European fleets including Portugal’s CTT have been recognised for their efforts to improve road safety at work at this year’s European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) fleet safety awards.

The 2018 ETSC fleet safety awards

Revealed in a ceremony in Brussels today (17 October), this year’s PRAISE awards saw Portuguese postal services company CTT take the large company award for its wide-ranging approach to road safety, which has helped to reduce collisions, repair costs and absenteeism, while also helping secure financial and environmental benefits.

The business runs some 3,000 vehicles, one of the largest fleets in Portugal, and has used a combination of incident analysis, vehicle selection and driver training, alongside regular monitoring of driver performance to minimise risk. Since the programme was established, the company has saved 29,000 days of staff absenteeism related to road collisions, with an estimated saving of €2.3m. The costs of injury claims also decreased, despite an increase of 15% in fleet activity.

In the same category, FM Conway, the UK-based infrastructure services company, was highly commended after achieving a substantial reduction in injury collisions and justified insurance claims.  The business employs more than 1,400 people covering 250,000 journeys each year, and has been recognised for measures including the implementation of an ISO 39001-certified Road Traffic Safety Management System for preventing distracted driving and achievement of Gold accreditation under the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS). The technology has seen the number of incidents involving cyclists in the five years since implementation slashed to just two minor incidents – compared to 12 in the five years prior to implementation – despite the number of vehicles and miles covered having doubled in the same time.

The ETSC also announced the winner of its award for a public authority, which this year has been given to STIB-MIVB, the Brussels public transport company, in recognition of the efforts of its tram unit to reduce collisions and injuries on its network.

Antonio Avenoso, executive director of ETSC, said: “Each of our winning organisations has worked to put in place a system-wide approach to road safety, with data collection, analysis and interventions that are proven to work and deliver results.  This is not about paying lip service to road safety with glossy PR, it’s about rigorous implementation of higher standards and improved processes across the business. We hope our winners will inspire others to follow in their footsteps, and we urge governments and local authorities to support similar initiatives across Europe.”