ebook Stay safe. Save money. Why you can t afford to ignore mobile resource management.

Transcription

1 ebook Stay safe. Save money. Why you can t afford to ignore mobile resource management.

2 Over 600,000 employees are injured at work in the UK every year. The disruption and cost to the country s employers is substantial, running into billions of pounds per annum. i Against this backdrop, employers can ill-afford not to invest in any technology that can help to reduce this figure after all an investment in safety is an investment in the productivity and efficiency of your business. Mobile Resource Management has the potential to be that technology. Here s why... Invest in safety Stay compliant. It can be difficult to meet your duty of care obligations to mobile employees who spend hours on end off-site and out on the road. Keeping staff safe on your premises is one thing, but ensuring they are protected out in the field is quite another. A recent report from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) found that up to 40% of roads deaths in Europe are work-related. ii The report goes on to conclude that employers must step-up their efforts to reduce this shocking figure. And these are far from hollow words. Duty of care, occupational health and safety (OSH) and road safety compliance are all written into EU law and into the UK s own Health and Safety at Work Act and therefore must be adhered to by all businesses in member states. This includes directives stating that employers must take steps to assess, prevent and eliminate risks that may cause accidents at work and provide employees with relevant information and training to keep them safe. Another area where EU legislation and UK law is particularly robust regarding mobile workers concerns driver hours. Regulations stipulate a ninehour daily driving limit and enforce a driving break after 4.5 hours at the wheel and the consequences of non-compliance can be severe. iii Recently a Scottish haulier was banned from trading for four years for falsifying drivers hours documents and that s just one in a long list of examples. iv

3 A comprehensive MRM system can not only help you stay compliant with these regulations and help keep your workforce safer, help you avoid disruption and help save you money but it can do so with minimal effort on your part. Tachograph and timesheet integration alongside automatic reporting puts all the information you need at your fingertips as soon as you need it helping you monitor certain behaviours and plan break times accordingly. Plus, you ll get an instant alert when drivers approach driving hours limits allowing you to reduce instances of fatigue and non-compliance. Invest in safety Help improve productivity - A common challenge to the worth of implementing an MRM solution is the reaction of the workforce. There is a received wisdom in many businesses that workers may see the roll out of such a system as a slight a sign that management doesn t trust its staff. On the contrary, thanks to the gamification of certain MRM systems, such as Verizon Connect COACH, drivers are actively engaged and empowered by them. Gamification is essentially the use of game mechanics in a typically non-gameoriented context such as learning or training. It is used to build business applications that increase engagement and participation while accelerating learning. And it works. Several studies have found gamification to motivate and engage employees, and improve performance. This is, in part, due to the way that when deployed correctly, gamification promotes healthy competition among employees and celebrates good performance rather than punishing the bad. And the best part is, as workers self-manage their own progress, supervisors and managers do not have to spend precious time constantly chasing and pushing for results. Verizon Connect COACH uses driver records to calculate a score out of 100; drivers are then ranked in a leaderboard and can easily see the areas they need to improve in order to reach the top. All management need do is referee the competition. This is simply a case of keeping an eye on results, celebrating wins with rewards and incentives and encouraging the chasing pack. The end result is an entire workforce are acutely aware of their driving style and make a daily, conscious effort to eradicate bad habits and ultimately improve fleet safety and performance. 40% of road deaths in Europe are work related.

4 Improvements to health and safety could save UK employers up to 4.8 billion. Invest in safety Maximise cost-savings. Naturally the most obvious benefit of improving safety within your business is the health and well-being of your staff. However, investing in safety doesn t just protect your people, it can help protect your bottom line too. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), a total of 30.4 million working days were lost in the UK in 2014/15 due to work-related illness and injury costing businesses a staggering 14.1 billion. vi Behind the obvious dip in productivity as a result of worker absence, businesses also face costs for medical treatments, hiring replacement staff, paying worker compensation and potentially re-training employees after lengthy breaks. In all, the HSE predicts that by investing in improvements to health and safety, UK employers could save up to 4.8 billion. And employee absence is far from the only place where substantial cost-savings can be made. Monitoring workers when out on the road leads to lower instances of unsafe driving behaviours such as speeding, harsh acceleration and braking. This, in turn, can lead to fewer traffic offenses and, of course, fewer accidents which ultimately can result in lower insurance premiums. In recent years, BT reported almost halving the number of insurance claims and more than halving the associated costs across its fleet between 2001 and 2016 as a result of greater investment in safety programs. vii An MRM system with tachograph integration can also help to reduce instances of driver fatigue, not only helping businesses stay compliant but also helping to lower the risk of accidents on the road. The latest figures from HSE show fatigue to be a factor in 20% of all road accidents, costing the UK anywhere between million per year in terms of work accidents alone. viii Clearly, even a slight improvement here has the potential to bring about enormous cost-savings.

5 Fatigue is a factor in 20% of all road accidents costing the UK anywhere between million per year. UK Department for Transport: Vehicle defects were a factor in almost 2,000 road accidents in 2015 alone. Invest in safety Protect your vehicles and your people. It is impossible to safeguard the well-being of your staff in the workplace without ensuring the tools and vehicles they use on a daily basis are in the best possible condition and investing in MRM can help you do this too. As well as tracking driver behaviours likely to cause wear and tear to vehicles and highlighting the need for preventative maintenance, an MRM system can also alert you when any planned maintenance is required such as tyre changes, MOTs or servicing. The Verizon Connect FLEET tool goes one step further, allowing management to monitor the movement of mobile workers and ensure that pre- or post-trip checks and safety inspections, such as vehicle walkarounds, have been carried out. Keeping your mobile assets in peak condition is one of the most effective ways of ensuring the safety of your workforce and maximising potential cost-savings. According to the UK Department for Transport, vehicle defects were a factor in almost 2,000 road accidents in 2015 alone. ix Aside from the direct associated costs such as excess payments and increased premiums, fleet operators also face further financial implications if any vehicles involved in an accident are found to be below the required standard. The HSE has the power to fine haulage firms up to 20,000 for defective vehicles with unlimited fines and possible prison time a possibility if the incident is deemed serious enough to be heard in court. x Why you can t afford to ignore mobile resource management. Above are just some of the many reasons why your business can benefit from MRM and there are plenty more. Promoting safe driving behaviour is only one of the many ways MRM can help your business work smarter. A comprehensive MRM solution helps to connect the vehicles, people and the work that s being done outside the four walls of your office optimising your business to drive safety, productivity and efficiency.

6 Find out more, visit i - ii - iii - hours working_time_rules.pdf iv banned-licence-revoked-fined-drivers-hours-tachograph-offences/, v - vi - vii - viii - ix - uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/568484/rrcgb-2015.pdf x Verizon. All rights reserved.