DESCRIPTION
Aggregate Industries utilises a very large fleet to deliver the wide range of products that the company produces. The fleet includes 500+ franchised and regular hauliers, 1000+ trucks and 1,500+ drivers. The vehicles and drivers are deployed across 200 sites.
Aggregate Industries also works with over 1,000 external hauliers responsible for around a further 5,000 drivers.
Aggregate Industries has always provided good quality haulier training, which was administered via established toolbox talks sessions or by attaching the training material to an email. However, there were a number of issues with the delivery of these talks:
- Poor or inconsistent cascade of information from the haulier to the driver
- No measure of the coverage of the training
- No record of training kept for individual drivers
- No check of understanding at the end of each talk
- Significant concerns as to the awareness of evolving health and safety protocol amongst the workforce
To overcome these issues, the company has developed an online e-learning platform – Time Out to Talk Safety (eToTS). This training programme compliments any existing training that hauliers undertake with their drivers and does not require any special software or equipment.
The Google form-based training system is sent as a link to the haulier, which is then easily cascaded to the drivers, and can be accessed on desktop, tablet or phone. Alternatively, drivers can scan a QR code on eToTS posters located around Aggregate Industries’ sites to access the training material.
Aggregate Industries is able to monitor whether all drivers are taking safety seriously and encourage hauliers who are poorly represented to embrace the training and better adopt a culture of safety. Checks can be made to ensure it isn’t always the same haulier drivers completing the training, and the same ones avoiding it.
Each time a driver successfully completes one of our eToTS training sessions, they receive a certificate of completion which can be used as part of the driver’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and could be used to support section D4 Professional Development on the haulier’s next FORS Audit.
Drivers are required to achieve a score of 80% in order to receive the certificate – if this score is not met, the driver is required to take the test again, ensuring their total understanding of the topic in question.
As scoring is broken down by question, those questions that are frequently answered incorrectly and can be identified. This enables the future eToTS tests to be modified to address problem areas.
The system provides summaries for regions and business areas that have completed the training. The logistics team can therefore identify areas that may need further guidance.
Since their introduction in September of 2018, Aggregate Industries has issued 3 eToTS and over 2,300 passes have been awarded. Ultimately, the aim is to have eToTS training targets rolled out to all its hauliers instill a culture of adopting the latest health and safety standards.
Aggregate Industries plans to increase the number of eToTS available. It will also roll them out to Aggregate Industries incorporated companies that utilise haulage services, such as London Concrete.
To see an example of the training, please follow the link below:
https://docs.google.com/a/aggregate.com/forms/ d/1BVywYu21jWW-nyHIKmBer3ZiDHWGxMIYCpfJU2V
BENEFITS
- Easily accessible course for drivers and hauliers
- Consistent delivery of material
- Progress can be accurately monitored and followed up
- Feedback enables the courses to be improved or updated
- Better trained and safer workforce.