Ferus Employee Wins Safety Person of the Year Award

Bernie Pyra and his wife in Banff, Alberta.

BANFF, AB— Ten years ago, Bernie Pyra started out as Ferus’ lone safety person and helped create and foster not only a strong safety program, but a positive safety culture at the company.

“I used to be a driver and know the pressures that come with the job,” Pyra told Today’s Trucking. “Then I worked in dispatch and saw the other side of the coin, too.”

Pyra has spent the last 20 years of his 30 year trucking career in safety. He pioneered and now leads the safety program at Ferus Inc., his current employer.

His experience in transportation fueled his passion for safety and before he knew it, Pyra found himself studying to get various certifications.

His expertise in safety includes:

  • Hazmat Responder Technician
  • Level II Collision Investigator
  • OHS Certificate
  • Transportation Safety Director
  • Provincial TDG Instructor
  • Provincial Driver Instructor
  • GODI Instructor
  • H2S Instructor

But Pyra didn’t go at it alone, he said: “Without company support, safety programs don’t exist. I’ve never worked with a finer group of people.”

“We all need to work together the common goal being safety—making sure everyone makes it home alright, that the infrastructure is not damaged and commodity keeps going down the road effectively and efficiently,” he said.

While attending regional AMTA meetings, he has also chaired the PIC Standards Committee and sat on the PIC Advisory Committee, PSAC Transportation Issues Committee and the Enform Oilfield Drivers Certification Committee. Bernie’s willingness to share, combined with his innovation, has resulted in some programs he created serving as the basis for the development of national training programs.

Ferus’s HSE Manager Cam Jesses commented: “Bernie consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty. On a daily basis, he effortlessly raises the bar for the rest of us.” 

“It’s all of our responsibility. We may do it a little bit differently, but we have to respect that we do it for the good of everyone in the transportation industry,” Pyra said.  


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