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How A Safety Culture Creates Stability in the Final Mile

A Final Mile employee places an orange cone on the floor
Authored by John Vargo, Senior Vice President of Final Mile Services Operations

There can be little doubt that COVID-19 has changed the way we think and behave as consumers and businesses. If nothing else, normal human interaction isn’t as comfortable as it once was, and that’s amplified even more when you consider someone coming into your home. We conducted consumer research recently, and we learned that while a majority of consumers are still likely to have a big and bulky item delivered to their home, they are generally uneasy and expect to see safety precautions being followed if someone enters their home. This is the new normal, and it presents us with an opportunity to shift our processes to continue safely delivering goods to consumers.

Safety is a Culture

J.B. Hunt has safety at the core of its culture. Our pursuit of safety guides us in how we conduct ourselves on the road, the technologies we invest in, and ultimately, how we interact with our customers and their consumers. The first step in this effort is our industry-leading background and drug testing program for all of our delivery teams. These checks start us off on the right foot with the right delivery teams. More recently, we have added comprehensive protocols to address concerns with COVID-19. With safety being a key component in our culture, it has been a smooth transition for our delivery teams to adopt new practices. It is our goal to provide an environment that is as safe as possible for consumers and our delivery teams. We have made these steps a part of our safety culture and will continue to follow these steps for the foreseeable future.

Culture Creates Stability

J.B. Hunt is not immune to setbacks. However, we have long-held practices that have helped us remain a stable company over the years. This culture produces a repeatable process that creates stability our customers can count on. In addition to our emphasis on safety, our culture promotes financial stewardship. Our unique ability to be operationally flexible stems from our financial strength, but our growth as a company stems from our priority to operate safe environments for all. This stability has allowed us to shift resources between accounts to serve customer needs, as well as build creative business solutions to provide extra support during this time. In our current climate of seemingly unending changes, we all crave consistency, and we like to think the culture we’ve cultivated helps provide that.

New Safety Steps for Deliveries

  • PPE: teams will wear masks, gloves, booties and use hand sanitizer during every delivery
  • Social Distancing: teams will greet customers from a proper distance and set up visual markers to establish a safe perimeter to work
  • Paperwork: teams will collect contactless delivery confirmation
  • Sanitizing: teams will clean all items touched in a customer’s home and clean the commonly touched surfaces in their vehicle at the beginning and end of their day

We think creating a safe environment will help produce a comfort level in consumers that will hopefully get our economy closer to the old normal. As consumers’ comfort level increases, our stability will ensure that we are ready to continue serving our customers. It’s all a part of our culture. And that culture is something our customers can count on.

Learn more about what our Final Mile Services can offer your company.

finalmile@jbhunt.com | 877-288-8341