Business champs win top awards
Fleet winners in the 2007 Prince Michael Road Safety Awards are British Gas and CCG Veritas – two companies that have become ‘business champions’ under the Government’s ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme...
Peter Young of CCG Veritas
And with the Prince Michael Road Safety Awards scheme celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, two special awards have been made. The award to Bosch recognises the life-saving ability of electronic stability control and its gradual introduction on vehicles with the European Union planning to make the technology a mandatory feature on vehicles (see page 20); while the Department for Transport has been recognised for its safety-focused THINK! campaign, which this year has been broadened to include driving at work.
In recognising British Gas and CCG Veritas, the Awards judges said: “Both companies – one operating a highly visible nationwide fleet and one operating a small fleet – deliver outstanding examples of a good fleet safety culture.”
British Gas operates approximately 15,000 vehicles in the UK. The company’s road safety programmes is based on the belief that promoting sound driving practices at work also extends to private driving, which should reduce the chances of employees, family members and people in the local community being injured in vehicle collisions.
Industry benchmarking suggests that over the last 18 months the British Gas road safety programme has gone way beyond what is common in the wider transport industry, according to the judges.
British Gas has cut collisions by 8% and reduced costs by £730,000 year on year 2005 to 2006, and has had a wider impact on the communities in which it operates.
The organisation has also introduced numerous proactive and data-led initiatives to improve the environmental and safety performance of its fleet including: a five-year road safety business plan, detailed fuel monitoring and insurance claims data analysis, installing mandatory safety features on vehicles, launched a young driver safety initiative, introduced electronic licence checks, put in place a multi-media driver risk assessment, implemented a staff ‘Permit to Drive’ scheme and launched policies for non-business drivers.
Fleet operations manager Jon York, who has championed the road safety cause, said: “I am absolutely delighted to win such a prestigious award. It is the highest endorsement we can achieve for the road safety actions we are taking. There are still far too many people dying on the UK’s roads. I hope that winning this award and British Gas becoming a ‘business champion’ will further help promote road safety. I hope that companies look at what we are doing and what we are achieving and take similar steps. It is all about sharing best practice.”
West Sussex-based CCG Veritas, which provides geophysical services to oil and gas companies, has 136 registered drivers. There are about 60 staff eligible for company cars and about half of those opt for cash in lieu of a car while other staff drive their own cars on business (RoadSafe: summer 2007).
The judges praised the company’s single unique database to cover the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Each business driver is required to complete an Authorised Drivers’ Form on the database consisting of licence details, endorsements and accidents, vehicle details (insurance, MoT, etc.) and a sign a driver statement.
The database also has an area to log vehicle safety checks on a monthly basis. It reminds drivers by email each week before the check is due, and alerts them and the company’s facilities department if a safety check is overdue.
The judges said: “The system and policies, although advanced in comparison to other companies are reviewed on an annual basis with a simple aim to ensure that the company is doing as much as possible to ensure the health and safety of employees and affected third parties and also, to ensure that the system is as user friendly as possible.
Facilities manager Peter Young, who has masterminded the safety initiatives, said: “We are very pleased to have won this prestigious award. It is gratifying for our team to gain recognition in such a difficult and controversial subject area. Like many small fleets where annual business mileage is low we did very little to manage safety prior to the issuing of the HSE’s ‘Driving at Work’ guidance.
“Our users at all levels displayed disbelief when we briefed them on the new guidance. It has been very difficult convincing them of what had to be done and many were affronted at what they saw as intrusion into their privacy.”
However, with backing from senior management, a stepped approach to introducing safety policies was taken with each initiative explained to drivers.
Mr Young added: “There is much being said about managing the ‘grey’ fleet, well it is not impossible and can be done with minimal bureaucracy. I think our biggest success has been in developing our systems so they treat the safety management of private vehicles in the same way as company leased vehicles.”
More details of the Driving for Better Business programme can be found at: http:// drivingforbetterbusiness.com/. A full list of 2007 Award winners can be seen at: http://www. roadsafetyawards.com/roadsafe/ RoadSafetyAwards/index.htm