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Bureau services are all about managing vehicle and driver information, delivering reports that enhance safety by lowering operational risk.

Getting technology to improve efficiencies in the transport business is very much the domain of the fleet manager. Road safety is obviously a huge contributing factor to overall operational efficiency and technology can help promote safer driving by delivering critical information to management in real time about both truck and driver. CI OmniBridge is a leading supplier of fleet management solutions to transporters. FleetWatch asked its managing director, Charles Tasker, to highlight the advantages of a technology-enabled safety management approach.
 

n a country where an average of 36 people die each day as a result of road accidents, road safety should be a top priority for fleet operators. In the Exploration and Production industry, where the transport of hazardous loads such as oil or gas are concerned, it simply must be the number one imperative.

Monitoring for control

Fortunately, many key players in this industry, such as BP, Shell, Chevron Texaco, Total, and Schlumberger, have taken this imperative to heart. Fitting on-board computer technology, the VDO Fleet Manager helps them manage their stringent quality, health, safety and environment (QHS&E) policies.

A large portion of the more than 100,000 VDO Fleet Manager systems installed world-wide since 1997 have been in the oil and gas industry, where safety is the primary concern. The objective of these ‘driver monitors’ is to improve the safety of drivers and passengers by monitoring, managing and improving driving behaviour and correcting poor driving style.

Although each company has a unique approach to the  management of employee safety as defined in their QHS&E policies, the basic factors affecting safety are the same, and the process can be significantly improved when using a VDO Fleet Manager system. These companies all want to:

• Improve the safety of their employees

• Better manage their own drivers and vehicles, as well as those of their contractors

• Reduce accidents and analyse incidents that do occur

• Control driver access to vehicles

• Improve driver behaviour and driving style (e.g. using head-lights, not driving at night)

• Manage over-speeding

• Visibly improve social responsibility through wellmanaged QHS&E programmes.

These objectives can easily be met using the VDO Fleet Manager products, where controlling driver access and driver identification are standard features. Analysis of recorded second-by-second interval data is made easy using graphs, helping customers to understand incidents and how they occurred. Standard events can be used to manage over-speeding with an audible, in-vehicle buzzer that prompts the driver to take immediate action.

Scoring drivers

Recognising that even the most sophisticated technology cannot always ensure driver compliance to company safety policies, CI OmniBridge has designed and implemented a software extension, the Driver Scoring feature. This feature takes driver errors into account, and coupled with incentive programmes, drivers are motivated and rewarded for good driving. Userdefined events can determine if the driver is driving at night or afterhours, and how the driver is using the brakes, head-lights, etc.

In the case of Shell, contractors are not paid if they make unforced driving errors such as over-speeding. Driver licenses and certification are recorded and reported on at regular intervals to remind managers of any expired licenses or the need for retraining. A handy tool, considering that in 2003 the National Traffic Information System recorded more than 330,000 expired professional driving permits.

Once these primary objectives have been achieved, the flexibility of the VDO Fleet Manager system has also enabled our customers to enjoy further benefits, such as more efficient fleet utilisation, and improved driver productivity, all expanding the return on investment they derive from the single VDO Fleet Manager platform.