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Brett Concrete Safety Case Study
Brett Concrete is one of the largest independent suppliers of ready-mixed concrete of its kind in the UK, servicing customers from plants across the South East. Paul Sheekey, Transport Co-ordinator, explains how they have used FORS to make improvements in fuel consumption and safety.
"I came across FORS whilst researching information on Euro IV requirements on the Transport for London website" explains Paul. "We saw the logo, followed the link and we haven't looked back. It was something that had never really been available before, in London or elsewhere, there was nobody out there giving such appropriate guidance."
"We had our assessment and passed first time to become a bronze accredited company, and from there it was a case of attending workshops where we were given information that we felt could really improve our operation" continues Paul.
"You get a lot of information in small packages with FORS and that's ideal in this industry where time is often of the essence. We really appreciate having the opportunity to attend a workshop in the morning and still get back to work by the afternoon. It's great to have the chance to ask questions in a group environment and have a presence at industry events."
"We were given the information that we felt could really improve our operation"
Brett Concrete has implemented a number of initiatives to help improve the efficiency of their operations. One of these addresses fuel consumption.
"Our engines need to be running to keep the mixers working but we were still determined to improve so we took the decision to specify bigger vehicles and as a result we've reduced our road mileage by 25%." explains Paul.
"Everything we do shows we're continually finding ways to improve" continues Paul, "one of the biggest changes we've made as a result of our involvement with FORS, and a key contributor to Brett Concrete reaching gold, is the fitment of cycle safety cameras and side sensors. We attended a workshop and really benefitted from hearing the experiences of others in this field. We then got to work specifying our own system."
"By increasing the capacity of our mixers from six to eight metres we've achieved a 25% reduction in road miles."
"We have now fitted all our trucks working in London with blind spot cameras and side alarms. They give our drivers that extra visibility and peace of mind. Even a couple of our sub-contractors have now fitted the cameras and alarms and it's all because we heard about it at a FORS workshop. As part of our ongoing commitment to safety we are continually working with our suppliers to improve driver visibility. We also specify sideguards as standard to all our vehicles, we believe this has a huge impact on reducing the number of cycle incidents."
"We've made the most of the FORS Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) courses. Anything that helps our drivers to achieve their CPC qualification ahead of schedule is worthwhile - why wouldn't you make the most of something like that?"