Heineken UK wins Driver Risk Management award
Heineken UK was named best performing employer for managing driver risk by National Highways, through its Driving for Better Business programme. It was announced at the 2023 Safety & Health Excellence Awards on 26th April 2023.
This is a new award which was created to recognise those employers who have taken a proactive, comprehensive, and consistent approach to the management of their work-related road risk. Safer drivers are involved in fewer incidents, cause less damage, less wear and tear on company vehicles and use less fuel, which is currently a critical issue for many organisations. As well as a significant reduction in on-road incidents, applicants must have also delivered a range of other business benefits such as reductions in fleet insurance costs, maintenance costs, fuel spend and emissions.
Online Driver Risk Management increases compliance
Heineken has 350 leased passenger cars used by remote sales employees to carry out customer visits throughout the country, typically covering around 18000 miles.
A new online driver risk management tool increased compliance from 58% to 97%.
Good practice policies and procedures, along with a comprehensive ‘glove box guide’ issued to all drivers contributed to a reduction of 23% in speeding offences and a 7% reduction in collisions over the year, despite overall mileage increasing by 177% as business levels returned to normal after the Covid lockdowns.
The business benefits of managing road risk
The business benefits have been equally impressive with an 8% reduction in fleet insurance premium and a 25% reduction in end-of-term vehicle damage costs from the leasing company – all of which contributed to a total reduction in annual fleet operating costs of almost £500,000.
Safety is a top priority: the company recognises that driving presents its highest risk and is always looking to positively reinforce good behaviours. Its philosophy: we can repair or replace bent metal, but that isn’t always the case for the lives of colleagues and their families involved in serious road traffic collisions.
Commenting on the award, Driving for Better Business Campaigns Manager, Simon Turner says: “We were impressed by the clear focus on driver safety and the commitment from senior management.”
The award was presented to Reka Nagy, Workspace and Safety Partner at Heineken by Jeremy Philips, Head of Road User Safety at National Highways.
Employers managing drivers well
In addition to the winners, the judges also awarded the following:
Highly commended:
Clean Linen Services is one of the UK’s leading laundry companies, providing linen and workwear wash and rental service from 7 sites. It has more than 1121 employees and services sectors such as hospitality, hotels, restaurant, catering, food manufacturing, automotive, engineering, and pharmaceutical. Its transport teams go to great lengths to strengthen its focus on compliance and to demonstrate that overall road safety is paramount.
Commended:
FM Conway is a UK-based civil engineering contractor specialising in highways and other infrastructure work. Upon achieving ISO39001 certification, the company received a 10% insurance premium reduction (£56,000). This reduction continued, year-on-year, representing savings of approximately £350K since the system was introduced. The system has now been in place for 10 years and savings are evident on many levels.
TES 2000 is a railway infrastructure and construction company, undertaking a range of services for Network Rail such as track renewal and maintenance.
The company works collaboratively with clients and industry safety bodies to develop innovative approaches that will enhance safety performance and strengthen the overall safety culture providing proactive fleet management support to our frontline drivers and grey fleet operators.
The Driver Safety Zone – watch the videos
The Safety and Health Excellence Awards were part of The Health and Safety Event 2023. Visitors were able to visit The Driver Safety Zone for interactive demonstrations and presentations, including a mock trial which highlighted to employers what the possible scenarios were if a driver employed by their organisation was involved in a road incident.
The videos are available if you missed the sessions – driver managers can sign up for access on the Driving for Better Business website.
Simon Turner
Campaign Manager
Driving for Better Business
