With the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, Freightlines needed more accurate and up-to-date information about the sub-contractors it works with in order to meet new chain of responsibility requirements.
The company has 200 trucks carrying general goods across the country and had been preparing for the law change for two years. Freightlines knew that improving visibility into its fleets and lifting driving performance were key to compliance. Underlying that was a requirement to replace manual, paper-based processes with an electronic system that provided accurate data fast, so administrative staff and despatch could be confident that the information they had was correct, and up to date.
Freightlines had previously installed the EROAD system throughout its fleet to automate RUC so the benefits of replacing paper with an accurate electronic system had been proven.
To improve fatigue management, Freightlines equipped its company drivers with EROAD Electronic Logbook, an easy-to-use application on Android tablets that lets drivers capture, view and annotate records. The company also began using EROAD Leaderboard and Over Speed reports in conjunction with its existing driver reward scheme and full-time driver trainer.
Freightlines has 10 owner-operator fleets in addition to its own two. With the new legislation the company now needed the same level of visibility into its owner-operator drivers as its own.
Simon Coyle, National Transport Manager, said what began as a simple electronic RUC implementation turned into a much more comprehensive solution that has simplified health and safety compliance.
“RUC has been a cost benefit. What we didn’t realise was the add-on bits.”
“The system is easy to use and it builds a picture. That’s the beauty of it. The click of a button answers all your questions.”
Simon Coyle
National Transport Manager, Freightlines
Speeding events have dropped with the daily monitoring and driver rankings, which can be tracked over time with Leaderboard. The company’s reward scheme now focuses on improvement and the drivers are taking an active interest in how they’re progressing up the board.
They are also taking a more proactive approach to managing their own time, with the assistance of EROAD Electronic Logbook.
“To begin with there was some resistance among drivers but once they’re using it, they’re happy. And it has definitely improved visibility,” Simon said.
EROAD’s driver messaging service, EZmessage, has opened new avenues of communication by delivering encrypted messages between the company and drivers.
“If you were to go back a couple of years ago, when a driver did something wrong it would be days or a week before you saw him,” Simon said. “Now you can address it instantly. How do you put a price on that?”
The reduction in speeding events has resulted in significant cost benefits as well as reduced risk. The company’s ranking in the top 25% of the EROAD population in terms of driving behaviour means it qualifies for the excess waiver offered by NZI Lumley’s Safe Driving Programme.
Freightlines now has the same visibility of driving behaviour of its contractor and sub-contractor fleets. EROAD Share allows it to share data securely with its owner driver fleets, and ensure the same high standard of driving demonstrated by its own drivers. Sub-contractors are included in Leaderboard, Driver Insight and Over Speed reports, so the company can be sure it is meeting duty of care obligations required under the new law.
Driver retention, a problem for many transport operators, has improved and life for despatch staff is simpler, with real-time data and the ability to act quickly on the insights delivered introducing efficiencies and improving communication.
“The system is easy to use and it builds a picture,” Simon said.
“That’s the beauty of it. The click of a button answers all your questions.”
