FLEET CASE STUDY |
 Peak Performance client services director Suzanne Linturn with Colin Jones of OCE |
In one of the largest projects of its kind ever undertaken in Britain, Océ (UK) Ltd, is putting over 500 drivers through psychometric-based, online risk assessments and behavioural-based driver training to cut the cost and frequency of road traffic accidents still further. Brentwood-based Océ (UK), one of Europe’s largest document management and digital printing companies, operates around 530 company cars in the UK in an overall global fleet of 6,000 vehicles in 14 countries. It has been working with multi-award-winning driver training and risk management specialists, Peak Performance, the company behind the training project, since 1999.
In that time, the Essex-based company has seen fleet accident rates drop from 69% to 39%, and has witnessed a reduction in annual accident costs of around £126,000 over the last five years. However, as part of its programme of continual fleet improvement, it is now insisting that all its drivers undertake the DriverMetrics Fleet Driver Risk Index – the psychometrics-based online risk assessment developed by Cranfield University in conjunction with Peak Performance, plus Peak’s new one-to-one, on-the-road Personal Driver Coaching training programme.
The unique, behavioural-based half-day training session has been developed to help drivers identify and change their more risky driving behaviours. Utilising the individual results from the DriverMetrics online risk assessment, Peak trainers coach drivers to recognise, manage and change aspects of their current driving behaviour which place them “at risk” on the road. Research, says Peak, confirms that drivers respond much more positively to training that is tailored to their specific personality type. In this way, the Personal Driver Coaching course goes beyond traditional “skills-based” training and delivers long-lasting positive changes in driver performance and safety.
Personalised coaching gives drivers a greater understanding of how their attitudes to driving and towards other road users contribute to increased likelihood of accidents, and helps them achieve a greater understanding of themselves, says the risk management organisation. According to Océ (UK) fleet services coordinator, Colin Jones, the use of psychometric testing and behavioural-based training in this way can only improve an already excellent safety record. He says: “We are really excited to be undergoing these new training initiatives from Peak Performance, because we believe they will play a key role in cutting our accident rates still further.
| “The Personal Driver Coaching course goes beyond traditional ‘skillsbased’ training and delivers longlasting positive changes in driver performance and safety” |
“The on-line risk assessments, we believe, will help identify our drivers’ attitudes to driving risk, while the behavioural-based training will allow them to gain a better understanding of themselves, how they approach driving and what they might need to change in their behaviours. “I have taken the on-line risk assessment myself during a visit to Cranfield University and am convinced it can play a key role in helping fleets cut their driving risk and improve their accident records.”
James Sutherland, managing director at Peak Performance, says: “Personality-based, behavioural and emotional factors can seriously disrupt driver performance and are known to be a major contributor to road traffic accidents. “According to national statistics, 95% of crashes are contributed to by human error, often attributed to poor driving skill. In reality, it is often our own behaviours, actions, temperaments and lifestyles that dramatically increase our potential of being involved in an incident on the road. “These latest training initiatives go far beyond the traditional skills-based training, deliver long-lasting positive changes in driver performance and safety and produce results that are measurable and quantifiable.
“We are confident that these new training initiatives have significant benefits for fleets. By identifying an individual driver’s behaviour characteristics through the online risk assessments, training can be targeted in a much more effective way, and the driver can more easily understand what aspects of their driving behaviours are likely to cause them to be involved in a road traffic accident and how to overcome them.”
