Inside story: cultivating a road safety culture at work James Backshall

The roots of the SAID campaign The SAID, or Safer Attitudes in Driving campaign was borne out of a need in 2001 to develop a road risk strategy within our business. At that time we operated a fleet of around 800 vehicles and the campaign was seen as the best way to improve the safety of Colas employees on the road. Our primary objective was to reduce the incident frequency rate, with an ultimate goal of eliminating road related incidents involving company vehicles.

Campaign development For the SAID campaign to work it needed to be endorsed from the top. The steering group was formed to oversee the direction of the campaign and formed a number of small working groups to assist. The implementation of the Driving Representatives would be the cornerstone of the campaign. Steering Group Working Groups Driving Representatives

Campaign resources For the campaign to succeed a number of resources were required. Senior management buy-in. A steering group (+ working groups). Driving representatives within the business. Operating budget. Development of a classroom training package. Development of a in-vehicle skills assessment package. Assistance from external organisations.

SAID training A programme of annual classroom training that is delivered by Driving Representatives - employees from within business. The training material was prepared by external 3 rd parties and was developed around a set of 12 “commandments” for safe driving behaviour. A programme of driver in-vehicle training was run for all company drivers to promote, assess and improve on their driving skills.

The training cycle and 12 commandments

Results – The first 10 years

2015 – SAID+ launches SAID has changed the culture within the company for the better, and in doing so grew to being more than just a campaign. At the start of the year we re-branded SAID into SAID+ to allow the campaign to be reinvigorated and move into the next phase: a full fledged road safety management system.

SAID+ changes SAID 3 person steering group, with sub working groups. Classroom training put together by external party. 12 commandments. In vehicle training every 4 years, 1:3 ratio. SAID+ 9 person team including stakeholder representation (i.e P&T and HR). Classroom training put together by in- house team. 12 driving principles. In vehicle training every 3 years, 1:2 ratio. Speed awareness training. Multi incident driver training (1:1 ratio) Road safety management system

SAID+ road safety management system

The SAID+ model We believe that the SAID+ model is one that could be used by SME’s or organisations who do not currently have a road safety system in place. The model has proven itself over the years to be cost effective, flexible and has been key to delivering a strong road safety culture within our organisation.

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