We’ve said for years, one of the most dangerous (from a loss control standpoint) is hauling the crop from the field to the gin. We’ve said countless times that when you send your trucks out on the road you potentially are sending the assets of the company out with them. The article below illustrates that issue quite clearly.

It is EXTREMELY important that you make sure your drivers are not impaired either by way of substances or fatigue.

Clipped from Politico’s Ag News

SANDERSON FARMS PAYS $27.5M TO SETTLE TRUCK ACCIDENT SUIT: Sanderson Farms has agreed to pay $27.5 million to settle a lawsuit over a truck accident three years ago that injured a mother and her two young sons, the Waco Tribune reports. One of the children, who was 2 years old, suffered severe brain damage. The truck driver, Joshua Frank Perkins, was traveling 57 mph when he struck the woman’s car and knocked it into oncoming traffic. Perkins later told a girlfriend that he fell asleep at the wheel, according to the lawsuit. Records show he had worked long and irregular hours for the poultry processing company before the wreck. The case, which was in a state court, was settled after two mediation sessions. Attorney Jim Hering, who represented Sanderson Farms, is quoted as saying the company is looking forward to putting the lawsuit behind it. Read the Waco Tribune story here.