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Business motivations for running a green fleet can be many. Environmental ethics are laudable but the business case is clear and financial triggers can be equally compelling. Giles Margerison, Tom Tom Telematics’ Director UK & Ireland, explains how service companies can introduce an environmental strategy and considers its effect on day-to-day operations.

Environmental issues are being taken increasingly seriously by today’s world of business.

In some cases, sustainability has found its way onto service company agendas as a result of industry quotas and legislative demands, some firms simply want to become more environmentally-friendly from an ethical standpoint, others see it going hand-in-hand with business reputation and cost-savings.

Moral motivations may have taken a backseat during the recent economic downturn when, for many, business survival became the key objective. But as a leading motoring journalist recently pointed out – motives are not really the point, it’s the end result that counts.

 

Indeed those still to be convinced by moral arguments can ill-afford to ignore the fact that an environmental policy will invariably prove to also be a financially beneficial one – and this truth is particularly applicable for companies operating vehicle fleets.

In short, a green fleet policy means greater efficiency. This translates to lower fuel consumption, which in turn equals reduced costs and green house gas emissions. The business case for its introduction is therefore unequivocal.

The automotive industry is taking considerable strides to produce cleaner and greener vehicles, but slashing CO₂ emissions need not be dependent upon upgrading to fleet vehicles with superior mpg efficiency. Instead, by focusing on how vehicles are used, immediate green results can be delivered no matter the size, nature and make-up of a fleet.

Implementation of smart job allocation and scheduling is a perfect place to start, helping reduce overall mileage and carbon footprint. Dispatching the most appropriate mobile workers to jobs requires accurate management information. This will range from assessing the urgency and priority of jobs to the location of employees and traffic flow en route.

Advanced telematics systems, which combine tracking, navigation and live traffic information, enable managers to make key decisions by monitoring vehicle locations, movements and driver performance. Jobs can then be allocated to the most appropriate field operative based on who will arrive quickest. The optimal route may not necessarily be the shortest but will be the one which minimises fuel usage, idling and time spent on the road.

 

Historic road-use data can also be analysed to avoid wasted mileage, while drivers are able to avoid congestion by using live traffic information provided by navigation devices. Coupled with smart routing, factoring in not only congestion but also traffic lights, roundabouts and other obstacles, this can mean journey time savings of up to 15 per cent – and a marked reduction in emissions.

Green efficiencies through improved driving performance

The driver is the biggest factor in fuel savings accounting for around 30 per cent of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a vehicle, and measurement of mpg underpins the potential savings in this area. Other crucial areas for measurement include vehicle idling, speeding and incidences of poor driving style, such as harsh steering or braking.

Telematics technology can draw upon all of this information, creating simple reports for organisations to profile individual drivers or entire fleets while empowering drivers themselves to improve by feeding performance data to them in real time, via in-vehicle terminals. And as research and development in this space continues apace, the performance areas that could be improved upon for greener, safer driving will develop, offering even greater opportunities for driver training and continual improvement.

 

Companies such as utilities giant Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) have demonstrated the fuel saving possibilities for this technology. SGN reduced incidences of negative driver behaviour (speeding, harsh steering, braking or acceleration) from 1,600 a day to less than 400 after implementing such technology across its 2,000+ vehicle fleet. The move resulted in an increase in average driver efficiency of 2.1 mpg.

For Zenith Hygiene Group, an incentivised scheme for the improvement of driver behaviour using TomTom Telematics’ technology saw its average vehicle mpg over the course of a year soar from 26 to 43. A study undertaken by global sustainability consultancy Environmental Resources Management (ERM), and commissioned by Vodafone, found that across its fleet this equated to almost 600 tonnes of CO2.

Such examples demonstrate how telematics data enables service companies to be fully accountable for their green policies, providing proof that requirements are being met. Moreover, managing mileage and driving behaviour not only protects the environment, it also protects drivers and companies’ all important bottom line.

 

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In the wake of a BBC Panorama documentary highlighting the dangers of cognitive distraction among motorists, TomTom Telematics Director UK & Ireland, Giles Margerison, considers what road risk means for fleet managers and how it can be best managed.

More people than ever before are now being convicted for causing death behind the wheel of their motor vehicle – and the consequences of this for businesses can be severe.

Back in 2007, there were a total of 233 convictions for causing death by dangerous driving. That same year the offence of causing death by careless driving was introduced – and according to the Ministry of Justice, by 2013 the number of convictions for death caused by both dangerous and careless driving had reached 310.

In light of these statistics, and the alarming fact that around a third of all road traffic accidents are believed to be work-related, businesses need to take the management of road risk extremely seriously.

The long arm of the law

Employers, after all, have the same duty of care obligations for their mobile workers as they do for all their office site staff. The Health and Safety at Work Act requires them to ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, the health and safety of all employees while at work.

What’s more, the legal implications of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act should provide all the motivation needed for service fleet managers to ensure adequate road risk management systems are in place.

 

Courts can impose unlimited fines for Corporate Manslaughter convictions and the damage to a company’s reputation could have even graver implications. In addition to corporate exposure individual criminal charges, including manslaughter, can be brought against directors or ‘thinking minds’ of an organisation.

 

As for field service employees, under sentencing guidelines a driver can face up to 14 years behind bars for death by dangerous driving.

The Health and Safety Executive’s advice is clear – companies should ensure work-related road safety is integrated into wider arrangements for managing health and safety at work. To ensure risks are effectively managed they must address their health and safety “policy, responsibility, organisation, systems and monitoring”.

Fostering a safety culture

Simply ensuring drivers hold valid licences and that their company vehicles have valid MOT certificates is not enough to ensure their safety. Beyond the introduction of a company-wide health and safety policy, organisations must strive to achieve a cultural shift among their employees to make sure policies are adhered to. This is where fleet management systems have a big role to play – helping enforce behavioural changes and significantly modifying driver attitudes.

On a basic level, telematics can be used to monitor the number of hours a driver spends behind the wheel and enforce a policy of regular breaks. This however is just the tip of the iceberg, with driver performance tools allowing managers to monitor the behaviour of their mobile workers – providing data on factors such as speed, fuel consumption and even harsh steering or braking.

A survey by road safety charity Brake discovered people driving for business purposes are more likely to take risks on the road than the general driving population. For example, more than half (54 per cent) admit speeding on 60mph limit roads, compared with 34 per cent of non-work drivers.

Helping the driver

What’s more, the importance of being able to monitor and act on such data was highlighted in a recent BBC Panorama documentary that examined the dangers of cognitive distraction.Professor Paul Atchley, Cognitive Psychologist at the University of Kansas, revealed that drivers using hands-free device mobile phones, for example, suffer from a mental workload and that reduces their ability to deal with hazards on the road, increasing the likelihood of crashes.

 

Telematics systems that automatically send job details and route drivers to customer locations via integrated in-vehicle navigation devices can reduce this mental workload. They also empower drivers them by feeding live performance information to their in-vehicle navigation devices, enabling them to change their behaviour in real time.

 

In the office, managers can use the performance data to build accurate profiles for every driver and identify where their strengths and weaknesses lie, allowing training to be tailored to suit individual requirements. The opportunity to measure driver performance in a sustainable manner following training sessions also becomes a reality, protecting the business investment in meeting duty of care obligations.

Scotia Gas Networks (SGN), for example, reduced incidences of negative driver behaviour (speeding, harsh steering, braking or acceleration) from 1,600 a day to less than 400 after implementing teleamtics technology.

Although there can occasionally be resistance from staff with such systems involving in-depth performance analysis, this can be overcome if they are positioned correctly and implemented with employee involvement.

Consultations should be held with staff throughout the process and open lines of communication maintained. Incentives offered for improvements in performance can also result in healthy competition among staff.

By understanding their obligations and committing to road safety, service companies can stay on the right side of the law, safe in the knowledge they have secure business future.

Giles Margerison, TomTom Telematics’ Director UK & Ireland, considers how field service firms can best organise their resources to cope with the holiday season.

The arrival of summer usually receives a warm welcome on these shores but that's not to say it's without its challenges.

Field service companies, in particular, face the often taxing issue of ensuring service levels don't drop below expected standards during a period of resource instability.

The need for smart planning to cope with staff holidays is made ever more pressing by the continued growth of the service sector, as economic recovery keeps gathering pace, and the shift from a transactional to a relationship economy.

Customers expect higher standards of customer service and expertise from field workers than perhaps ever before and those companies capable of meeting this demand will be best equipped to thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Data as the foundation for good planning

Of course, good service delivery relies upon effective planning. On a basic level this means coordinating holidays with expected workloads to ensure staffing and skills levels remain sufficient through the summer period.

But there is a need for organisations to become ever more sophisticated in order to cope with the changing face of the UK economy and this is where 'big data' can help.

Armed with the appropriate data, it is possible for field service companies to work out how many jobs their staff are able to attend in a day, accounting for factors such as time spent on the road journeying between jobs.

For example, using routing and scheduling software integrated with real-time data from telematics allows working schedules to be optimised, planning each mobile worker's day to ensure they spend as little time as possible out on the road.

Once work schedules are finalised, the details can be sent to each worker's in-cab navigation device, with navigation automatically loaded to send them along the quickest route, taking into account the effect of traffic flow, roundabouts, traffic lights and other obstacles.

Shifting scheduling from static to dynamic

Variables such as traffic or the emergence or unexpected, urgent call-outs can throw a spanner in the works, hence the need for  dynamic methods of planning.

Rather than setting workflow schedules in stone at the start of each day, field service organisations might be better served by planning on the fly with real-time information in order to make better use of resources and ensure the absence of staff isn't felt.

As such, telematics systems are able to make use of live traffic information to provide accurate times of arrival. If a worker gets held up severely by traffic or a delay in their previous job, the next most appropriate colleague can be dispatched in their place, or at the very least customer expectations can be managed.

Similarly, in the case of emergency call-outs, the system will automatically allocate the best-placed person to take the job, according to the time it will take them to arrive on site, rather than merely distance.

Dynamic schedules can also be tailored to complete both high-priority call-outs and low-priority, scheduled appointments in the most efficient manner. For example, if a worker is called to an urgent job on the same street where a regular visit is planned for later in the week, it often makes sense to complete both jobs at once, reducing the number of man hours wasted.

There's an app for that

Such dynamic scheduling takes into account staffing levels, availability and a host of other factors to ensure the available resources are most efficiently used but doesn't necessarily address any skills shortage that might occur when temporary staff are drafted in during the summer months to help service demand.

However, you’ll be pleased to know ‘there's an app for that'. The remarkable acceleration in the development of business technology means mobile workers can now benefit from a number of applications designed specifically to take advantage of logging workflow and process on one device, which makes their lives easier.

These apps, for example, allow the driver to conduct daily vehicle checks on their driver terminal or tablet device, ticking off each element on a pre-defined list before the details are sent automatically to the office for their records.

Once this is completed, the driver's workflow can be automatically loaded to their device, with navigation queued up for each job as necessary.

Upon arrival at a site, the worker will automatically be sent full details of the job along with any manuals that are required, ensuring they have the requisite knowledge at their fingertips.

There is such a range of technological solutions now available that companies can ensure whatever system is implemented will be tailored to the precise needs of the organisation, the industry and the customer.

End-to-end business systems, which build a seamless link between field and back office, remove the element of uncertainly that might have previously surrounded summer staffing and allow field service companies to deliver year-round, uninterrupted, first-class service.