IAM assists BT to 40% reduction in fleet costs and collision rates

Since 2002, IAM Fleet has been assisting British Telecom (BT) with its company-wide scheme to reduce occupational road risk. BT runs the largest single vehicle fleet in Europe and has been employing Virtual Fleet Risk Manager (VFRM) in order to assess its drivers at the rate of 10,000 per annum. To date 50,000 BT drivers have completed the online programme and the company says that, and the related training, have already slashed its fleet costs and vehicle collision rates by 40%.

BT uses the VFRM assessment to grade its drivers as low, medium or high risk. Those labelled as high risk are automatically referred for training and this is where IAM Fleet comes in.

IAM Fleet’s focus has been on the engineers who operate the familiar white BT vans. 3500 of them have so far been earmarked to undergo the training package specially developed by IAM Fleet for BT - some 2000 drivers have attended the programme to date.

The training package involves both interactive workshops and on-road assessment and tuition. The half-day workshops have been designed to raise driver awareness of the dangers they face in today’s crowded road conditions, and are conducted at locations to suit BT. Within three weeks of undergoing an interactive workshop, candidates are required to participate in a half-day, on-road driving session. This allows them to put their increased level of risk awareness into practise and to minimise their own exposure to danger on the road.

Said BT’s Dave Wallington, “IAM Fleet’s training package has contributed significantly towards the major cost savings we have achieved. The smooth integration of their services into our overall driver safety programme and their ability to meet our very specific needs have been the key elements of this success.”