Universal Business Team or UBT are a business consultancy who provide customers with a wide range of services including coaching and training. Since they were established in 2009 they’ve supported 3,000 businesses across 19 countries.
Powell Design & Construction are a turnkey solution for homeowners looking to build, extend or renovate their homes, owned and managed by Richard and Alexandra Powell.
Liaising closely with Fifteen Group Adrian developed a package of bespoke support to make sure that their exact requirements were being met.
Background
Accora are a family-run firm based in Cambridge. They supply medical beds and chairs to nursing/care homes and health care facilities throughout the UK.
Challenges Faced
The company has a fleet of vehicles with around 35 sales staff and product specialists who drive for work purposes. They had previously tried various training options for their drivers through the insurance companies they had worked with but found that these were not always consistent.
Wanting to take a more risk-based approach they were introduced to Adrian Hide through a partner company they were already working with.
Requirement
Adrian worked with Accora to assess their specific requirements and to bring in tailored support to achieve their specific objectives.
How We Helped
Adrian carried out a detailed risk assessment on the drivers and journeys undertaken, then produced a Driver Safety Policy which Accora adopted and tailored to fit their house style. Accora use the FleetCheck app and have also designed a module for their CRM system to help manage their fleet more effectively. Driver safety training for staff will be mainly online with face-to-face training for higher-risk drivers.
Quality Manager Anthony Drake said: “We’re a responsible employer so had already started down this road and knew what we wanted – Adrian helped us implement what we needed quickly and effectively.
His expertise and knowledge have been invaluable. He advised us on how to introduce dashcams and telematics to our fleet and as a result, incidents have dropped – meaning our drivers are safer on the roads.
He added: “Our drivers are also more focussed. We have vehicle tracking systems fitted so that driving styles can be analysed, and based on this data we’ve brought in an incentivised league table for our drivers. We’re finding that the drivers compete in a friendly way to be at the top of the league table.
“It’s clear that drivers’ attitude to safety is changing, and we are very pleased with Adrian’s support and guidance to help this programme forward. I would recommend Adrian to any company that is serious about driver safety,” Anthony said.
Background
MDEL Fleet Management is an independent fleet management company based in Chesterfield. Founded in 2017 they manage more than 500 vehicles for clients across the UK and Ireland.
Challenges Faced
MDEL needed an expert to support their clients with their driver risk management services, things like risk assessments, driver safety policies, driver safety handbooks, and training as they didn’t have the resource or expertise in-house.
Requirement
MDEL needed someone they could trust and rely upon to deliver the right support, advice and expertise to their client base.
How We Helped
Following a recommendation from someone they had worked with previously, MDEL brought in Adrian to support their clients.
Adrian has now been working with MDEL since April 2020, supporting their clients with all aspects of driver risk management, helping them to introduce a robust driver risk management programme, which includes the provision of online training for any staff who drive as part of their work and for Line Managers, a special face-to-face workshop designed to help them understand and manage their driver safety responsibilities on behalf of the business.
Managing Director Mike Cuckson said: “Adrian is now essentially an extension of the MDEL team. He’s filled a gap that we didn’t have the expertise in-house to deliver. He’s been working with a number of our clients and that number is growing. We’re really pleased he was recommended to us; he’s been fantastic to work with and the feedback we’ve had from our clients has been fantastic. We look forward to working with him in the future.”
Adrian added, “It’s been a pleasure to work with Mike and his team at MDEL and of course his clients. It’s refreshing to work with such a forward-thinking business, Mike totally understands the merits of good driver risk management and his clients positively embrace all of the recommendations we put forward, I’m very much looking forward to supporting Mike and his clients during the coming year”.
We’ve spoken to lots of companies about why they brought us in to support them and how we’ve helped them.
We wanted to give you a real picture of what it’s actually like to complete one of our courses, so we’ve started 2022 by doing just that – by speaking to one of our course attendees.
And it’s not every day you get someone as experienced as Mick Tafano taking part. Mick is a former police officer with 31-years’ service under his belt, ten of which was with the traffic police, policing major roads across Staffordshire including the M6.
After retiring from Staffordshire Police in 2008 Mick became an Education Welfare Officer before joining Peak. They have four registered independent day schools in Cannock, Gailey, Stoke-on-Trent and Audley and also have six activity water sports and activity centres in the Cheshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire area.
Mick is one of the 160 staff there who drive as part of their job, transporting up to 100 pupils a day to and from the various locations.
Mick said: “Every member of staff who drives for Peak has completed Adrian’s Eco Driver Safety Course, myself included.
I was an advanced police driver and as a PC, Sergeant and Acting Inspector policed the roads in Staffordshire for a decade so you can imagine the crimes I’ve seen and the accidents I’ve attended – some of which never leave you.
“But despite my experience I still learned from Adrian’s Eco-Safe Driving course. You’re never too old or experienced to learn and this course was a great refresher.
He added: “It’s really well put together, informative and very interesting. For me if gives you that basic awareness that you need to help keep yourself and others safe. One of my colleagues who also did the course has told me how useful she found it and it makes you think about the “what ifs,’ etc, – what if I hadn’t have spotted that, what if that child had run out into the road etc, which is really important, in terms of awareness. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and would definitely recommend it.”
Background
DATIM is a long-established, growing, family business, which specialises in architectural Doorsets and Ironmongery for commercial, education, Government, healthcare, industrial, leisure and retail projects.
Challenges Faced
The company has a number of high-mileage drivers and DATIM recognises that driving is a high-risk activity.
Requirement
As a responsible employer, DATIM wanted to do everything possible to keep their staff safe on the road.
How We Helped
The company’s vehicle fleet is managed by MDEL Fleet management. Working in partnership with them Adrian has helped DATIM to introduce a driver risk management programme, which included:
• An audit on the businesses driving activities
• Production of a risk assessment and driver safety policy
• Help with the programme’s roll-out
• Provision of a Driver Safety Handbook
Adrian has also delivered his Line Manager course to DATIM’s senior management team in Chesterfield. The half-day workshop has been designed to explain Line Manager responsibilities for managing driver safety in the workplace. Car and van drivers at DATIM are also undergoing on-line driver training.
DATIM’s Managing Director Garry Hughes said:
“Adrian’s knowledge of driver risk management is extensive. He guided us through every step of the process, from design to implementation. The Line manager workshops were essential as we know how important it is that everyone understands their responsibilities when it comes to driver safety. Adrian’s course has given us the knowledge and confidence to ensure our driver risk management programme is properly managed. He also went the extra mile by delivering an online webinar to one of the managers who was poorly on the day of training which made sure no one missed out.”
Background
Prompt PC is one of Staffordshire’s leading IT security and Microsoft 365 specialists. They have a small team of engineers who visit clients on site using company vehicles.
Challenges Faced
The business owner Andrew Eardley wanted to ensure that their team was as safe as possible on the roads.
Requirement
It’s a busy team and they needed training that could fit in with their busy schedule. Prompt PC worked with Adrian Hide Consultancy to discuss their requirements and decided that the on-line eco-saving driving course would be the best fit for their requirements.
How We Helped
Prompt PC owner Andrew Eardley said: “As a responsible employer I wanted to make sure that staff had the right training to ensure they were as safe as possible on the roads. Working with Adrian has been great. He’s clearly an expert in his field and gave us the advice needed to make sure the training fitted what we needed. As it was on-line, it was very convenient for the team. They’ve all completed it now, have enjoyed it, learnt lots and are more aware. I’m really pleased and assured that as an employer I’ve done all I can to make sure that our drivers have had the right training for when they’re out on company business. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the training or Adrian’s support.”
Background
Stonegate Tooling are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of tools and materials to stone fabricators, and are known as ‘the UK’s most trusted supplier’ in the industry. They also provide expert support and advice to their clients.
Challenges Faced
Stonegate are a growing company with an expanding team whose staff use company vehicles as well as their own to visit client sites.
Requirement
Stonegate wanted to ensure that as employers they were fully up to speed with health and safety legislation and as a responsible employer, they were doing all they could to protect their staff and keep them safe on the roads.
How We Helped
Adrian Hide Consultancy was brought in to assess what measures were already in place and carry out a full risk assessment to help ensure driver safety. Adrian also developed a fleet safety policy and is working with Stonegate to look at delivering an on-line driver safety course for its employees.
After the completion of the project, Stonegate commented: “We would have been lost without Adrian’s expertise. He’s really easy to work with and his knowledge is invaluable. We really liked the emphasis on risk management and the structure. It’s early days but so far staff have given us great feedback and we are now considering working with Adrian to bring in driver safety training for our staff.”
