The benefits of compliance
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For Woodall Transport, the secret of long-lasting compliance involves a pro-active approach and establishing the right working culture among its drivers.
Words: Guy Sheppard / images: Nigel Spreadbury Compliance is a keystone at family-run Woodall Transport, in Coleshill near Birmingham.
That is why. four years ago, the firm invested in a management information system that records its drivers' speeds as well as their acceleration and deceleration rates. t The data obtained through the system is used to tailor training to the specific needs of each driver.
MD Richard Woodall says a little-and-often approach to training avoids long and potentially boring sessions. It also means drivers feel more encouraged rather than pressurised to improve their performance.
-It's been a massive cultural change," he says. 'Drivers are passionate about doing well and are also competitive about it. Getting this culture right means that compliance issues fall into line by themselves."
Other benefits attributed to the system include a 10% reduction in the annual fuel bill of about £750,000. plus falls in maintenance costs and insurance premiums.
However, Woodall stresses that data by itself has an impact only if there is someone on-hand who knows what to do with it. This task falls to a full-time training manager. who is responsible for everything from driver recruitment and tachograph analysis. to accident reporting and risk assessment.
Proactive approach
Woodall argues that the basics of compliance boil down to things such as stress and a lack of concentration.
So. instead of criticising drivers for poor performance, the training manager's approach is to have an informal chat about why things are going wrong.
Training is particularly important to the company because, with more than 60 trailer options, its 45 drivers need a range of skills, such as roping and sheeting and operating a tail-lift.
"It's about keeping proactive on things that are a little bit out of the ordinary.explains Woodall. "If you get drivers off the street, they're like chauffeurs. "They don't touch the load or trailer at all. If you work for a general haulage company like ours, some days are going to be easy and some more physically demanding."
Not every driver is a complete all-rounder, and care is taken to allocate work to drivers with the right mix of skills and experience.
"There's a chart in the office that shows all the drivers and all their abilities," continues Woodall. "The planners will know which drivers can do which job."
Induction training
Before being assigned to their first job, new drivers have to complete a week-long induction programme that includes going out with two experienced drivers.
"Our guys can say if someone needs more training or needs someone with them a hit longer," says Woodall.
The company has yet to decide what will be the most commercial and cost-effective way of adapting its training to meet the requirements for the Driver CPC. Options include forming a syndicate with other operators or outsourcing the work.
Changes to legislation are communicated to drivers through memos. '"lhat normally prompts the guys that want to know more to come and talk to us" reveals
Woodall. 'The training manager will speak to all the drivers as well. If there is an infringement, we talk it through with the drivers."
He believes it is important to highlight any minor infringement to drivers early on, rather than wait for something serious to happen.
"We try to be as understanding as we can be," says Woodall. 'and the response we get is good; they don't try to pull the wool over our eyes."
Woodall uses the Road Haulage Association as the main source of information about new legislation. and cites his membership of its regional council as invaluable.
The company's strong reputation for compliance is underlined by a silver award from the Opcom legal compliance scheme, which involves twice-yearly independent audits to determine if hest practice is being applied by management and drivers Three litters maintain the 40-strong fleet. and Woodall says only one minor prohibition notice has been received in the past five years. "About a year ago,VOSA pulled over one of our R-reg vehicles for inspection, and the examiner said it was the hest maintained vehicle of its age he had ever seen."
This may he partly explained by the seriousness with which the company treats any slip-up by drivers with their defect reporting sheets.
The legal status of this document is frequently stressed, and random vehicle checks carried out by Woodall's dad. John. the firm's chairman, help keep drivers on their toes.
Since he is the person who now has ultimate responsibility for how the business is run. Richard is very wary of being complacent about compliance. "I have a wife and young family and don't want to spend the rest of my life in jail because a driver runs someone over because of our negligence or lack of training." is