T-Mobile takes the green road to safety

The programme, which saw Hatfield-based T-Mobile become the UK launch partner for GreenRoad Technologies’ Safety Center system, was introduced after the company witnessed a plateauing of its road crash rate following the use of more ‘traditional’ risk management techniques.

At the time of going to press, T-Mobile was considering whether to install the small dashboard-mounted display with green, red and yellow lights to cue drivers in the remainder of its current 580-strong company car fleet as well as in vehicles driven by its 800 cash allowance employees.

The initiative has seen T-Mobile become a ‘business champion’ as part of the Department for Transport’s ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme, which is managed by RoadSafe.

The in-vehicle sensor portion of the technology monitors 120 driver actions involving speed, braking, acceleration, lane handling and turning, sending the data in a continuous stream to GreenRoad’s web server. The data is then analysed to provide almost instant information about a driver’s safety performance. Feedback is given to drivers using the dashboard lights and optional SMS or email messaging.

Big brother

To overcome ‘Big Brother’ fears among employees, functionality that enables T-Mobile to identify individual drivers is not switched on so line managers are unable to identify high-risk drivers. However, in the future, that hurdle maybe overcome.

Nevertheless, Nigel Wilkinson, T-Mobile’s head of health, safety and environment, says the technology has more than paid for itself as the company has witnessed a £417,000 saving in bent metal costs and fuel savings of around £20,000 (a 3% saving) in just 12 months as well as huge reductions in staff sickness rates and administration relating to road crashes.

Overall the technology has helped T-Mobile achieve a 49% reduction in vehicle repair costs in 2007 versus 2006 as its crash rate fell by 20% over the same period. Vehicle wear and tear-related costs have also reduced.

The dashboard lights measures drivers ‘unsafe manoeuvres’, which could include incidents such as speeding and sharp braking. T-Mobile recorded 41 such incidents every 10 hours of driving last year compared with 81 every 10 hours during a late 2006 ‘blind’ trial.

Mr Wilkinson explained: “Employees have modified their driving behaviour. On-the-road driver training is very good and it identifies bad habits, but in my view it is a limited intervention. We have introduced a permanent intervention, which, every time an employee drives their vehicle it monitors their behaviour.”

Monitoring

That monitoring includes both business and private mileage and it was to overcome employee fears that additional functionality, such as vehicle tracking being used by management to discriminate against them, is presently not used.

Mr Wilkinson said: “We use the technology purely as a risk management tool, we did not want employees to feel discriminated. Management cannot see individual data, only collective data.”

He joined T-Mobile in an advisory role in 2000 and immediately noticed that the company did not have an occupational road risk strategy. At the time the business operated a fleet of about 1,500 company cars – the size of the fleet and the overall number of vehicles driven on business has dropped over the years due to company restructuring – and had an 80% accident rate.

Invest

“It was clear that we needed the business to invest so we set up a driver training programme and gave all company car drivers one-to-one on-the-road tuition. That resulted in an immediate cut in the number of incidents over the following 12 months,” said Mr Wilkinson. Employees who were involved in multiple incidents in a 12-month period underwent additional training.

The company’s claims record was so high that insurance premiums doubled from 2001 to 2002 to around £1.1 million. On the strength that the driver training programme would result in a crash reduction, the T-Mobile board decided to switch from a comprehensive insurance policy to third party and selfinsure for accident damage. It was, said Mr Wilkinson, a gamble that paid off.

The programme was followed up with each driver undergoing a refresher course 12 months after their initial training. Additionally, all employees who drove a company car and cash allowance drivers - about 2,200 people in total - completed an e-learning risk module.

By early 2005 the company’s incident rate had dropped to 55%, but Mr Wilkinson wanted further improvements as he could see that the rate of crash reduction was slowing down. It was then that he was introduced to the Safety Center technology.

Initially, T-Mobile equipped 20 vehicles with the system in late 2005 and, with the scheme deemed a success, a cross-section of 250 vehicles - such as those driven by ‘high risk’ field-based engineers in country areas - as well as some management cars and those driven by the health and safety management team, were fitted out in late 2006.

“I wanted management cars and my team’s cars fitted because I wanted the company to lead by example,” said Mr Wilkinson, who gave the order for the devices to be enabled after the threemonth ‘blind’ profiling exercise as employees got used to the system.

While the dashboard light system gives drivers immediate feedback as to whether they have committed an ‘unsafe manoeuvre’, they are encouraged to log on to their individual website weekly to analyse reports on their own driving.

An incentive points-based programme called ‘Safety Stars’ enables employees to collect company-funded vouchers to spend in High Street stores which are gained depending on the number of ‘unsafe manoeuvres’ committed.

Acceptance

“There has been great acceptance of the initiative because employees do care about the way they drive. From the company’s perspective we want to protect our staff. The great risk to T-Mobile is that one of our employees is killed or seriously injured in a crash,” said Mr Wilkinson.

Meanwhile, all at-work drivers that don’t have the technology in their vehicles complete an at-work e-learning module. Additionally, driving licences are checked annually and the company’s in depth occupational safe driving policy limits the use of hands-free mobile phones to ‘urgent calls only’, which should only be answered when safe to do so.

Results

Mr Wilkinson believes the results of the programme in its first 12 months are ‘fantastic’ and now wants to spread the best practice safety message to other organisations. He is also hopeful of being given the green light to install the system in the remaining vehicles driven on business.

“T-Mobile wants to be leaders in the health and safety protection of employees and becoming a ‘business champion’ is helping us to do that. The Government is right to encourage employers to take steps to protect their at-work drivers and hopefully we will see a reduction in road traffic accidents,” said Mr Wilkinson, who became involved with the ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme as a member of the CBI’s health and safety advisory panel.

‘Old foe is now a friend’.

Virgin invests in technology

The five-year-old Californian-based company has funding from previous venture capital backers Benchmark Capital and Balderton Capital as well as the Virgin Green Fund. Sir Richard started that fund in 2006 with $400m intended for investments in renewable energy and other so-called ‘cleantech’ companies. In a statement Sir Richard said: “By deploying GreenRoad through their fleets, companies can play an important role in reducing fuel consumption, lowering harmful emissions and fostering safe driving habits.”

GreenRoad says Safety Center users have reduced accidents by 54% on average, cut accident costs by about 65% and lowered carbon emissions by 7%.

The new funds will expand and support GreenRoad’s global operations and serve its fleet and insurance customers as they enhance driver safety and reduce fuel consumption.

Up for a challenge

The company says its new initiative offers a ‘no-risk opportunity’ for fleets to take an active role in improving employee safety on the roads whether travelling for business or using a company car for pleasure.

The company says its UK Fleet Safety Challenge is a comprehensive offering including installation of the SafetyCenter in-vehicle hardware, ongoing risk consulting, custom analysis, internet applications, measurement of results and product support, all for one inclusive price. At the end of the three-month pilot period, GreenRoad says it guarantees that fleet driver risk will be reduced by 50%, or customers will be under no further obligation to continue the programme.

Aidan Rowsome, vice president of GreenRoad EMEA, said: “Customers such as T-Mobile in the UK have already demonstrated how easy it is to reduce accidents and save on fuel. We are so convinced of the savings fleets can make that we are willing to offer this risk-free promotion to UK fleets.”

Everyone is trained from the MD downwards

Education, education, education was the mantra famously adopted by former Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the 21st century that doctrine has been reworked by Nick Laister, managing director of Goole-based nkl automotive, into ‘train, train, train’.

And the philosophy is paying dividends for the six-year-old, £5 million turnover business, which does not operate a vehicle fleet of its own but, nevertheless, its 250 employed drivers will clock up almost six million miles this year.

In the last 18 months, the company’s drivers have been involved in two ‘at-fault’ crashes, both of which were non-injury. They have also been involved in eight non-fault crashes and 13 low speed manoeuvring incidents.

It is that record, as drivers went about the task of last year moving around 48,000 vehicles across the UK on behalf of manufacturers, contract hire and leasing companies and franchised dealer groups that led to nkl automotive becoming one of the first ‘Business Champions’ under the Government’s ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme.

Not only that, but at a recent audit, a representative of Norwich Union, the East Yorkshire company’s insurer, described its accident record as ‘in the top of three of 700 companies visited’. Additionally all drivers are issued with a company handbook which contains safety policies on the use of equipment such as mobile phones and satellite navigation systems.

It is a record that Mr Laister is proud of – although he is striving for a zero accident culture – and is a corporate ethos underlined by the fact that at the end of last year, the company bought 300 copies of the new Highway Code and distributed them to all drivers and office staff.

Emphasise

“I cannot emphasise the importance to train, train and train not just our drivers but all staff,” he said. “Through driver training and interpersonal skills training we develop as people. Some people are managing directors, some are clerks and others delivery vehicles. But we can all make a difference in terms of road safety every time we get into a vehicle.”

The company calculates that over the past two years it has spent more than £100,000 sending its drivers on a two-day defensive driver training programme and, in January one-day refresher courses began for all those employees, which will run throughout 2008.

While financial savings are difficult to quantify, nkl automotive has successfully capped insurance premium rises while benefiting from rebates due to its claims record. The company is also saving hundreds of hours of staff time on crash and vehicle damagerelated administration.

The refresher programme includes a new low-speed manoeuvring model, which has been introduced following investigation of the handful of incidents that have occurred in the past months.

Meanwhile, potential new recruits have their attitude and personality tested at interview as well as checks undertaken on driving licences and the number of accident-free miles driven in the last 12 months.

During a new employee’s induction programme, a driver risk assessment is carried out under the watchful-eye of a trained Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ observer as a range of different roads and conditions are negotiated.

Mr Laister explained: “The risk assessment serves two purposes. It weeds out those who just don’t make the minimum standard, and it also highlights any weak areas that require additional training.”

As soon as employment commences, the new recruit is paired with a mentor for the first few days; during that time the mentor identifies areas of concern, which may require further training. This is then provided and, not until the mentor is fully satisfied, can the driver be ‘signed off’. The use of the process means an overall risk profile for each driver is also established.

Additionally, as drivers sometimes travel together, a confidential reporting process is in place that enables employees to raise any concerns they have about driving standards set by colleagues.

“We have never had a witch-hunt due to the standard of people we employ, but the mechanism is there,” said Mr Laister, who has also introduced a process known as ‘phone tracker’ that enables the monitoring of journeys to be undertaken without recourse to telephoning the driver minimising distraction and reducing risk.

While driver training can help reduce deaths and injuries on the UK’s roads, Mr Laister says it is not a ‘magic wand’. That is why nkl automotive focuses on recruitment and ‘employing the right people and developing those people’.

UK vehicle distribution falls broadly into two categories – those moved on transporters and those on trade plates. nkl automotive focuses on the latter. It is a sector of businesses that is not regulated, with trade plate drivers frequently seen thumbing a lift on the roadside. Typically self-employed, they aim to minimise their costs as they move from job-to-job.

However, in a bid to take the sector into a new era, nkl automotive has from its very beginning employed all its drivers and sends them out on jobs wearing liveried uniform.

Mr Laister said: “nkl’s vision is to lead by example and take the sector into a new phase of professionalism and enhanced safety. The side of the road is a very dangerous place to be. This risk is very easy to reduce and to almost eliminate – don’t be there.

Outlawed

“The thumbing of lifts is outlawed by nkl. All drivers who need to travel between jobs do so either by public transport or by hire car. The company refunds all costs so there is no incentive to hitchhike. Additionally, we don’t use self-employed or agency drivers. All drivers are employed and are paid on an hourly basis thus removing any incentive to speed or cut corners, hence reducing the risk.”

A head office duty of care personnel and co-ordination team manages the drivers from the moment they are on the road to the moment they return to base and traffic planners, who schedule more than 200 vehicle movements a day, are charged with planning the routes to ensure driver stress is kept to a minimum.

“We started our business with a clean sheet of paper and the safety of our drivers as well as the safeguarding of our clients’ assets has been inbuilt into our DNA from day one,” said Mr Laister, who is among the 84% of company staff with a clean driving licence.

“The majority of our drivers have said they would not do the job if the traditional trade plate method was used by nkl automotive. We live in a day and age of training and personal development and we see defensive driver training as an integral part of that programme.

“Our drivers have taken to the programme we have designed. They have reacted very well and they have reaped the benefits in their private lives when they are driving with friends of family.”

Policy

It is a policy that has seen the company secure a number of awards, including winning road safety charity Brake’s 2007 Company Car Driver Safety title in the small fleet sector and being named 2006 Logistics Supplier of the Year by Motability, which operates the UK’s largest vehicle fleet.

A further spin-off has been the impact on customers. Mr Laister explained: “Customers like the standards we have set because 99.9% of the time and more, their vehicles are arriving at the right place, at the right time and in the ‘right shape’. An increasing number of companies are focusing on corporate liability and the initiatives we have taken and will continue to introduce are helping to open doors to discuss potential contracts.”

New checking service gains in popularity

Although, predominantly a vehicle delivery company, nkl automotive also provides a vehicle storage and reallocation service. Part of that programme sees cars undergo a mechanical safety check in between reallocation.

Last year more than 2,200 went through such maintenance and bodywork checks and nkl automotive managing director Nick Laister explained: “When an employee leaves a company for a new job they invariably leave the vehicle behind for the next employee.

“Frequently the vehicle will be reallocated to a new employee. We are finding that more and more companies are looking for that newcomer to take delivery of an ‘as new’ vehicle rather than a car that maybe in an unkempt condition.

“Not only are these companies practising good corporate social responsibility but they are also underlining their duty of care responsibilities by ensuring they have an audit trail of work undertaken.

“I expect more fleet managers to give the thumbs up to this type of work in 2008 and beyond because it not only sets health and safety standards but it also gives new recruits a feeling of immediate value to their new employer.”

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