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national road safety
program
CASE Study
Fleet Size:
200 powered units
Vehicle Type:
Prime movers, body trucks,
utes, trailers, rail containers and forklifts
February 2014
Safety at Simon National Carriers is more than a culture, it’s a business model. The national operator has deliberately worked with companies that share its attitude towards road safety and compliance, resulting in long-term partnerships – and bottom line benefits – that have underpinned Simon’s continued growth.
Organisation: Simon National Carriers
Fleet Size: 200 powered units, including prime movers,
body trucks and utes, plus trailers, rail containers, forklifts
Distance Travelled: 20 million kilometres a year
Key Outcomes:
A safety culture can grow organically within an organisation, it doesn’t necessarily need a ‘trigger’ Business investment in compliance and safety can create growth and long term partnerships with ‘Blue Chip’ customers Safety initiatives translate into cost savings, such as reduced insurance premiums Investment in strong compliance and safety values pays back as an effective business and marketing tool Being safe also drives productivity and environmental benefits, via fuel savings Speed limiting trucks to 90kmh creates tangible safety and bottom line savings with minimal impact on journey times
Case Study:
Safety, compliance drives business growth for
Simon National Carriers
PARTNERSHIP program
NRSPP
PARTNERSHIP program
NRSPP
Safety is part of the DNA of Simon National Carriers. The company’s core values revolve around a strong safety culture across its operations:
To become Australia’s leading privately-owned transport and 3PL provider by 2017 by safely delivering a premium solution to clients with complex needs; and by continuing to develop and support both industry leading systems and, most importantly, our people: Complex needs – We target customers with requirements that include difficult and hard-to- handle products, delicate and poorly-packaged freight, and non-standard warehousing activities. Industry leading systems – Our processes, policies and procedures, and IT systems are continuously enhanced to ensure we remain the benchmark for our customers and our competitors to aspire to in safety outcomes, communication, consistency of service levels, and demonstrable compliance with all road transport legislation. Developing our people – We hire staff who have similar aspirations to ours, and we supervise and train to enable them to safely meet our customers’ demanding requirements. Where possible, we fill vacancies with internal candidates.
Simon targets products and services at businesses that emphasise best practice safety and environmental outcomes and share Simon’s desire to operate in a way that ensures compliance. Since the inception of its transport division, the family business has always made safety a priority. Safety initiatives have been a top-down approach and are strongly supported by management. The National Compliance and Safety Manager and National Training Manager are trained investigators and also champion safety. SNC believes in rigid compliance and strong systems are in place to ensure compliance, which is achieved through a combination of procedures, training, policies, monitoring, technology and equipment. The company has not had a rollover for several years and most accidents are minor and tend to be within the yards and at low speeds. SNC takes a Safe Systems approach to safety, implementing an integrated safety package across the company where each element works to maximise the safety of its people and all road users. No single component is a solution for ensuring compliance but rather it’s a combination of measures.
PARTNERSHIP program
NRSPP
PARTNERSHIP program
NRSPP
PARTNERSHIP program
NRSPP
PARTNERSHIP program
NRSPP
All SNC linehaul trucks are speed limited to 90kmh. Speed is a leading factor in road trauma so reducing the speed of company trucks by 10kmh gives drivers more time to react to or avoid a potential incident. It also reduces the severity of injury and the likelihood of the incident being fatal, both for the truck driver and other road users. The initiative has also reduced fuel consumption while adding only minutes in trip time on the Townsville- Mackay route and nothing measurable on the Dubbo-Adelaide route.
Reinforcing the focus on Safe Speeds, the company’s advanced use of GPS allows SNC to geo fence areas that have particular speed limits – such as project laydown sites, permit travel conditions and high risk roads – and provide live alerts to drivers to reinforce safe driving practices. Breaches are monitored and managed via the Simon Freight Management System, which generates various reports and alerts for its management team, including non-compliance. Alerts include over- speed, over-revving, harsh braking and over-idling.
SNC has had an In-Vehicle Monitoring System (IVMS) in its fleet for many years, and Simon’s IT Personnel have recently redeveloped the system to incorporate in-vehicle data screens. The IVMS allows feedback of useful information to the driver, such as requirements for upcoming regulated breaks and location-specific speed limits, and for driver input of information, which has increased its functionality. The system feeds live data back to the Simon Freight Management System. SNC also takes steps to ensure the vehicles its drivers operate are as safe as possible. For example, all vehicles include the latest safety specs available, such as adaptive speed control, automated gearboxes, lane change detection and blind spot radar, and EBS and ESP (Electronic Stability Program) technology have been fitted to trailers for several years. To ensure vehicles include up-to-date safety features and operate as effectively as possible, several new vehicles are purchased each year and linehaul fleet vehicles are retired regularly – typically they are sold as over-spec for local freight movement. Contractors represent about 40% of the interstate and longer journey intrastate linehaul fleet. Recent initiatives include also fitting contractors representing SNC on regular work with an IVMS, which also monitors speed.
No single component is a solution for ensuring
compliance but rather it’s a
combination of measures.
PARTNERSHIP program
NRSPP
PARTNERSHIP program
NRSPP
Simon National Carriers’ investment in strong compliance and safety values over the years is paying back as an effective business and marketing tool:
SNC can demonstrate to potential customers its ability to handle more fragile products through intensive training of its staff, for example load restraint courses, combined with a strong track record. SNC can market itself as an employer of choice in helping ensure compliance and safe outcomes to potential drivers participating in a highly regulated industry. This also promotes retention of skilled staff. While SNC has an excellent customer retention record based on service levels, the company also attributes its growth as an industry leader to compliance and safety as customers are placing increasing emphasis on reviewing their potential exposures within the supply chain to areas such as Chain of Responsibility.
Many of Simon National Carriers’ safety and compliance initiatives have positive flow-on benefits for the environment. The company takes all practical steps to minimise the amount of waste produced and its impact on the environment and community. Initiatives include: Speed limiting trucks to 90kmh reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse gases and other wastes by around 7% on certain routes and applications. Driver training is continuously updated to ensure driving skills are optimised. Bullbars are specified only for ‘outback’ routes to maximise fuel economy and where there is real risk from animal strikes. Bullbars are not used in urban areas. Continual upgrade of linehaul and local fleets with new vehicles operating to the latest mandated emissions regulations.
Drivers are becoming more interested in their performance – they are professional and want to be better.
