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Owners of haulage companies have the ongoing worry of road crashes and driver conduct while on the road. This worry, however, might be reduced somewhat with the introduction of a new benchmarking tool that aims to reduce work-related traffic incidents. The Fleet Safety Benchmarking Tool This innovative tool, backed by the government, allows employers to monitor the performance of drivers on the road, and measure it against a whole range of statistics provided by other haulage companies. The Fleet Safety Benchmarking Tool measures processes as well as the outcome of a particular action, and it can be used in any number of vehicles - including cars, motorbikes, HGVs, minibuses, and even privately owned cars that are being used for work. How It Works In order to monitor a driver’s performance, the Fleet Safety Benchmarking Tool relies on 30 practice-related questions that cover six different areas that are all related to road safety, the journey taken, the wellbeing of the driver, the vehicle driven, and supply chain road safety. Once data has been analysed, the results are scored against the information given by other haulage companies. The data helps the employer determine collision rates per one million kilometres, as well as per vehicle, and an idea of types of incident as well as location can also be collected. This feedback allows anyone registered with the tool to get in touch with any number of resources to seek advice regarding existing policies and risk management. Links to case studies are given on the Fleet Safety Benchmarking website, as well as links to relevant and useful information. Conference calls can be scheduled should it be required, and a best-practice request process can be accessed too. How Effective is It? Driving for Better Business (DfBB) states that out of 1,775 deaths on Britain’s roads in 2014, 30% were caused by someone driving for work. 22% of all traffic related injuries in the same year were caused by work-related drivers. Currently there are 1,400 people registered with the benchmarking tool and the 12 companies that use it most frequently have so far saved more than £11 million in costs related to road incidents. These 12 companies represent 170,000 drivers and 80,000 vehicles and will no doubt include more than one of the many major haulage companies. Can it Be Used for Small Haulage Companies Too? This Fleet Safety Benchmarking Tool is an asset to any sized organisation wanting to improve their work-related risk in terms of road use. It really doesn’t matter how many vehicles you have or indeed what sector you are working in – the analysis will provide useful information that will help you improve the safety of your drivers and your business, and as a result cut costs. Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry. Connecting professionals across the UK and Europe through their website, Haulage Exchange provides services for matching haulage companies with jobs in road transport and haulage work. Over 4,000 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe 'wholesale' environment.
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