National Highways is to host a one-day national conference covering the key issues commercial fleet operators should focus on to help reduce collisions involving their drivers, and save lives on the roads.
The conference, titled ‘Commercial Vehicle Safety on the Strategic Road Network’, will be held at the National Space Centre in Leicester on 16 March 2023.
Topics to be covered during the day include:
Lessons learnt from collision investigation
What to do if first on the scene of a collision
Driver fatigue, distraction and impairment
Mental health issues, and how these can impact on drivers
Safety in practice – commercial vehicle operator experiences
While the event will naturally appeal to fleet managers, National Highways is encouraging anyone to attend who is in a position to influence policy with regard to commercial driver safety, including H&S and procurement managers.
Agenda
09.00 – 10.00
Delegate registration & exhibition
10.00 – 11.00
Opening session
Comprising the following three presentations
Driving Change In the opening keynote address, Nick Harris will call on commercial vehicle operators and those responsible for the procurement of services involving the use of commercial vehicles, to join National Highways in the fight to reduce collisions and casualties.
Vehicles don’t crash… Mark will outline the many complexities that can affect the performance of commercial vehicle drivers – and can ultimately lead to collisions and casualties.
It’s personal Meera will remind delegates of the importance of road safety, and of the potentially terrible personal consequences when things go wrong.
Second session
Comprising the following presentations and expert panel discussion
The ‘Known Unknowns’ The ‘known unknowns’ (driver distraction, fatigue, impairment and medical issues) are difficult to identify when investigating collisions and as such are greatly under reported. This expert panel discussion session will seek to raise awareness of these causations and discuss interventions that commercial vehicle operators can deploy.
Learning from the past This presentation will explain why collision and incident investigations are vital for fleet operators, and how the lessons learned will help National Highways achieve its Zero Harm target.
Free resources to help employers reduce work-related road risk Simon will explain how Driving for Better Business, a government-backed programme, will help employers reduce work-related road risk and improve operational efficiency. He will also introduce the new Van Driver Toolkit video toolbox talks – and all these resources are completely free!
Afternoon session
Comprising the following five presentations
Post-crash response: Perfect 999 80% of pre-hospital deaths at crash scenes would have been preventable with basic support. In this presentation, Rob will discuss a new post-collision trauma response project that aims to help ‘first on scene’ drivers make the best 999 call they can, and provide first-aid support.
Breaking down the taboos surrounding mental health John Ryan is a multi-award winning comedian and men’s health advocate. His innovative approach to raising awareness uses his unique style of wit and observations to break down the taboos surrounding men’s health.
Operator experiences Dave Conway and John Anderson will talk about what they have achieved at their businesses, the challenges they’ve overcome and the rewards and business benefits that have accrued.
Why? The legal and regulatory backbone Laura will outline the legal and regulatory backbone underpinning commercial vehicle safety, drawing on her experiences as a health and safety lawyer and former Deputy Traffic Commissioner.
Making it happen: learn from an expert Professor Greg Whyte OBE is a physical activity expert and world-renowned sports scientist, who is well-known for his involvement in Comic Relief and assisting various celebrities in challenge events.
Nick Harris, Chief Executive of National Highways, said: There is a shared responsibility for safety on our roads between National Highways, operators of commercial vehicles and, importantly, those responsible for the procurement of services involving the use of commercial vehicles.
“This responsibility demands recognition of everyone’s health and safety obligations – driving is a high-risk activity, and that those risks are managed and minimized in the same way as onsite risks.
“Like all Health and Safety duties, this responsibility extends beyond the industry’s own commercial vehicle operation – every operator should ensure its supply chain, contractors and suppliers are clear of its expectation that they operate safely and legally.”
The agenda is currently under development and should be complete and available for publication in early January 2023.
Click here to book a place at the conference. Alternatively, for more information please contact the conference organiser Nick Rawlings
Speakers at this event
Nick Harris – Chief Executive Officer, National Highways
Nick is a Chartered Civil Engineer with more than 30 years’ experience working in regulated utilities and construction in the United Kingdom and overseas, and joined National Highways as Executive Director of Operations in September 2016. Prior to joining the company Nick was Chief Executive Officer at UKDN Waterflow based in the United Kingdom and was at Thames Water before that in operational director roles. Nick’s background in operations is a continuous point of reference as he develops new health, safety and wellbeing strategies.
Nick was appointed Chief Executive in August 2021 and is responsible for the operational leadership of National Highways, including day-to-day operation of our network, customer service and maintenance services, and our company’s five-year capital maintenance and renewals programme
Mark Cartwright – Head of Commercial Vehicle Incident Prevention, National Highways
Mark Cartwright joined what was then Highways England in February 2020 to head up their Commercial Vehicle Incident Prevention Team (CVIPT).
The role of the CVIPT is to identify and develop programmes to reduce collisions on England’s Strategic Route Network involving commercial vehicles.
Recent projects include the provision of adapted HGV cabs to police to support their activities, the development of a comprehensive Van Driver Toolkit information service and launching CALMDriver, a suicide prevention / mental health resource specifically designed for commercial vehicle drivers.
Prior to joining National Highways, Mark was with the Freight Transport Association for over 30 years where he latterly developed and managed their award-winning Van Excellence programme.
Meera Naran MBE is an independent road safety campaigner and public speaker helping to ensure we have safer drivers on safer roads.
In May 2018 she lost her eight-year-old son Dev in a smart motorway collision on the M6. Since that time, she has successfully campaigned for the adoption of 18 national policy changes with a commitment from the Department for Transport to spend £900m including changes to the Highway Code and on-going driver education.
Among her many campaign successes has been the decision by the Department for Transport to pause the smart motorway rollout until five
years of safety data is available. She is also currently lobbying for a change in legislation to implement life-saving technology such as autonomous emergency braking, proposed as Dev’s Law, and continues to work to ensure that no one else goes through the pain of losing a loved one in the way she and her family did. She is also a Trustee of the road safety charity, Brake.
Meera is a qualified Pharmacist and a Senior Lecturer in Post Graduate Clinical Pharmacy at De Montfort University, Leicester.
Ean Lewin, Managing Director, DTec International Ltd
Ean has worked in dangerous environments from nuclear submarines to oil rigs, travelled on helicopters and in light aircraft, yet believes the most dangerous place to be today is on our roads.Ean’s company, D.tec International, has been providing solutions to businesses, to help them deter and detect drugs and alcohol among their safety critical workers, for over 25 years.With the proliferation of drugs in society today, every HGV, PSV, van and company car driver, is ‘safety critical’. Drawing on Ean’s experience supplying drug testing equipment to safety conscious businesses and all 43 UK police forces, he will discuss the impact of impaired driving on the drivers themselves, the companies they work for and the innocent victims.
Marcus de Guingand – Managing Director, Third Pillar of Health
Marcus de Guingand is the Managing Director of Third Pillar of Health, a company that helps organisations improve key business metrics by helping staff overcome the debilitating health, safety and productivity
effects of tiredness, sleep deprivation and fatigue.
Marcus has worked with a wide range of organisations – from multi-national household names, smaller companies and the public sector – to address a range of issues relating to tiredness and fatigue. Marcus is also passionate about trying to combat driver fatigue, especially for work and believes that current methods, where they are even employed, are woefully inadequate.
Dr Markand Bhatt – Senior Medical Assessor, D4Drivers
Dr Bhatt is a senior clinician on the panel with D4Drivers and conducts medical examinations to determine the fitness of drivers and applicants for drivers’ licenses, including those for DVLA Group 2, and Local Authority Taxi Licencing. He is an expert in the five core issues relating to driver health: hypertension, obesity, sleep apnoea, diabetes and anxiety/depression.
Dr Leanne Savigar-Shaw – Senior Lecturer in Policing, Staffordshire University
Dr Leanne Savigar-Shaw is a senior lecturer in Policing at Staffordshire University and research centre theme lead for evidence based policing research within Staffordshire University’s Centre for Crime, Justice and Security.
She has been involved in many research projects exploring road safety, driver behaviour and roads policing, several with a specific focus on mobile phone use by drivers. She is currently working on research concerning the ways in which officers understand, communicate and take action against drivers who are distracted by their mobile phones.
Andrew Drewary – Managing Director, Road Safety Smart
Andrew Drewary is a multi-award-winning road safety specialist in collision/incident investigation and has managed the investigation and analysis process for over 40,000 road traffic collisions over the last 21 years.
He has provided bespoke and interactive evidenced-based fleet safety solutions through data analysis, innovative driver and management training and collaboration with clients. Supporting management teams and employees to influence positive culture change resulting in substantial financial savings, improved driver health and wellbeing and robust policy management. Thereby reducing exposure to risk, collisions and road fatalities.
Andrew is the current chair of the award winning CILT National Transport & Logistics Safety forum. He is also a member and active supporter of Brake the road safety charity and its Global Fleet Champions Committee, and the victim support charity Road Peace.
He is also an experienced road safety trainer as well as a regular speaker at industry conferences, exhibitions and private industry events.
Simon Turner – Campaign Manager, Driving for Better Business
Driving for Better Business is a government-backed Highways England programme helping employers reduce work-related road risk and improve operational efficiency – and it’s completely free! Simon Turner has been the campaign manager for the last five years tasked with raising awareness and creating resources for fleet operators to use. Simon is also an acknowledged fleet risk management expert with 15 years’ experience covering:
Management obligations for work-related road safety
Compliance under HSE guidance and health and safety at work legislation
Road risk gap analysis, policy development and review
Staff engagement and communications
Vehicle safety systems and collision avoidance technology
Safety events and conferences
Simon is also chairman of the Association for Road Risk Management
Rob is a consultant nurse (and advanced clinical practitioner) in emergency medicine in the United Kingdom. He has a background in emergency nursing in both the emergency department and pre-hospital setting.
He has a keen interest in research and set up the Extrication In Trauma (EXIT) project in 2011 with Dr Tim Nutbeam. The aim of this work is to scientifically studying extrication following motor vehicle collisions to improve outcomes for patients. He can also be found on The Resus Room podcast, which is available in all the usual places!
John Ryan is a multi-award winning comedian and men’s health advocate. His innovative approach to raising awareness uses his unique style of wit and observations to break down the taboos surrounding men’s health.
He believes that if you make people laugh, you make them listen. Much in demand on the comedy and conference circuits he will be bringing his refreshingly forthright, humourous presentation to us this evening. Expect to be entertained, educated and enlightened!
“Ground breaking, thought provoking and hilarious” The Irish Post.
Awards
Edinburgh festival highlight winner
Leicester comedy festival award winner
Scottish Mental Health and Arts Film Festival Best Short Documentary Award winner
Royal Society for Public Health Combined Practice and Research Award winner
NHS Regional Health and Social Care award winner
Royal Society for Public Health Special Commendation for contributions to the field of Arts and Health Equalities
Dave Conway – IMS & Road Safety Manager, FM Conway
Dave Conway has more than 40 years’ experience working in highways maintenance and construction, the last 20 focusing on management systems and standards.
Thanks to his work in 2013 on a new Road Traffic Safety Management System for FM Conway, the company became the third in Europe (and
17th worldwide) to achieve certification against the international ISO 39001. This specifies requirements for management systems to help reduce death and serious injuries related to road traffic crashes.
Dave is a passionate advocate of ISO 39001 and committed to promoting its adoption by other organisations. His hard work led to him being invited to join the British Standards Institution’s road safety committee and represent the UK in developing ISO 39002 and 3. In 2017, he was elected chair of the committee, and he still works tirelessly to promote the benefits of road safety management systems.
At FM Conway, he has overseen the introduction of measures including a Professional Drivers Recognition Scheme, mobile phone blocking systems, and the addition of new technologies to the fleet. He also authored and implemented FM Conway’s Fleet Operations Safety Scheme to drive progression beyond the FORS standard.
Dave won the Kevin Storey Award for Outstanding Commitment to Road Safety, 2021 at the UK Fleet Champions Awards.
With more than 30 years in senior positions within the construction industry, John Anderson is a former Logistics Director at Tarmac where he ran one of the largest fleets and supply chain functions in the UK.
With a fleet in excess of 2,000 vehicles covering more than one million miles per week, having industry-leading polices and standards was paramount to drive continuous safety improvement in a complex and demanding logistics function.
John was at the heart of a 50% reduction in incidents over a five-year period delivered through a dedicated focus on the people, their
performance and technology.
Laura Thomas – Barrister, Safety Strategist & Risk Leader
A barrister with a difference…Laura is a leading lawyer in the fields of health and safety and transport who has advised the Government on road safety law and worked for the HSE, but uniquely she has also held executive roles in oil and gas and civil engineering.
A leading light in transport, Laura was formerly a Non-Executive Director of the FTA (now Logistics UK) and also sat as a Deputy Traffic Commissioner. She now advises organisations on health and safety and regulatory strategy, supporting them to create a holistic health and safety culture, as well as representing operators at Public Inquiries before the Traffic Commissioner.
Professor Greg Whyte OBE PhD DSc FBASES FACSM – Physical Activity Expert, world-renowned sports scientist & Olympian
Two-time Olympian
Professor of Sport Science, Liverpool John Moores University
Published over 200 peer reviewed papers and 8 books in the area of sport, exercise science and medicine
Performance Director, Centre for Health and Human Performance
Helped to raise over £60 million for Comic Relief and Sport Relief
Author of Amazon Bestseller: Achieve the Impossible & Bump It Up
Presenter on ITV’s Eternal Glory
Chair of UK Active Research Institute Scientific Advisory Board
Principal investigator for WADA
A physical activity expert and world-renowned sports scientist, Professor Greg Whyte OBE is an Olympian in modern pentathlon and a European and World Championship medalist. Well-known for his involvement in Comic Relief, assisting various celebrities in challenge events, Greg supported Jo Brand on her ‘Hell of a Walk’ from Hull to Liverpool and Radio 1’s Greg James on his 5 triathlons in 5 cities in 5 days. As a result of his work, Greg has helped to raise over £60 million for charity.
Greg is an expert in the field of sports and exercise science. Graduating from Brunel University, he furthered his studies with an MSc in human performance in the USA and completed his PhD at St. Georges Hospital Medical School, London. Greg is currently a Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moores University and Director of Performance at the Centre for Health and Human Performance (CHHP) on Harley Street in London. Greg’s former roles include Director of Research for the British Olympic Association and Director of Science and Research for the English Institute of Sport.
Greg is the preeminent authority on Exercise Physiology and Sports and Exercise Performance in the UK. An internationally recognised expert in the field, Greg has extensive professional experience assessing, treating and improving the performance of patients, sporting enthusiasts and athletes ranging from cancer sufferers to celebrities attempting their first mountain summit to Gold medal seeking Olympians.
In 2014 Greg was awarded an OBE for his services to Sport, Sport Science & Charity, and was voted as one of the Top 10 Science Communicators in the UK by the British Science Council. Greg’s more recently won the UK Active Awards Personality of the Year for 2019.
