Safety is something Fleet Managers focus on all the time. A vehicle is a workplace for employees on the road so it should be treated the same as an office, warehouse or retail environment.
At the networking dinner which was part fo the 2021 Australasian Fleet Conference and Exhibition, the 2021 Fleet Safety Award was presented to Spotless/Downer and accepted by Matthew Ogilvie, Fleet Coordinator Defence.
This award is sponsored by Innovation Group Australia and Teletrac Navman. It could be considered the most important recognition an organisation can ever receive because of the safety improvements made by the recipients will have a lasting impact for all road users.
Downer is a diverse company with a history dating back to the 1800s. It acquired a majority share in Spotless in 2017. Both these companies have been operating large and complex fleets with good safety practices for many years. This is what makes the changes made to improve fleet safety and reduce fleet operating costs an amazing story.
The key achievements that made Spotless/Downer the winner of the 2021 Fleet Safety Award were:
- Introduction of Fleet Zero Harm Initiatives.
- Reduction of 63 different vehicle configurations down to 13 safely compliant variants.
- Simpler system allows suppliers to implement better quality control measures.
- Cultural change in driver behaviour with improvements seen across all regions.
- New safe driver program introduced including an RTO approved course for rough terrain driving and assessment.
- Launch of a monthly driver reward system to incentivise safety.
- Kilometres travelled reduced by 900,000 km annually.
- Annual fleet replacement costs reduced by more than $1.6 million.
Congratulations to Matthew Ogilvie, Fleet Coordinator Defence, and the fleet team at Spotless/Downer.
