The Salt Institute developed its award-winning Sensible Salting Program in 1972 as a tangible way to encourage its customers to adopt state-of-the-art operating practices which would minimize any adverse environmental impacts of their use of road salt. The program has always relied heavily on operator and manager training with the objective that winter maintenance crews would apply only the minimum amount of salt necessary to reach locally-determined “levels of service.” Applying the right amount in the right place at the right time is the motto of the program.
For years, the Institute was able to field a cadre of instructors who conducted training seminars for its customers. To magnify its effectiveness, in the 1990s the Institute entered into a partnership with the National LTAP Association, lending its expertise in support of winter maintenance trainers in the Local Technology Assistance Programs throughout the U.S. These trainers teach correct snowfighting principles to thousands of snowplow operators and winter maintenance managers every year. In Canada, the Institute, likewise, has helped the Transportation Association of Canada and the Ontario Good Roads Association conduct snow and ice training programs which largely replicate the Institute’s Sensible Salting Seminars.
Proper salt storage is an important component in Sensible Salting.