World class case study provided sound evidence of success

1 September 2009

Despite an increasing interest in the potential of well managed fleet safety to improve road safety and to help organizations reduce human and asset damage, generate business efficiencies, ensure legal compliance, and cut costs, there are few published case studies.

This paper now available through TRB addresses this research gap by developing and evaluating an effective process for improving occupational road safety through a case study of Wolseley, which has invested in a detailed fleet program over the past 4 years on the basis of research and experience from around the world.

Over 4 years Wolseley, the world's number one distributor of heating and plumbing products - a Driving for Better Business champion has improved its process audit scores, halved its third-party collision rate, and gained a number of wider benefits by adopting a holistic approach. Despite several barriers, the ongoing program continues to show measurable successes on all its key performance indicators.

The paper describes the processes applied to review, benchmark, and manage its occupational road safety; and project implementation, project outcomes evaluation, and ongoing steps. It also sets out the lessons learned for researchers, policy makers, and other organizations.