Construction is well underway for the UK’s major infrastructure project of HS2. With that comes the significant task of ensuring not only the health & safety of its staff, but also that of the local community during the construction.
One’s first thought, when you mention health & safety, is to imagine the construction workers physically building the railway. However, an often overlooked aspect to health & safety is for those workers driving for their employer and more importantly drivers using a vehicle which is used as part of their work equipment. Therefore falling under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, or PUWER, for short.
EKFB, a joint venture between Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial and BAM, has been appointed by HS2 to deliver an 80km section of the route and has recruited hundreds of staff, many of whom are driving for work.
Matt Eastwood, Fleet Manager at EKFB said: “My role at EKFB on this exciting project is a busy one and keeping the fleet moving, well maintained, legally compliant and above all, the safety of the drivers, passengers and local community safe is one of my main priorities.
“I have been involved in fleet management for a number of years now and I am passionate and a keen advocate of practical driver training and above all, the training needs to be high quality and effective. What I mean by effective, is that ‘off the shelf’ training doesn’t always achieve what we need so more bespoke training is required.
“For this reason we went out to the market and engaged with TTC as we needed to ensure the safety of over 200 4×4 drivers and 20 3.5t tipper drivers. These vehicles fall under PUWER and as such we need to ensure our drivers know how to use the equipment safely and efficiently.”
Andy Wheeler, TTC Head of Technical Delivery said: “Working with Matt and the rest of the EKFB team has been a real pleasure, as both organisations share the same core values of ensuring high quality training and service delivery.”
“EKFB wanted all their 4×4 drivers trained to the Lantra accredited standard and the combined full day of theory and safe off road driving practices, has gone down exceptionally well with the drivers. Our feedback scores are 98% very satisfied or fairly satisfied that the training met their needs and 95% of drivers would recommend the course to others.”
Andy Wheeler, Head of Technical Delivery, TTC Group
“As well as the off road training, all drivers have undergone a half day on road training session looking at the different handling characteristics and safety implications out on the highway.”
Course delegate Daniel Oller, went on to say: “I have been on two 4×4 training courses before but this one was by far so much more informative and enjoyable in both the classroom and outdoor. Both trainers were very knowledgeable and I learnt a lot of things on this course that I didn’t on the others.”
In addition to the 4×4 training, EKFB wanted a bespoke course created for their 3.5t tipper drivers.
“Our 3.5t tipper drivers have to be proficient in many facets of driving these vehicles. Not only are they driving on the highway with all manner of loads but they also need to drive safely through the site, in often challenging conditions, and use the tipper controls to drop any particular loads. All this activity needs to be done safely so we need to know that are drivers are fully competent.”
Matt Eastwood, Fleet Manager, EKFB
“With any new course design, we worked with Matt and the rest of the EKFB team, to identify the required learning outcomes, which were a lot more than just driving. Part of the preparation was to visit the site and vehicle to be used, as well as understanding the types of incidents the drivers encounter, such as overloading and driving a fully laden vehicle.
“In addition to this, the ongoing challenges around Covid, required additional training around EKFB policies and how to effectively sanitise the vehicle before, during and after use. Once we identified all the requirements we created a two day course involving theory and practical hands on training, covering subjects such as weight and vehicle dimensions, securing loads efficiently, how to tip safely, how to be Covid secure and to experience driving a fully laden vehicle. The course concluded with a competency assessment, which each driver had to pass to complete the course.”
“The driver feedback has been really positive with drivers rating the course on average as 9.8 out of 10, a 100% satisfaction with the trainers and not surprisingly, the issue of loading and overloading was the most informative element of the programme, at 92% of the drivers commenting on this aspect.”
Andy Wheeler, Head of Technical Delivery,TTC Group
