Alconbury Driving Centre Blog
Duty Of Care Advice, Policy Guidelines & Driver Assessment Services for Corporates
5 Apr 2012 | No Comments | posted by admin | in Blog
The Alconbury Driving Centre (ADC) not only provides high quality driver training, but also valued services to Corporates to help them formulate their company policies pertaining to driving at work. These services include Duty of Care Advice & Policy Writing, Driver Assessments, Safe and Fuel Efficient Driver Training and Minibus Driver Training.
ADC’s experts advise companies on their duty of care regarding company drivers. They help the officials in formulating an ‘occupational road risk policy’, that speaks about rules and guidelines related to driving at work, and safety measures to be taken in order to minimize the likelihood of accidents. The policy also enlists the responsibilities of the managers and drivers both. It mentions in detail what measures a manager must take to ensure drivers are well-trained and equipped to drive company vehicles, and how drivers must follow rules and drive carefully.
The Managers, Directors and Staff, all need to make sure that the vehicles being used in the company are running well, insured and maintained appropriately, and that the drivers are well-trained and competent, have a valid driving license, and are medically fit to drive. ADC has compiled and developed a very elaborate ‘Driving At Work Questionnaire’ that is very helpful for corporates to assess occupational road risk and serves as a health & safety checklist tool for managers.
The centre also provides Van Driver Training and Assessments for companies to ensure that their drivers are efficient, well-trained and know the current health & safety legislation. Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving (SAFED) is a one day training programme, suitable and relevant to companies. The training covers occupational road risk, vehicle loading, defensive driving, speed limits, etc.
For consultation and more information on various trainings and assessments, contact ADC
Workplace transport is the second biggest cause of fatal accidents in British workplaces.
28 Mar 2012 | No Comments | posted by admin | in Blog
In 2000/01 99 people were killed, 2490 were seriously injured and 5857 people sustained injuries which kept them off work for more than 3 days, all as a result of workplace transport accidents.
The vast majority of these accidents were preventable.
Extract from Health & Safety Executive
Work Related Road Safety – Employers Responsibilities
Some employers believe incorrectly that provided they comply with certain road traffic law requirements, such as ensuring that company vehicles have a valid MOT certificate, they are doing all that is necessary to ensure the safety of their employees when on the road.
Health and safety law requires employers, and the self-employed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, the health, safety and welfare of all employees, at all times. Employers also have a responsibility to ensure that others are not put at risk by the work activities of their employees.
Although the driver is ultimately responsible for how a vehicle is driven on the road the employer can have a significant influence on what the driver does. For example, the imposition of unrealistic delivery schedules, inadequate training and failure to properly maintain vehicles all increase the risk of road accidents.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require every employer to carry out an assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees, or themselves, whilst they are at work, and to other people who may be affected by their work activities. This includes any driving activity on the road. The regulations require the risk assessment to be reviewed periodically to ensure that it remains valid. Employers should consider the risks to employees on the road in the same way as for those in a workplace.
Driver Training is offered by the Alconbury Driving Centre as part of an employers duty of care responsibilities. For more information see our corporate driver training page
Taken From:
Health & Safety Executive
Reducing Risks Protecting People
SAFED Training for Luminus Employees
15 Feb 2012 | No Comments | posted by admin | in Blog
Luminus Drives the Way Forward
Fifty tradesmen from Luminus Group have passed the Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving (SAFED) training programme with flying colours. Completing the SAFED driver training course is especially important as Luminus deals with more than 30,000 customers and 7,000 homes with a commitment to the highest quality customer care. Luminus has a substantial fleet of different types of vehicles and ninety-six drivers working within and serving residents of the local community. The remainder of the drivers will have been trained by the end of July.
Luminus also has an environmental policy, which considers how to reduce the environmental impact of all activities, and investigates and adopts examples of environmental best practice wherever possible.
By going through the SAFED driver training course Luminus tradesmen learn how to drive more safely, with less stress and a greater degree of fuel efficiency.
The benefits of the course for Luminus are lower costs, reduced carbon dioxide emissions and improved environmental performance. Many of the tradesmen have noticed a positive difference when driving their own cars too.
Training was well received by all, with a number of positive comments made after the training, such as,
“I found the advice from the trainer was very useful, I was surprised at how much difference was made to the fuel consumption by making just a few changes to the way I drove. I will be using this advice when I am driving my own car,”
and
“It is nearly 40 years since I passed my driving test and obviously over that time I had picked up one or two bad habits so I found it useful to have a refresher like this.”
Chan Abraham, Luminus Group Chief Executive said,
“Luminus has a commitment to excellence in every aspect of our organisation. By including the SAFED training in Luminus’ excellent driver training programme, we create an ideal opportunity to minimise our environmental impact, reduce our road risk and increase the professionalism of our drivers.”
Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) play an important role in the country’s economy with activity in the United Kingdom in 2003 accounting for some 58 billion combined kilometres. Over 90% of this distance was in connection with the collection and delivery of goods, travel between home and workplace or journeys between jobs.
About SAFED
SAFED has been designed as a single-day course aimed at improving the safe and fuel-efficient driving techniques of drivers of vans up to 7.5 tonnes.
It was developed from a pilot programme carried out in November 2005. This pilot showed that improved driving skills can reduce fuel use by over 8% and the number of gear changes by over 50%. This improved driving style is expected to reduce driver stress and the number of accidents.
Safer driving means:
• Fewer injuries and fatalities on our roads
• Less accident damage to vehicles
• Less unproductive downtime for vehicle repair
• The potential for reduced insurance premiums
Fuel efficiency means:
• Lower costs
• Improved profit margins
• Reduced emissions
• Improved environmental performance
Where operators actively monitor and manage the fuel used by vehicles a fleet’s fuel consumption can typically be reduced by 10%, with an equivalent cost saving. Use of safe and fuel-efficient driving techniques as part of fuel management will make a major contribution to this fuel saving.
About Luminus Group
Luminus Group is widely known for inspirational leadership and innovation in housing services delivery. Seen by many as one the most progressive businesses in the UK, Luminus leads the way in socially responsible business in eastern England, focusing on providing homes, employment and real estate services, building sustainable communities and energising hope for life’s best – today and for future generations.
Luminus prides itself on being an enthusiastic pioneer of innovative, independently financed schemes for high quality affordable housing that give people of all ages and backgrounds choice to rent or buy.
Strategically positioned in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, one of the UK’s fastest growing areas, Luminus provides homes for over 30,000 people, and is growing.




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