Driving for Better Business

The highest risk drivers are licence-checked, and trained, more frequently. “We use Licence Bureau training modules, which take drivers through basic training and a series of questions. Depending on how they perform, they will be directed to further modules to address their gaps in knowledge,” he says. Although he personally assesses each driver, he feels it’s not always the most reliable guide. “Anyone can drive well for half an hour with someone watching them,” he says. “I need to know how they perform when no one is watching.” He uses a driver-trainer who was previously an HGV driver. He runs classroom sessions, starting with the most high-risk individuals. Although interrupted by COVID, Joe hopes to resume these in-person sessions next year, as they included experiences which couldn’t be replicated on Teams. “We had the drivers wearing glasses which simulated the effects of alcohol on vision, and asked them to find things within the classroom. It really brings home to people how impaired alcohol makes you,” he says. Their former insurance provider also contributed resources and training which has been helpful. All of the training, including Joe’s initial induction sessions, is reinforced by toolbox talks, online videos and other PDA-based material.

The first thing Joe did was to analyse the fleet’s weaknesses. Although he has since taken steps to address these weaknesses, it is an ongoing process and still informs the company’s training schedule. “We have created a programme with our training provider which targets specific areas,” he says. “I also run a driver awareness campaign which restarts every January.”

Metworks are minimising driving time by ensuring that jobs are given to the most local driver and any corporate meetings which can be done by Teams are. “Quite simply the less they drive, the less at risk they are,” says Joe.

Drivers are risk-assessed continuously. Joe studies a list of criteria including: Telematics, Loading, Speeding, Productivity, Out of hours use of the van: If drivers are not on call-out duty, this is flagged, Licence validation: all changes to licences must be reported, Induction and training attendance – even if conducted by Teams, PCNs, flag of an underlying issue, The accuracy of their daily and weekly vehicle checks. Along with drink-driving awareness, all these factors are addressed in the driver awareness campaign throughout the year. Joe believes on following up even minor repeated infringements because it can reveal a wider issue, such as illiteracy, a dependency or illicit use of the vehicle.

Metworks has no depots, only offices and so its operatives carry everything they need in the back of the van. It was initially a challenge to impress upon drivers that the respon-sibility for staying within proscribed weight limits was their personal responsibility. However, on-board scales, which show total weight and distribution over the axles and sound an alarm if overloaded, have helped in reinforcing drivers’ sense of responsibility. 45 of the 200 vans now have these scales and Joe intends to roll them out throughout the fleet.

Metworks uses Teletrac Navman. “We’ve seen our greatest benefit through the use of telematics,” he says. “Speeding has reduced by 75%. With less speeding, we’ve seen lower vehicle maintenance costs, and lower fuel costs, both down by around 10%.” Joe is very aware that risk-taking in driver behaviour is likely accompanied by risk taking in others. “We explain to the drivers why we don’t tolerate speeding even of one, two or three miles over the limit.”

• Consistent reduction in insurance premiums year on year since 2019
• 23% reduction in claims in 2022 compared to 2019
• Speeding review time reduced from 1.5 hours to 10 mins (2018 vs 2022)
• Won AFP Fleet Bursary based on improvements

Van drivers receive in-vehicle training from AA DriveTech, and Mandy has also extended in-person training to all car drivers. She says occasional resistance to delaying a driver’s vehicle allocation until they have had adequate training was quickly overcome by managers’ acceptance of the safety issue. “Our role is to be supportive, not obstructive,” she says.

Miele’s car drivers tend to plan their own schedules, while the van fleet is scheduled by Head Office. Mandy says the drivers themselves were keen to engage with the idea of fleet safety, but organisationally she realised Miele was lacking key governance components. When the previous fleet manager left some years previously, fleet governance was decentralised and split between the two separate departments. In 2018 42% of licence checks were incomplete; this was of paramount importance and Mandy worked to achieve 100% licence compliance which Miele now maintains. The company also lacked a driver handbook and there were no fleet inductions for new employees. Mandy created a series of communications which emphasised driving as a critical part of other roles, and worked with HR to make fleet induction a standard part of a new recruit’s training. In Jan 2020, she also took fleet ownership of the 150 van drivers, whose driving risk was more complex, given their high mileage. Mandy says: “Whenever a driver is on the road in a branded vehicle, they are an ambassador for the brand, and their behaviour reflects upon the company as a whole. It was therefore imperative that they keep themselves and other road users safe.” The driver handbook is condensed to 15 pages, but is nonetheless very thorough, and very clear about what is and isn’t acceptable for drivers. It can be used by the HR department, as disciplinary evidence, as drivers are expected to read it, and sign to say they have understood the expectations and policies it contains. Mandy reinforces this with regular bulletins emphasising topics such as the unacceptability of mobile phone use while driving, speed limits and other safety essentials. The handbook also covers driving posture, driver well-being and what to do in the event of a collision.

Although the company already had Webfleet telematics installed in 2018, no one within the fleet department was responsible for analysing the data. Mandy focused first on speeding data, sharing inappropriate speeding incidents with the drivers concerned. She emphasised that it was an endorsable offence and put other road users at risk. With the support of line managers, the messages were accepted, and a speeding data report which used to take an hour and a half to peruse now takes ten minutes. She says drivers started to realise that:

1. Driving was a professional component of their job
2. A loss of their driving licence could equal the loss of their job in some circumstances
3. A potential collision is only ever one distracted moment away

Miele’s insurer offers a driver behaviour portal which is useful for monitoring overall driver performance; however, driver behaviour is averaged over the week and so the telematics data is needed to show exceptional events such as excessive speed. Mandy encourages line managers to notice when a driver’s overall scores are dipping, because it can be an indicator of a deeper problem. She says it is an ‘arm around the shoulder’ approach.

On a day that started out just like any other, Bob Adams, a van driver very similar to many of those that work for you, begins his day’s work schedule. Some very common examples of poor driver safety management align and result in a serious incident involving a cyclist – but was it the driver’s fault or what is the employers? We examine what went wrong, why it went wrong, and what a subsequent investigation and prosecution could look like.

NH monitors driver behaviour through in-vehicle telemetry, and Martin is currently determining new parameters for recording exception events. However, since the introduction of the first hybrid vehicles in 2019, he has observed a pattern of improvement which he believes is inspired by the new drivelines. “Harsh braking, harsh acceleration and speeding have all diminished substantially,” he says. The vehicles are also kitted out with high-end safety equipment including radar guided cruise control, autonomous emergency braking systems, side impact protection and collapsible steering wheels. “We’ve chosen Volvos and BMWs, which are designed with safety as the number one priority, much like National Highways.”