This week is National Road Safety Week (14-20 November). As a FORS Silver Status transport company, we’re 100% committed to road safety. We’re constantly working to ensure compliance and we have a strong focus on driver training and prioritise cycle safety through our Cycle Safe Campaign.
Road Safety Week aims to inspire schools, organisations and communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the Week and beyond. It gives us the chance to remember people killed or injured on UK roads, and raise funds to help care for road victims.
Road Safety Week is coordinated by the charity Brake. Brake works to stop road deaths and injuries, support people affected by road crashes and campaign for safe and healthy mobility for all.
The aim of this year’s theme is to bring together communities and professionals to highlight the fact that everyone has the right to make safe and healthy journeys on safe roads.
We will raise awareness of the key areas of road safety that the Government supports, including safe roads, safe vehicles and speeds, the new hierarchy of road users, and the importance of inclusivity to keep us all safe on the roads, no matter who we are or how we travel.
In October 2018, TJ gained the highly-regarded FORS silver status and they continue to maintain this exceptional standard. The FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) silver accreditation is awarded to operators that maintain Bronze accreditation and have developed driver licensing verification systems. To further meet the strict criteria, vehicles over 3.5 tonnes must be equipped with a left-turn audible warning system and fitted with blind-spot minimisation devices.
TJ holds an annual training event during which drivers receive training to update their skills and learn new ones. There are also different training requirements that need to be met to satisfy different customers, such as holding a Passport Scheme competency card to enter sites or a Site Safety Awareness (MPQC) Card which also covers vulnerable road user training. Drivers must also complete 35 hours of periodic training every five years in order to be able to continue to drive commercially. That’s another day per year dedicated to road and driver safety.
TJ’s fleet of lorries are frequent road users and all TJ’s drivers are advocates for cycle safety. As part of TJ’s commitment to managing work related road risk (WRRR), particularly regarding vulnerable road users such as cyclists, TJ created its Cycle Safe Campaign in 2016 to raise awareness and to reduce the HGV / cyclist dangers.
The initiatives implemented as part of the campaign are:
Since the introduction of the Cycle Safe campaign, TJ has won two awards. The first was a national award for leading the way with cycle safety. The accolade was awarded by CEMEX, a leader in the building materials industry.
TJ also won the Transport for London award for reducing occupational road risk for the company’s drivers and helping to make our roads safer. Criteria for the award included showing how technology, management systems and behavioural initiatives can reduce road accidents.
TJ’s Managing Director John Gosling said: “This award represents how we have overhauled our approach to driver training, with the clear aim of achieving a working environment free of accidents and ill health. Our online training portal has enabled the driver training to be consistent, interactive and trackable, as well as improving the ease of delivery of inductions, both internal and external, for our mobile workforce.”
Find out more about TJ’s commitment to road safety and driver training…
