There are two vital checks required for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) fleet manager to comply with the rules and regulations associated with maintaining an Operator’s Licence.
The first is to ensure the safe and proper use of vehicles for the safety of drivers and other road users.
The second is to consider the impact if a traffic commissioner were to suspend or revoke the O-licence, removing an organisation’s permission to operate vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes.
For Scottish Water, it is unthinkable that it might ever be unable to fulfil their duties to customers because it is prohibited from operating HGVs.
“We treat compliance very seriously”
“We treat safety and compliance very seriously in all aspects of our business and transport is obviously a significant aspect,” said Elaine Pringle, Fleet Manager, Scottish Water.
“Without our vans and HGV fleet, we would be unable to provide essential water and waste water services for our customers.”
Jaama’s Key2 platform plays a huge role in helping Scottish Water manage its fleet compliance, from the daily pre-use vehicle checks by drivers, to driving licence checks, tachograph analysis, telematics and vehicle maintenance scheduling and record keeping.
Introducing digital workflows
Replacing manual processes with digital workflows and swapping paper for online data brings substantial efficiency gains.
“For pre-use checks, it’s easier for drivers to complete on an app rather than using pen and paper which comes with the real benefit of providing the fleet team with real-time information,” added Pringle.
It’s the same story with tachograph analysis where software has overtaken the labour-intensive role of collating and checking logbooks.
Fleet maintenance was taken in house
Scottish Water took the management of fleet maintenance back in house just over a year ago to achieve better control and management of its assets. It needed a new software system capable of scheduling service, maintenance and repairs (SMRs) with workshops, garages and tyre, glass and breakdown service providers and to hold all of their maintenance information in one place.
After a competitive tender, the publicly-owned utility selected Jaama’s Key2 asset management system. It is also working towards using Jaama’s Maintenance Exchange to manage its maintenance supply chain which will make it easier to automate maintenance bookings, job authorisation, document management and payment of maintenance jobs.
Monitoring maintenance alerts in real time
“Our fleet team are now using Key2 to arrange our scheduled and reactive maintenance events with our network of maintenance suppliers. The system allows us to monitor alerts in real-time as well as report on completed or scheduled events. We also use it to monitor VOR (vehicle off road) and uptime, which is a particularly challenging area for the industry currently,” said Pringle.
“We want further system integration which will allow us to perform multiple end to end compliance activities. “So, for example, if a driver completes a pre-use check and reports a defect via the app that the information comes through to our maintenance team automatically.
Our maintenance system arranges the workshop booking and work authorisation, manages the process through to the completion of the work, and then holds all the necessary paperwork,” said Pringle.
Chantal Rutherford, Implementation Services Manager, Jaama Ltd – ‘We successfully delivered the consultancy and training via Microsoft Teams for the entire project. We took a phased approach to project delivery. This enabled Scottish Water to go live with Key2 within months, focusing on managing their fleet, drivers, compliance and operator’s licence.’