About Us
Safety. Accountability. Partnership.
Who We Are
Synergy is a consulting firm dedicated to the principle that cultivating a culture of safety, partnership and accountability leads to safer employees, reduced losses, and greater profitability.
About John Mathison
John Mathison spent almost 25 years with a large carrier as an Executive Loss Control Consultant before founding Synergy Loss Control Consulting LLC in 2012 out of a commitment to build long-term relationships with clients that yield breakthrough results. Over the last several decades, he has consulted with thousands of companies in many sectors.
Regarding employee safety, his areas of expertise include workers compensation, OSHA requirements, safety and health training, safety committee effectiveness, ergonomics, industrial hygiene, accident investigation and hazard identification. John also works in the areas of property protection / fire safety, product and general liability, and food safety.
John has been a certified defensive driving instructor for his entire career, teaching thousands of drivers in a broad range of industries from taxi to trucking, emergency vehicles to busses. His company is an authorized training center for the National Safety Council for their Defensive Driving Course. John is experienced at working with commercial fleet operations seeking to navigate today’s challenging commercial insurance market.
He is an accomplished presenter and has been invited to speak to organizations, associations and conventions about a variety of safety topics. He works closely with customers to prioritize the key goals for an organization’s safety and risk management solutions and effectively delivers through interactive training, consultation, and implementation.
About John Sallak
John Sallak has spent a working career spanning six decades involved with the trucking industry. He started his career with Convoy Company, an Oregon-based automobile transport firm, serving the western states. He spent 25 years there, working in operations and safety. After leaving Convoy, John worked as the Director of Safety and Human Resources for two Oregon-based LTL carriers, and several years as the Director of Safety for the Oregon Trucking Association.
For the past 15 years, he has worked as an independent safety consultant, providing training and compliance services for J.J. Keller and Associates, Marsh Risk Management and his own company, Sallak Truck Safety LLC. John has been certified as a defensive driving instructor by the National Safety Council, J J Keller, and the Evergreen Safety Council. He also teaches classes that cover the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and the Hazardous Material Regulations.
About Terry Christner
Terry has been in the transportation industry since 1995, starting as a truck driver in DSD (direct store delivery) in Oregon and Washington, then dispatching hazardous materials (LPG Propane, Liquid Natural Gas, Methane Refrigerated Liquid) while being involved in safety management. In later years, Terry became the Director of Safety for a trucking company of 250+ drivers hauling Hazmat and consumer commodities in eight western states.
Terry has always had the mindset that “we can learn from our experience,” not from our “mistakes.” Passing on knowledge and experience to help others is his goal.
This diverse experience as a driver, dispatch, and then Safety Director, while challenging, has given Terry valuable, direct knowledge of each facet of the industry and contributed to a deep understanding of the various safety and compliance issues that may arise. As a result, he is able to supply safety solutions and effective training, while understanding business challenges from the standpoint of the larger enterprise.
About Dennis Fullan
Dennis has been involved in Transportation and Safety Management for over 35 Years. He has managed operations in fleets as diverse as Atlantic Richfield Company and Safeway Stores, Inc. Focusing on regulatory compliance, particularly in the field of hazardous materials, has been the most challenging aspect of his work. As a member of the team at Synergy Loss Control he looks forward providing clients with a broader scope of training and compliance services. Dennis finds it most rewarding to work with fleets that are experiencing regulatory issues, have Condition Safety Ratings or are experiencing higher than expected accident or work comp expenses. His goals are unwavering: to provide safety consulting services that add value, provide results, and to conduct himself with the highest standards of honesty and integrity.
About Bob Shinn
Bob has over thirty years’ experience in the trucking industry. He began his career as a commercial driver for a petroleum distributor and understands the driver’s perspective. Bob was also a company driver trainer and has an extensive knowledge of all issues related to hauling, including livestock, fuel, general cargo, and hazardous materials.
As a safety professional, Bob has worked as a dispatcher, vehicle safety specialist, operations manager, and most recently as a compliance / safety manager for a large inter-modal container hauling company. He understands the importance of maintaining a low CSA score and having a satisfactory rating with the Federal Motor Carrier.
He has conducted many trainings over the years including on-road and in-cab training, new driver orientation, hazmat training, defensive driving, long commercial vehicle and entry-level driver training, injury prevention and OSHA training. Bob earned his Natmi Certification and has been through the Smith System Driver training for the trainer program. Through the years, he has continued his education with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety to keep current with ever-changing regulatory schemes.
Bob has always maintained a zero-accident, zero-injury approach to his carrier.
From Our Clients
“If a Captive Insurance Group were a living being, then the Loss Control Committee would be the heart. From our beginning, the Loss Control Committee has worked extremely well together with the focus of reducing everyone’s losses. OSHA consultants, industrial hygienists and ergonomics experts are found relatively easily, but one who can relate to senior executives and the production floor workers is rare. John’s easy and unique communications style brings the most complicated regulations to a simple an executable plan. With John’s help and encouragement, the captive has demonstrated significantly decreasing frequency and severity measures.”
“Loss prevention attention is by far the most important work a Captive member can engage in. The more we talk safety and loss prevention in an organized and engaged manner, the less we hear about accidents out on the shop floor. Very quickly these efforts manifest themselves in fewer claims, reduced claims when they occur, employees holding each other accountable for safety performance and increased employee engagement regarding safety improvements. Our loss prevention consultative service (Synergy) helps us bring all of this into alignment.”
“As the Program Manager for a Captive Insurance Company that employs the services of Synergy Loss Control Consulting, we have seen first hand the collaborative approach that John uses to bring out the best within each member company and the loss control committee as a whole which has translated to policies, procedures, heightened safety awareness and cultures.”