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HGV Driver Training Goes Green

In the last 3 to 5 years we’ve seen the growth of online driver risk assessment and e-driver training systems for company car drivers.

However, less has been done for the haulage market which has continued to rely on in-cab driver assessments and in-cab training. Put quite simply, each gallon of fuel burned by a truck releases 24 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. On an average driver assessment or training course a vehicle is likely to use 5 gallons of fuel which means that for every 10,000 drivers assessed or trained, 1.2 million pounds of CO2 are released. Multiplied across all the HGV drivers in the UK, that amount of CO2 has a very significant effect on our environment.

As one of the UK’s premier providers of online driver risk assessment and e-driver training solutions, E-Training World gave thought as to how the HGV market could benefit from excellent assessment and training, without the need to create such a huge carbon footprint.

The challenge lay in the fact that research showed that less than 25% of HGV drivers have easy access to the Internet – which removed the ability to offer an online solution. This was effectively the reason why other online training providers had not been able to support the HGV market.

However, E-Training World came up with the solution. And not only was this solution hugely beneficial for assessment and training purposes, it also removed the need to go out in the vehicle at all - providing significant Green benefits.

HGV Driver Assessments

To avoid the need for in-cab driver assessments, HGV drivers are sent a short A5 booklet. This asks for information that will ‘profile’ that driver (i.e. understand the type of driving they are doing, types of journeys, licence details, loads carried etc) and it also assesses the driver through a series of questions. These cover knowledge, attitude and hazard perception.

There are 5 different booklets making it more difficult for drivers to copy off each other.

The booklets are completed and returned by the drivers and the answers are keyed into an online system which then independently and objectively calculates the risk rating of each driver.

In addition, from the answers given the online system can also assess where that driver’s weaknesses are and where their skills need to be improved.

HGV Driver Training

Vocational drivers tend to be better trained than company car drivers, which means that they are more likely to require refresher training rather than have a need to go back out in the cab.

E-Training World therefore launched a DVD-based interactive driver training programme purely for the HGV market.

The DVD takes you through a full training course, following the same structure that would be used if you were in the vehicle. However, this is all done from the driver’s front room!

As a fully interactive training programme, the driver uses his remote control to answer questions on areas such as loading, alcohol consumption, safe speeds in different weather conditions, signalling etc

At the end of the DVD, the driver is asked to fill out a quick questionnaire which is posted back to their fleet manager as evidence that the DVD has been watched. This is entered onto an online management system as part of the firm’s Duty of Care audit.

Both systems are unrivalled in the HGV sector and have eliminated 100’s of thousands of miles of on-road training and the carbon footprint that goes with this. A truly Green initiative.

Source: ETW