Northern Powergrd has a fleet of more than 2,300 cars, vans, trucks and grey fleet vehicles, and is the electricity distributor for the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire. In 2022, Northern Powergrid undertook a review of its road risk strategy and identified driver training initiatives that could reduce the number of preventable vehicle accidents (PVAs). Northern Powergrid focused on four areas of risk, including apprentice driver training, safe driving culture, slow speed manoeuvring, and supervisor and management understanding of their roles.
Apprentices were allocated mentors and were given a series of exercises to practice manoeuvres. Quarterly toolbox talks with a focus on safe driving culture, 200 colleagues per year took part in a slow-speed manoeuvring course, and line managers attended training courses.
Since the updates to its driver training programmes, Northern Powergrid saw a 40% decrease in PVAs and have seen a significant improvement in safe driving culture. They reported an improvement in line manager support, as they feel more confident to engage with the road risk strategy and proactively provide additional support for drivers that need it.
The Company Driver Safety Award (large fleet), sponsored by Fleetmaster, was presented to Northern Powergrid at the UK Fleet Champions Awards 2024. The award celebrates the private sector organisation that has implemented initiatives that effectively enable drivers to be safe. Judges award education and awareness-raising initiatives about safe driving that extend beyond employees to their families.
Click here to find out more about the UK Fleet Champions Awards and the 2024 award winners.