Eighty tire safety leaders recently came together at Bridgestone Americas Inc.'s headquarters for the 2026 Tire Industry Safety Leadership Summit.

The event - which was created seven years ago by Russ Devens, director of safety for McCarthy Tire Service Co. Inc., and Tony Mullen, risk manager at Snider Fleet Solutions - hosted attendees who together represented 19 tire dealerships. 

"The interest and collaboration from the tire industry has grown exponentially," Devens told MTD.

This year's summit included a Tire Industry Association (TIA) training update by Kevin Rohlwing, TIA's chief technical officer, who discussed the association's most recent and upcoming training program enhancements.

Other topics of discussion during the three-day gathering included fatigue management; artificial intelligence's impact on safety in the tire industry; insurance industry trends; retread safety; DOT compliance and more.

Roundtable discussions about commercial, OTR, ag and consumer tire service also took place.

"Product demonstrations and discussions were also provided by Haltec, Esti, Stellar, Dill and AME," said Devens.

"The theme, created by the founders, from the first summit, is and will always be "'There is no competition in safety.'"

Safety leaders in the tire industry are encouraged to attend the next Safety Summit in 2027.