TORRANCE, CA – Benchmarking is an effective best practice for improving fleet operations. Monsanto and DHL Supply Chain will share the role benchmarking plays in advancing their road safety programs at next month’s Fleet Safety Conference in Schaumburg, Ill.

The Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS), a non-profit organization dedicated to occupational road safety, conducts an annual “Strength in Numbers” fleet safety benchmark survey. The results of the survey are released in a final report that ranks members in terms of crash frequency and identifies the road safety programs that set apart the lowest crash per million mile companies.

As NETS member companies, Monsanto’s Maggie Cole and DHL’S Jeff Thornton will discuss key components of their fleet safety programs, including critical success factors, barriers to success, and the role benchmarking plays in advancing their road safety programs in a panel discussion on May 23.

The session, “Fleet Safety Benchmarking, Collaboration, and Best Practices: Reducing Collisions, Injuries, and Costs,” will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Cole is director of Environmental, Safety, and Health (ESH) at Monsanto with responsibility for the Global Vehicle Safety and Global Off The Job Safety programs as well as US Commercial ESH, and currently serves on the NETS Board of Directors. In addition to this panel, she will also provide a keynote speech on May 22. Cole was recently named 2012 Fleet Executive of the Year by Fleet Financials magazine, Automotive Fleet’s sister publication.

Thornton is director of DSC Global Commercial Analysis, Global Health, Safety & Environment for DHL Supply Chain.

Jack Hanley, NETS executive director, will moderate the panel.

Bobit Business Media’s first-ever Fleet Safety Conference will be held May 22-23 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel in Schaumburg, Ill. For a full lineup of speakers and sessions, visit www.fleetsafetyconference.com.