CINCINNATI — It has been an outstanding year of safety at FirstGroup America (FGA). Two FGA employees were recently recognized by the company and industry-leading organizations for their notable career achievements and elite status in their pursuit of safety.
FirstGroup America recognized Gary Catapano, senior vice president of safety, for receiving the 2011 Distinguished Service to Safety Award presented by the National Safety Council (NSC) at the opening session of NSC’s Congress & Expo in Philadelphia this past fall. This award recognizes outstanding service to the field of safety and health and is the highest NSC honor given to an individual safety professional. Five individuals received the award this year. Catapano was selected because of his work in the area of improving transportation on a national basis.
“I am pleased to accept this noble honor from the National Safety Council,” said Gary Catapano. “Safety is at the core of everything we do, and the safety and security of our passengers is a tremendous responsibility that we take very seriously. As an industry leader in transportation, FirstGroup America has been a pioneer when it comes to developing, designing, and implementing safety training and technology, and I am proud to be a driving force in this effort.”
Dona Beauchea, First Student special needs operational safety manager, is one of a select few individuals in the United States to have successfully completed the National Association for Pupil Transportation’s (NAPT) Special Needs Transportation (SNT) Training Program. The NAPT Special Need Transportation Training program is specifically designed to increase an individual’s knowledge about transporting students with disabilities. The core curriculum consists of 24 hours of education in a variety of different settings.
“I am honored to join the elite list of pupil transporters who have received the SNT endorsement,” Beauchea said. “With a growing number of special needs students riding traditional school buses, this specialized training is more important than ever before. I look forward to sharing what I have learned with my First Student team, so we can continue to make sure all students get to school safely and securely.”
Linda Burtwistle, president of First Student, noted: “We are immensely proud of what both Gary and Dona have achieved in their careers and their tireless commitment to safety. They are outstanding role models and exemplify FirstGroup’s core value of safety by making a real difference in the lives of our employees, the children we transport, and the communities we serve.”
Catapano has worked for nearly two decades as a transportation safety professional. He currently serves as the senior vice president of safety for First Student, and is focusing on the school bus operations. Catapano also chairs the FGA Safety Council, which provides a safety review function for all FGA divisions including First Transit, First Services and Greyhound. He is the current chair of the National Safety Council Transportation Safety Division and a member of its Board of Delegates. Catapano is also a member of the National School Transportation Association and chairs the Safety and Security Committee. He holds a commercial driver’s license, is a Defensive Driving Instructor and a New York State Certified School Bus Instructor. Gary is also an OSHA Outreach Trainer and has special training in incident analysis and collision investigation.
Beauchea has more than 30 years of experience working in special needs pupil transportation. She wrote a new manual in 2008 on transporting students with autism for First Student.
About FirstGroup America
FirstGroup America — headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio — is North America’s largest transportation company. With approximately 87,600 employees, the company operates First Student, the largest provider of student transportation in the U.S. and Canada; First Transit, a leading provider of transit management and contracting services; First Services, a leading provider of contract fleet maintenance and management services, and Greyhound bus lines, the largest provider of intercity bus transportation. Parent corporation FirstGroup plc is traded on the London Stock Exchange and serves more than 2.5 billion passengers each year. For more information, visit www.firstgroupamerica.com or follow the company on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FirstGrpAmerica.
