute to the safety of our roads.
“We extend our sincere gratitude to DTSA for their support, commitment, and investment in the health and wellness of our employees. We would further like to thank Trucking Wellness and the NBCRFLI for their contribution to this ongoing wellness initiative in the transport industry of South Africa,” he said.
Tertius Wessels, managing director of Corridor Empowerment Project, Managing Trucking Wellness for the NBCRFLI, said the council had a 15 year partnership with Daimler Truck Southern Africa.
“It allows for increased understanding and use of Trucking Wellness and other NBCRFLI wellness services, whilst implementing programmes with true shared value for all stakeholders.”
DTSA president and Group CEO Maretha Gerber said the company is committed to advancing access to primary healthcare for truck drivers because “a healthy truck driver is a safe truck driver, contributing to safer roads for all South Africans”.
“DTSA’s Fleet Owner Workplace Wellness Programme is one vehicle to achieve this goal, and I am thankful for partners like Trucking Wellness and Pool Transport for their efforts and commitment to completing this programme and making a lasting impact on this amazing cause,” Gerber said.
