Initiatives and activities by 12 fleets have been recognised by a leading road safety charity.

The 9th annual Fleet Safety Forum Awards for Excellence, sponsored by operational leasing and fuel management company Arval, were held at a dinner at the Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire, with more than 270 guests.

The awards are run by the Fleet Safety Forum, a division of road safety charity Brake, to recognise the achievements of those working in the field of road risk management. It is hoped that generous donations made on the night will have raised more than £20,000 for Brake.
 

The 2011 Fleet Safety Forum Award winners are:

  • Safe Vehicles Award: Ocado
  • Fleet Safety Innovation Award: Tesco Dotcom
  • Fleet Safety Partnership Award: Peak Performance and Groupama Insurance
  • Fleet Safety Product Awards: TISS Security Systems for the TankSafe ‘Impregnable’ Security & Safety Device; and SmartDrive for SmartDrive Safety (joint winners)
  • Fleet Safety Analysis and Action Award: Balfour Beatty Plant & Fleet Services
  • Eco Fleet Award: Addison Lee
  • Company Driver Safety Awards: Iron Mountain (large fleet sub-category); and Cummins (small to medium fleet sub-category)
  • Road Safety in the Community Award: CEMEX
  • Road Risk Manager of the Year Awards: Richard Hill, VolkerRail
  • Kevin Storey Award for Outstanding Commitment to Road Safety: Dave Abbott, Cardinus Risk Management

The Company Driver Safety Award recognises initiatives that do the most to promote and ensure safe driving among employees. Fleet News Award winner Iron Mountain was recognised for developing a highly comprehensive approach to driver safety including a driver handbook – issued to drivers on a daily basis; a driver training prospectus; driver assessments which inform training; and post-incident coaching; all of which have contributed to a reduction in vehicle collisions of 47%.

Cummins run a range of events and activities to raise awareness of road safety among drivers, including simulator demonstrations; have developed a global driver safety policy; and regular driver safety communications. The result is a 25% reduction in incidents in the first year.

Richard Hill of VolkerRail was awarded the Road Risk Manager of the Year Award for his introduction of a holistic approach to influencing cultural and behavioural driving activity within the company, ensuring that drivers are assessed, educated, trained, and fit and well to be behind the wheel.

The initiatives and procedural changes he has introduced have resulted in a crash reduction of more than 66% since he started in post just two years ago.

The Kevin Storey Award went to Dave Abbott of Cardinus Risk Management for his outstanding commitment to road safety over the last 20 years. After a career in the police he joined the defensive driver training sector, later setting up Active Risk Management (now Cardinus Risk Management), and growing the business into a one-stop shop for other companies to manage their fleet risk. He has also consulted at EU committee level and for the DSA.

Altogether, 35 companies were recognised as winners or highly commended in the 11 award categories.

Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive at Brake, said: "The Fleet Safety Forum Awards for Excellence 2011 received more entries, and welcomed more guests, than ever before, showing the huge amount of commitment to managing road risk within the industry.

"It’s fantastic to be able to recognise companies that are helping drive down crashes and casualties by raising the bar of fleet safety best practice. Brake congratulates all the winners, and we look forward to sharing case studies on this impressive range of initiatives through the Fleet Safety Forum throughout the year."

Tracey Scarr, fleet and road safety manager at Arval said: "Road safety is vital and companies cannot afford to neglect their duty of care responsibilities for the safety of their drivers. Arval is proud to sponsor the Brake Fleet Safety Forum Awards for the fourth consecutive year and we would like to congratulate all of this year’s winners for their outstanding efforts. It is always fantastic to see so many companies actively taking steps to mitigate their own road risk and helping to make our roads safer."

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