Driving for Better Business

Network Rail has created control processes and also a process definition document which looks at organisation, responsibility and accountability, data collection and objectives. Road risk sits within health and safety, one of Network Rail’s 16 core processes. A proper governance structure means it can be measured, managed and monitored appropriately. The company’s internal auditors reviewed its fleet management and offered a series of recommendations. These included setting up a national forum – the Road Risk Safety Group. This helps to manage risk and also reports into the industry road risk group. A lead has been appointed for risk and fatigue, which, says Simon, are too often inseparable factors. The lead has a support team, including a road risk technical specialist. This specialist has created a new driving manual, and new driving standards, on which all staff have been briefed.

Simon has also studied the mandated licence checks which all of its drivers undergo. He’s found that while 80% go through Network Rail’s automated system, about 20% are checked visually by managers. However, the audit trails on paper-based checks are challenging. Simon is now asking for evidence of randomised licence checks by line managers as well as the initial checks.

Simon Morgan heads up all corporate health and safety, including all workforce and rail passenger risk. Although this is a dizzyingly broad remit, he recognises that driving is still one of the organisation’s key risk areas to manage. While its engineers are very well versed in the health and safety of working on railway lines, they do not necessarily recognise road risk as an equivalent occupational hazard. Network Rail has joined the Driving for Better Business programme as part of its renewed focus on fleet safety. It will be using the risk assessment and management gap detection resources, as well as driver content such as posters and the Van Driver Toolkit. Network Rail has successfully driven down its ‘life saving rules breaches’. Its life saving rules are:

• Always wear a seat belt
• Never drive under the influence of drink or drugs
• Never speed
• Never use a mobile phone, even hands free

The data recording system incorporates the daily walk-round safety check every driver should complete on their vehicle, making it easier to ensure compliance. The next level of assurance would be inspections by regional management and finally the internal audit team will investigate and validate evidence of effective checks. This will be an important risk mitigation step as it is easy for non-vocational drivers to disregard the importance of daily checks. “It’s our first, second and third line of defence,” says Simon. “It’s not perfect yet but we’ve got a plan that could be perfect. That’s what we’re driving towards.”

Network Rail has a very positive history with telematics, as its previous system saved it 10% of its multi-million-pound fuel bill. It also substantially reduced its NIPs (Notice of Intended Prosecutions) for speeding. Two years ago the company decided to upgrade to a new system, but the subsequent implementation was then slowed, like many things, through the COVID years. As a result, Simon, who started the role 12 months ago, had little real-world or up-to-date data on fleet performance or driver behaviour in the months prior to the new roll-out. The telematics system is now installed in 80% of the fleet and is collecting baseline data. It is already changing Network Rail’s perception of its fleet liability. “Our NIPsS have been steadily decreasing,” says Simon. “However, the telematics is showing that we still have a higher number of 10 and 20mph speeding incidents than we anticipated.” By far the biggest speeding culprits in Network Rail’s diverse fleet are vans, most frequently on 50 and 60mph roads. The team suggests this might show a lack of awareness of the speed limits for commercial vehicles carrying goods on single-lane roads and dual carriageways. “We want to start with an awareness campaign and general education before we start to address individual driver coaching,” says Simon. The system will go live soon, and there are protocols for different levels of driver infringement. A speeding incident 10 miles over the limit for a minute or more will necessitate driver assessments. Twenty miles over the limit triggers a full investigation. While the speeding is unwelcome, the data isn’t. “The telematics system will be brilliant because it is showing us our fleet performance clearly. If you don’t know about your problems you can’t fix them,” he says. “Identifying areas of risk is an essential first stage in producing better safety results.”

Driving for Better Safety is an eBook on assessing work-related road risk produced by SHP online in collaboration with Driving for Better Business.

The organisation set its cap at two new accreditations during 2023, focusing on legal compliance in light commercial vehicle (LCV) management and occupational health and safety management (OSHM). John Wilkinson says these both contribute directly to fleet safety. It achieved both the Logistics UK Van Excellence accreditation, and ISO 45001. The company’s ongoing commitment to improving its fleet safety and overall safety culture featured heavily in the OSHM accreditation process.

10.7% reduction in collisions in 2023 against 2022 – despite increasing mileage by 700,000 No absence time due to driving incidents in 2023 Improved telematics scores from 94.3 to 95.83 tCO2e emissions reduction of 6.4%.

Northern Powergrid has a strict policy covering driving for business. Its driving for work policy was updated in 2023, covering all aspects of how drivers are expected to perform on the road, and in specific situations, such as breakdown or emergency. All drivers have access to the policy and must acknowledge that they have read and understood it. It is available in electronic form, and so can be consulted via their phone or handheld should they ever need to check appropriate action. The company issued nine safety alerts throughout the year to drivers, highlighting incidents, sharing lessons learned and other important information. Northern Powergrid also held two surveillance visits in 2023 in which driver safety and performance was reviewed with robust and effective processes relating to occupational driving. These underlined, and demonstrated to an external verifier, the benefits of the policies, processes and training to reduce operational road risk

The vehicles are used by employees to travel between sites and offices, in order to carry out their jobs, or to pick up and transport equipment. The business operates 24/7, 365 days a year in all weather conditions and with a blend of shift workers. The weather has a major impact on the electricity network which means that drivers are, at times, driving in severe weather conditions. They must travel on all road types ranging from single-track lanes to the motorway network and across fields and moors. In 2023, the Northern Powergrid fleet vehicles travelled 7.2 million miles and its grey fleet travelled eight million miles, making a total business mileage of 15.3 million miles.

First-line mangers are pivotal in influencing driver safety. In 2023 the organisation introduced a one-day course for first-line managers covering fleet safety issues, legal obligations, understanding management data, and how to have difficult conversations with drivers. Feedback has been excellent and managers feel knowledgeable and empowered to influence driver behaviour. The driving safety leadership team conducted 500 meetings with colleagues at various levels in the organisation to identify training needs and learning opportunities, and answer questions.

The policy states that everyone driving on business must have a permit to drive each relevant category of vehicle. Permits are only issued after a completion of a desktop-based risk assessment, a classroom Safe Driver Induction Workshop and 2.5 days in cab training with a pass/fail Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) standard test upon conclusion. In 2023 a review of collisions identified that apprentices were overrepresented and so in July 2023 a new style of in-cab driving course was introduced for apprentices. Instead of 2.5 days of intensive in-cab training, six half-days of training were spread over six weeks. During the six-week period, the apprentices are teamed with company-qualified drivers when they are on-road. The organisation hoped this would allow younger drivers more time to consolidate their learning and reflect upon their driving practice. Early indications are very positive and Northern Powergrid is likely to roll this apprentice training out across the whole organisation.