Samsara, Inc., known for its Connected Operations Cloud, has named the winners of its 2022 Connected Operations Awards.  This year, the company expanded its awards program to honor fleets, operations, and individuals for their achievements in safety, efficiency, performance, sustainability, and innovation.

There were two key awards linked directly to safety, specifically, Safest Operator and Driver of the Year. Here are the details.

Safest Operator: Chalk Mountain Services

Safest Operator recognition went to Chalk Mountain Services, a leader in the oil field services industry. The award spotlights an organization that protects employees, prevents incidents, and safeguards the communities it serves. Chalk Mountain built a driver safety program that delivers impressive results.

Using Samsara’s video-based safety solutions, Chalk Mountain transformed how it rewards, coaches, and protects drivers. The organization improved its Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) scores and achieved a record milestone of over 20 million miles driven without a Department of Transportation (DOT)-recordable preventable accident. It also saw an 86% decrease in preventable accident costs, a 43% decrease in worker’s compensation costs, and a 15% improvement in driver retention.

Driver of the Year: Jaime Herrera, All Aboard America!

Driver of the Year recognition was bestowed upon Jaime Herrera, a driver for All Aboard America!, the fourth-largest motorcoach operator in the U.S. The award celebrates an individual with an exemplary driving record and Herrera met the measure. The organization looks to continually improve by coaching safe driving behavior with the help of Samsara AI Dash Cams.  Herrera is an advocate for Samsara Dash Cams and consistently promotes their use to his peers. Through regular coaching sessions and practice, Herrera reduced speeding incidents by 100% in 2021.

Additional award categories and winners follow.

Excellence in Efficiency: Southern California Edison

One of the largest public utility companies in California, SCE built an impressive maintenance system that drives efficiency across its vast operations, saves countless hours, and keeps drivers safe. Using Samsara’s Vehicle Gateways, SCE digitized maintenance processes and streamlined communications by creating a dedicated alert for Driver Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) and Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) issues. Mechanics now spend more time working on their vehicles and less time managing paperwork and requests.

Most Sustainable Operations: Summit Materials

This award is all about making strides in greener and cleaner operations. Summit Materials aims to be the most socially responsible integrated construction materials company and has a goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. With Samsara’s advanced fuel data and reporting, Summit Materials can track fuel usage, idling time, and emissions, rather than tracking fuel purchased. As a result of greater visibility on vehicle performance, reduced idle time, and improved fuel efficiency, Summit Materials is targeting savings of approximately $1 million per year.

Operations Innovator: Liberty Energy

This award spotlights an organization improving performance by connecting data and technology. A leading North American oil field services firm, Liberty Energy aims to reshape hydraulic fracturing through its innovative use of technology, increasing safety, efficiency, and sustainability in complex work environments. Liberty Energy uses Samsara’s AI Dash Cams and coaching workflows to improve visibility in the cab and keep drivers safe, reducing its motor vehicle accident rate by 50%. Dash cam footage also helped the organization exonerate drivers in 50% of reportable incidents. In addition, Liberty Energy relied on Samsara to connect and manage multiple disparate systems — from tax and payroll to maintenance and dispatching to load planning. By implementing custom integrations with Samsara’s open API, Liberty Energy saved over 10,000 hours and $300,000 in administrative costs per year.

Digital Transformation of the Year: Artera

This award is all about using technology to drive significant changes throughout an organization. Artera, a leading provider of integrated essential and critical infrastructure services, consolidated distributed data and drove a number of efficiency and safety improvements. For starters, Artera right-sized its fleet with Samsara’s Connected Cloud, which drove savings of over $1 million. It was able to reduce its rental fleet by 10% last year and reallocate underutilized assets across its operating companies. Further, centralizing information systems helped Artera scale safety best practices and ensure every business unit was effectively coaching driving behavior with customized approaches. As a result, Artera decreased its Preventable Motor Vehicle Incident Rate (PVMI) by 25% in the first year and has seen a more than 40% decrease, year to date.

Excellence in Performance, Public Sector: City of Orlando and Clayton County Public Schools

Two organizations got the award for driving change for citizens and communities.  The City of Orlando has committed to the sustainability goal of using 100% alternatively fueled vehicles by 2030. By installing Samsara across the vast majority of its 2,800 vehicle and equipment inventory, the city now has full visibility into the status of its fleet and can identify which vehicles should be replaced with electric vehicles (EVs). It also uses Samsara routing data to identify where to place charging stations to ensure that EVs have the power and range they need to conduct daily services. Today, 91% of its fleet is powered using alternative fuels, up from 85%.

Clayton County Public Schools serves over 52,000 students throughout 65 schools and over 350 bus routes. Before Samsara, the school district had inconsistent data on bus delays and was overwhelmed with calls from parents seeking answers. Using Samsara’s Fleet Tracking GPS solution, Clayton County now has the data to pinpoint a school bus in real time. If a bus delay occurs, parents have visibility into where the bus is located and the estimated time of arrival. As a result, Clayton County reduced parent call volume by 50%. Samsara also helped Clayton County accelerate response rates for events such as bus breakdowns and student-related emergencies.

Technology Leader of the Year: Nathan Slemmons, Univar Solutions

This award recognizes an individual who has embraced technology to transform their operations. Slemmons is a senior IT analyst at Univar, a global commodity and specialty chemical and ingredient distributor and provider of value-added services. Slemmons is responsible for enabling the transportation unit, from implementing and improving the telematics system, to managing integrations and enhancements, to pulling data and reporting. He helped Univar Solutions bring more robust reporting, integrations, and technological sophistication, which supported deeper customer relationships. Slemmons successfully rolled out Samsara solutions to 900 drivers, 300 administrators, and over 1,000 vehicles in only five months.