Women in Transport Podcast

About Women in Transport Podcast

A podcast aiming to help increase the representation of women in the transport sector

Publisher

Driving for Better Business

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Mar 2022

Latest episode

30 Mar 2023

Latest episodes

12 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Mar 2023

   Nina Day, Policy Advisor for the Health and Safety Executive

   Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety.  I’m delighted to have Nina Day, Policy Advisor for the Health and Safety Executive with me today. Nina, welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast. It’s great to have you on the call today. Nina: It’s great to be here. Anne-Marie: The Health and Safety Executive plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of those in the workplace and your area of expertise is in road and workplace transport. What was your career route into this particular area? Nina: You know, after nearly 23 years now I can still picture the job advert that got me applying to work for HSE. And I didn’t really know anything about HSE back then and I certainly wouldn’t have imagined my career developing the way that it has – but very much in a good way, I should say. When I first started in HSE I was carrying out incident investigations, so that was fatal and serious injury incidents in quite a wide-ranging number of sectors – manufacturing, construction, agriculture, offshore. I’d worked on a couple of incidents in the transport sector, but it wasn’t really something that was on my radar. And after about 6 years, I decided I wanted to get more involved in the research side of things. I asked for a project that I could work on, and I did have my eye on something else – and I remember being quite disappointed when I was given a project on HGV travellers instead, I think I was probably quite annoyed at the time! But I gritted my teeth and thought I’ll get through this, and then I’ll never think about an HGV again. And clearly, it didn’t work out like that. I think within about 2 weeks of starting that project I was just fascinated by the industry in general. And I still am. It’s such a critical industry sector for the country as a whole, and there are some absolutely incredible people working in it. A lot of technical innovation, a constant drive to do things better, and it’s just great to work with. So, it’s an industry that I’ve been very, very happy to work in for many years now. I moved into policy within HSE about 4 years ago, and that was a big change, but an exciting one. One of the best parts of my job is getting to work with HSE’s external partners, whether that’s industry groups or partners within government like DfT, the police, with National Highways… and I think having a non-policy background is actually quite helpful to me in some ways, because it’s a different perspective. And having that technical, scientific background can be really useful when it comes to talking about something like load security, which can be quite a complex topic. So, my career path to this point probably has been a little bit unusual, but I wouldn’t change anything about it. Anne-Marie: Fantastic – and you’re quite right. Sometimes, looking at transport, it doesn’t seem like it’s a very interesting area or particularly wide-ranging. But actually, when you get into it, there is so much there. And you mentioned partnership – how important is partnership in getting things right in the workplace, or the driving for work area? Nina: I think it is absolutely critical. I mean, certainly from HSE’s perspective, we are talking about an area where you have overlapping areas of legislation, because you have workplace safety, road safety… you have different regulators working in that same space. And it’s absolutely critical that we have an ongoing dialogue between us; that we work together closely. The engagement is also really important in terms of talking to industry and making sure it’s a constant two-way discussion about how things can work, how they can work better. It is one of the great things about the industry, working in transport, is that you have so many parties involved. It’s exciting. It’s fun. Anne-Marie: Yeah. You’ve already mentioned some of the things you’ve been involved in, and load security is actually quite

2. 

   14 Feb 2023

   Rebecca Morris - Road Casualty Reduction, Marketing and PR Specialist

   https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/episode/women-in-transport/rebecca-morris/ Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety.  I’m delighted to have Rebecca Morris, road casualty reduction, marketing and PR specialist, with me today. Transcript: Anne-Marie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety.  I’m delighted to have Rebecca Morris, road casualty reduction, marketing and PR specialist, with me today. Rebecca, welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast. I’m really pleased you’re here with us today. Now, I’ve got fond memories of working with you in road safety partnerships, supporting them across the UK. And as well… remember visiting Moldova? To support the development of their road safety partnership? So we’ve got a bit of road safety history between us. You’ve been in road safety marketing and public relations for over 18 years – how did your career start? Rebecca: Hi – thanks so much for having me. It’s great to see you Anne-Marie, it’s been a long, long time and we do have a lot of history as you’ve said, in road casualty reduction. So yeah, I’ve been in road safety marketing and PR now for the best part of two decades. I was a journalist – that’s how I started my career – and then I started working at the Derby Safety Camera Partnership, back in 2004, and that’s where my road safety career began. And I’ve not looked back, and I don’t intend to go anywhere else, because suddenly I had a real purpose. I was writing about something that’s so important. And it’s been quite a journey over the last two decades, it’s changed a lot. So, yeah, it’s great to be here! Anne-Marie: You’re right, things have changed in road safety over those two decades so much. And when we first met, you were working for Road Safety Support – they provide a range of services to road safety professionals in the UK and abroad. It’s a key means of support for road safety partnerships, so how vital was your communications role for the road safety professionals? Rebecca: Yeah, so, I actually still work with Road Safety Support as a consultant. I was employed by them for 16 years – a wonderful time, working with the company. A very useful, worthwhile operation that was set up when the safety camera partnerships had changed. They became road safety partnerships. The Department for Transport was no longer at the helm influencing things that were going on within the partnerships – the responsibility was handed over to those partnerships to go it alone really, and Road Safety Support was set up back then in 2007 to support them through that. So my role was really created with the company and yeah, until the end of last year I was an employee. But that amount of time speaks for itself really. It’s a fantastic role to do, and supporting the partnerships with their day to day communications and casualty reduction marketing activities, and also of course promoting Road Safety Support, making sure we were known in the UK and overseas. Anne-Marie: Thanks. So, you’ve moved on now a little bit and you’re now with RoadPeace. It’s the national charity for road crash casualties and their families in the UK. And it’s a really vital area of support – tell us a little bit about the organisation and your role there. Rebecca: Yeah, RoadPeace is a very special organisation. I’ve been aware obviously of RoadPeace for the whole time I’ve been in road safety because obviously you’re aware of the charities that are out there, you’re aware of these things. But it’s only in the last few years that I’ve really appreciated what they do because I was fortunate, really, to begin supporting them, almost on a secondment basis. Road Safety Support very kindly donated my time as a marketing specialist to support the Andy Cox Challenge, as it was called back then, back in 2021 wh

3. 

   16 Jan 2023

   Lorna McAtear - Fleet Manager, National Grid

   https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/episode/women-in-transport/lorna-mcatear/ Useful Links National Gridhttps://www.nationalgrid.com/ Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast Annie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety. Delighted that with me today is Lorna McAtear, who is the Fleet Manager for National Grid. Lorna, a really warm welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast. Now, whenever we hear the title ‘Fleet Manager’, it conjures up phrases like planning, managing, coordinating drivers, vehicles, procurement, utilisation, and then there’s maintenance and repair. A whole host of things. But, what does a normal week look like for you? Is there a ‘normal week’? Lorna: Great question – no, I don’t think there is a normal week. So, even if I just take today as an example, I’ve gone from company car orders, through to consultation papers, through to reporting for various things out there that we’ve signed up to, your EV100s and everything else… I’ve gone into what’s next on our Responsible Business Charter, through to strategic direction and planning for the next couple of years, and I’m reading through CVs, because I’ve got a current vacancy at the moment. So, there is no normal week, and it really does depend on when the phone rings, and what the query is on the other side of it. Annie: Excellent. Well, your knowledge around fleet management is phenomenal. And in particular, telematics. Where does the learning on telematics in particular come from? Was it on the job? Or was it somewhere special that you went to get that kind of knowledge? Lorna: So, I didn’t fall into fleet in your traditional way that a lot of people do. In fact, I’m not sure if there is a traditional way of falling into fleet, you kind of end up there, one way or another. I used to be an IT Project Manager, so actually all of my background and early career was data systems, coding… I didn’t quite program but I kind of got there. So a lot of my knowledge was already in that digital space. So I picked up telemetry projects. What I had to do was look at some carbon reduction stuff. I was kind of filling a gap in terms of projects I’d got, and they said ‘oh, we’ve given some money over here to fleet, go and see what they’re up to and how they’re spending it for us’. And it was telemetry and carbon reduction. So, I literally got involved that way around. And, because of my understanding of how computers work – for want of a better description – it made it so much easier. I was one of the first at that point in time that went with a one-box solution, instead of the two-box solutions that were out there at that point in time. And I remember going away to a session with my colleague that I kind of revered – they were up there on this pedestal – and we got to the end of this meeting and on data and language in vehicles and black boxes. And at the end of it, he asked me if I understood everything that was going on – and I went ‘yeah, everything, why?’. He went ‘I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about’. You suddenly realise that what you’ve got is a different skillset – and it’s just as valid. Even now, I get asked how I got into fleet, and how do you get there from IT. And it’s like… over half of a car is computing now. It’s actually a logical step when you think about it. Annie: Well absolutely. And that’s a really interesting point – so, at the moment, there’s some really focused discussions about electric vehicles, the pros and cons… and they’re also things that businesses need to consider when changing their fleet, and looking at electric vehicles and other systems that are on cars and vans nowadays. So what are your thoughts on how this change can be managed, with all this technology that’s around? Lorna: It’s an interesting one, because with that, I guess I’ve got that project management skillset that’s inherently ther

4. 

   15 Dec 2022

   Laura Thomas – Director, Consul-T

   https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/episode/women-in-transport/laura-thomas/ Useful Links Consul-Twww.consul-t.co.uk Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast Annie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety. And today I’m very pleased to introduce Laura Thomas, not only the Director of Consul-T, but also an award-winning leading lawyer, who has advised the government on road safety, has worked for the HSE, and also as a Deputy Traffic Commissioner. Laura, welcome to our podcast. Now, I’ve given a brief introduction to the work you’ve done, but actually your experience is really broad. Can you tell us a little more about it? Laura: Thanks Anne-Marie. So you’re right, I have not had perhaps the straightest of career paths, but I think the winding ones are probably more interesting. So, I am a barrister – I started life as a criminal barrister, in chambers in London. I then joined a law firm, where I was for 12 years as a barrister and then partner. And I founded their regulatory and Health and Safety corporate defence team. And now, having spent a couple of years working in industry in leadership roles – in oil and gas, in civil engineering – I now work with businesses in two different strands. Firstly, as Director of Consul-T – and Consul-T offers business consultancy services, mainly in the Health and Safety field, but also regulatory, ESG, risk and compliance. And I also do legal work – still as a self-employed barrister at the Chambers of Laura Thomas, where I focus predominantly on Health and Safety and transport work. Annie: Excellent, thank you. I can just see now all the work that you’re involved in there. And you’ve got a unique insight into the road safety aspect of that. What led you into getting involved in the road safety and transport side of things? Laura: Yes, it’s an interesting one. And if I’m honest, I think I kind of fell into road transport and safety. I know a lot of people say it, but the transport world found me. I think early in my career I remember going to a talk by the inspirational and wonderful Carole Walker, who is the former CEO of Hermes. And I remember she said exactly the same. She said nobody really leaves school thinking they want to work in transport and road safety, but it kind of sucks you in. And I love that about it, really. There’s always so much to learn in the transport and road safety world. You can never say you’ve learnt it all. I was then really fortunate to sit on the board of Logistics UK with Carole. And she was a huge inspiration to me. I think in my world as a criminal barrister I saw the really tragic side of road safety. I dealt with many horrendous fatalities and serious incidents on the roads, both from a health and safety perspective and a road traffic law perspective. And I wanted to understand more. So, I had the opportunity and was invited onto the Road Haulage Association Panel, and I started to do legal inquiries for the Traffic Commissioner. Although I have to admit, Anne-Marie, tachographs did and still do puzzle me! I was then appointed Deputy Traffic Commissioner and I held that role for two and a half years. My goodness, I learnt so much about road safety and the transport world sitting as Deputy Traffic Commissioner. I met some wonderful people, and it led also to some really interesting work. So I then went on to advise the government, on their high-profile Cycle Safety Review. So I think – also if I take into account my private life, riding horses on roads – I think I have experience with transport in every single form. And still to this day, I’m engaged and enthused by it all the time because it’s one area that we’ve really got to get right. Annie: Absolutely. You mentioned that you had your eyes opened when you just started working in road safety, especially looking at the legal side of things, the horrendous things that happen on the road. And I t

5. 

   15 Nov 2022

   Meryl Roberts – Contract and Performance Team Leader, National Highways

   https://womenintransport.podbean.com/e/meryl-roberts Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast Sharon: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety. Today I am delighted to welcome Meryl Robert who is the contract and performance team leader at National Highways. Can you share with us your journey so far, working in the highways sector? Meryl: Yes, I’ve been privileged in joining the Department for Transport many years ago – National Highways was not a thing at that time. I’ve been able to take on lots of different roles in the civil service which has given me quite a broad experience. Though that I managed to transfer to the earlier version of National Highways, and I’ve worked on contract teams, I’ve delivered scehmes, I’ve delivered finance, commercial and procurement, I purchased land. I worked through to national operations where I set up the customer contact centre and that’s lead to the delivering operational services. I built my experience over many years and with many diverse teams. Sharon: I’ve been lucky enough to visit Quinton recently where the National and Regional Traffic centres – NTOC and ROC as they are known – so I’ve seen first-hand how busy your customer services teams are. How do you support the customers who use the road networks? Meryl: As you say there are quite a few different teams based at the Quinton office. We’re the National Traffic Operations Centre, and we look after the whole of the network, it’s one of the few offices in NH that covers the whole of the strategic network. We have the customer contact centre there that works 24/7 & 365 days answering front line services, and we also have the Strategic Traffic Operations which means we have operators who set strategic signs. The National Incident Liaison Officers keep their eyes and ears open for critical incidents that impact the network. We are very interested in the impact of an incident and looking at the information around that incident, so it leaves the regional office to tactically manage the incident and mobilise the traffic officers. Our offices can then look at what information can we give to customers? What signs can we set that give the customer the opportunity to make key decisions about their journey. They can either take a break or take an alternative route but it’s so that the information is far enough away from the incident for them to make those key decisions. The data we have is particular to the centre really. It’s collected from assets on the network. We receive it in the centre, and it’s processed and verified and that happens every minute, so the data comes into the office, goes out to America, comes back again and that is happening once a minute so it’s real time information. Then that is disseminated to businesses – not only National Highways – it enables other companies to use that data to provide traffic information services and in-car services which people probably don’t realise that data is shared so far afield, and it's free. Sharon: That’s amazing, it would be fair to say that National Highways – a lot of people think they’re responsible for building and maintain the motorways but from what you’ve said they do a lot more than that? Meryl: Yes – we build, operate, and maintain 4300 miles of motorways and major A roads and there are over 4million journeys travelled every day and the data we collect for the network and from mobile devices means that we have that Realtime information about what’s happening. It’s shared with providers that users will know about on their phones and in car systems and we also work with communities and stakeholders – to deliver a social value and a community benefit to leave a lasting legacy if you like. This leads on to supporting key messages about pollution affecting towns and villages, reminding road users about important safety messages, so it’s an extension of that engineering capability. W

6. 

   14 Oct 2022

   Sadie Weston - Owner and Managing Director, Employ Recruitment

   Show Notes Sadie Weston established Employ Recruitment in 2005. In this episode of the Women in Transport podcast she describes her journey of getting into recruitment and working in the logistics sector, and how she dedicated her career to changing the perception of HGV driver recruitment agencies through raising standards. We hear how she has realised her vision, creating a successful driving agency with 100% compliance at its core, and what she's learned along the way. https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/episode/women-in-transport/sadie-weston/ Useful Links Employ Recruitmenthttps://www.employrecruitment.co.uk/ Driver Recruitment Softwarehttps://www.driverrecruitmentsoftware.com/ Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast Sharon: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety. Driving and riding for work presents one of the biggest risks to business and addressing those risks often involves fresh, new thinking. With me today is Sadie Weston who established Employ Recruitment in 2005. Sadie, lovely to see you again and thank for you taking the time to chat with us today.Tell us about your journey of getting into recruitment and working in the logistics sector. Sadie: I fell into a career into logistics before I even knew what it was. When I was 19, I started working for a specialist driving agency. Early on I saw first-hand the importance of compliance and safety following a major road traffic accident, so when I was about 21, I set off with all my new learnings and set up my own driving agency, Employ Recruitment, which specialises in the supply of logistics staff -mainly HGV drivers on a temporary basis to haulage companies. Because of my attention to detail and desire for continuous improvement in standards I realised quite quickly that many driving agencies were not compliant and did not fulfil their obligations in terms of driver’s hours and working time directive despite all the legislation in place. I identified a need for change, and I wanted to do things differently. In 2005 I dedicated my career to change the perception of HGV driver recruitment agencies through raising standards. My vision back then was to create a successful driving agency with 100% compliance at its core and that’s been achieved in subsequent years. When we began that was quite a challenge – we relied on a lot of manual processes to achieve the vision., I invited in all the legislative bodies I could think of to check our manual processes until they were sufficient. Culture was also really important from a young age and for the colleagues, the drivers, and the clients. We now have very well-established brand promises that focus around honesty, humility, and respect for everybody and what I found to be my greatest challenge when working in Employ was finding a piece of software that managed the process of driving recruitment from start to end with a focus on compliance. It didn’t exist so I started to use a piece of software that met that requirement as closely as possible – then I went onto buy the company which is now a business in its own right know as DRS driver Recruitment software, a SAS platform that streamlines and automates the process of HGV driver recruitment end to end. The introduction of DRS into Employ eliminated the majority of manual processes, and it streamlined the business, achieving a 25% reduction in overheads, through automating the resourcing, the planning, compliance, finance and management information driving agencies rely so heavily on being accurate. So going back to my earlier vision to improve the perception of logistics recruitment throughout the UK and seeing the results in Employ, in 2019 I went to offer DRS to other driving agencies and by that point I had a tried and tested proven solution which was Employ and DRS enabled Employ to double, reduce overheads and remain 100% compliant in real time which improv

7. 

   22 Sept 2022

   Sarah Bell - Traffic Commissioner for London and the South East

   Show Notes Some areas of fleet management are highly regulated but that doesn’t always mean that these fleets are managed well. Today, I’m thrilled to be joined by Sarah Bell, Traffic Commissioner for London and the South East, to discuss some the common failures seen regularly at operator level and what it looks like to be a good operator. https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/episode/women-in-transport/sarah-bell/ Useful Links Information about Traffic Commissionershttps://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/traffic-commissioners Traffic Commissioner's Twitterhttps://twitter.com/TrafficCommsGB Sign up to receive news alerts from the Traffic Commissionershttps://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKOTC/subscriber/new Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast Anne-Marie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety. Now, some areas of fleet management are highly regulated but that doesn’t always mean that these fleets are managed well. Today, I’m thrilled to be joined by Sarah Bell, Traffic Commissioner for London and the South East.Sarah, welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast. You’ve had over 20 years of working with the transport industry and now as a Traffic Commissioner. How did your career develop? Sarah: First of all Anne-Marie thank you for inviting me, following Jo Shiner – difficult footsteps to follow but I’ll do my best. My career... developed is probably too sophisticated a word for it. It flowed, really. I qualified as a solicitor in 1993, with a regional practice down on the South Coast. I stayed with them until 1995, but then I wanted to get into commercial litigation but there were no positions there, so I went elsewhere. And bizarrely I ended up doing maritime litigation as well as commercial litigation. So, for example, marine accident investigations, helping their clients weave their way through the interviews, etcetera. And then also defending health and safety executive prosecutions for their clients. And so it was regulatory as well as litigation – which is not something which I had originally signed up to. But then the opportunity came for me to take that back to the firm where I had originally trained, which was lovely because I hadn’t actually particularly wanted to leave in the first place, it was just that there wasn’t the sort of role that I had wanted. And we developed a wider regulatory practice. They already were RHA panel solicitors, so I started doing that work with them – so representing operators, transport managers and drivers before my predecessors as traffic commissioners, and also in the criminal courts. But at the same time, I moved from defending HSE prosecutions which I had done at my previous firm, to actually prosecuting as a solicitor agent for the Health and Safety Executive. So I have – as they say - played on both sides of the fence. I’m a prosecutor and a defence solicitor by expertise. But then in 2006 I was approached by the recruitment consultants that were in charge of recruiting the new traffic commissioner for the West of England. And they said, “why haven’t you applied?” and I said I didn’t know that Phillip was retiring – which was a big faux pas as he wasn’t retiring, just moving London and the South East. And so that’s how I ended up being a traffic commissioner. Anne-Marie: Fantastic, so your experience – on both sides of the fence – has been quite broad. And you mentioned, you joined the West of England as Traffic Commissioner and now you’re the responsible for the South East. What are the responsibilities of a traffic commissioner? Sarah: They are wide and varied. First of all we don’t sort out anyone’s parking tickets, unfortunately, which is what most people think if they don’t know about regulation of commercial vehicles. What we actually do is we regulate the bus, coach and haulage industry, and their vocational drivers. There are eight traffic c

8. 

   26 Aug 2022

   Sharon Kindleysides - Chief Executive, CILT (UK)

   Show Notes "The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK is the home of the profession – so people who are working in the industry of transport and logistics and supply chains at any level have got somewhere they can come to be part of the community... we can support them through their career development.We like to think that anyone can come to us and ask us any question, and we’ll give them good, neutral advice based on the facts."Sharon Kindleysides, Chief Executive Officer of CILT(UK) https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/episode/women-in-transport/sharon-kindleysides/ Useful Links CILThttps://ciltuk.org.uk/ Generation Logisticshttps://generationlogistics.org/ Upcoming Events The Transport & Logistics Safety Forum Annual Conference, 8th November 2022Event summary - CILT(UK) (ciltuk.org.uk) The Women in Logistics Conference, 13th October 2022Event summary - CILT(UK) (ciltuk.org.uk) CILT programmes to support Learners: Aspire is the Charitable arm of the CILT which supports people with training cost to progress within the profession:CILT(UK) > Aspire (ciltuk.org.uk) Novus which is a programme to support those wishing to undertake University Studies is here:Homepage - Novus Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast Anne-Marie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety.  The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport was first established in 1919.  Their vision is “a transport, logistics, operations and supply chain profession, recognised and celebrated for its quality, expertise, and value”, and I’m delighted to welcome their Chief Executive, Sharon Kindleysides. Sharon, welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast.  Can you tell me more about the purpose of the Institute? Sharon: Yes, hello Anne-Marie, thanks for inviting me. I think the institute is the home of the profession – so people who are working in the industry of transport and logistics and supply chains at any level have got somewhere they can come to be part of the community. We are a chartered body so people that wish to go that way we can support them through their career development. We also offer training for individuals and organisations, and advice. We like to think that anyone can come to us and ask us any question, and we’ll give them good, neutral advice based on the facts. We have an amazing learning centres so if anyone’s doing any research they’re welcome to come and see that too. Anne-Marie: Fantastic. How big is the institute, how many members do you have? Sharon: Well, we’ve got roughly 13,000 members in the UK and we’ve got about 170 corporate members, where we work closely with them - but we mainly hear from the individuals. And they range from people at the start of their career right to the top fellows who’ve been doing great service. And I wrote a letter last week to somebody who has been a member for over 50 years. Anne-Marie: Wow, so there’s a real depth and breadth to the membership then. Sharon: Absolutely, and it’s just so valuable, particularly for our younger members. If they’ve ever got a question, there’s bound to be someone in the organisation who is senior and can offer advice. And I think that’s what’s really good when we go to places like a conference. People learn from each other. Anne-Marie: Brilliant. Now, your appointment as CEO of CILT is quite recent and you’ve had over 19 years leadership experience in the sector.  What do you see as the priorities for the sector at this point? Sharon: Yes, as you said I have been in the industry for some time now. I took over the job roughly three months ago. I think it’s quite a key time for the profession. I’ve noticed it’s pretty much every morning there’s a news article that’s something to do with the supply chain or transport or driving or the fuel crisis – various things along those lines. So at the moment we’ve really got a stage to talk about ourse

9. 

   26 Jul 2022

   Jo Shiner - Chief Constable of Sussex Police

   Show notes "It’s really interesting that almost 6 people a day die on our roads in this country and yet there is not in my opinion a loud enough outcry around that. I find it completely unacceptable that here is that level of death, trauma and tragedy and all those families who live on without their loved one." Jo Shiner, Chief Constable of Sussex, and is the roads policing lead on the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) talks about her role and how collaboration is essential to the success of roads policing strategy. https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/women-in-transport/jo-shiner/ Useful Links Sussex Police https://www.sussex.police.uk/ National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) https://www.npcc.police.uk/ OK9 - police dog welfare programme https://www.oscarkilo.org.uk/ Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast: Jo Shiner - Chief Constable, Sussex Police Anne-Marie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety.  Driving and riding for work presents one of the biggest risks that businesses need to address.  Employers have a duty of care responsibility, and managing this risk requires employers to ensure the company must not do anything that puts their drivers or riders at risk and that the company’s work-related driving activities must not endanger other road users.  I’m delighted that Chief Constable Jo Shiner from Sussex Police is joining me today. Chief Constable Shiner, a very warm welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast.  Your policing career has spanned nearly three decades of public service.  What drew you to joining the police? CC Shiner: Truly it was to make a difference. I know a number of people say that, but it really was. Our family went through a really difficult experience when my father was killed when I was a teenager – on the roads – and I did talk about it to bring that lived experience to the roads policing portfolio. After that experience I knew I could probably make a difference and so policing was quite a natural choice for me. Anne-Marie: Thanks Jo. That’s really interesting. A lot of our passionate ways of dealing with issues comes from experience. You’ve served in three forces, Norfolk, Kent and now Sussex which are all quite distinct.  How important has collaboration and partnership been to keeping communities and people safe? CC Shiner: I’m a true believer that in order to make a difference we absolutely have to work together for the road policing strategy together because we all bring very different elements to that. Whether or not it’s road furniture, enforcing speed, education – whatever it is about making our roads safer, unless we work in collaboration and partnership then actually it would be virtually impossible to make our communities – particularly our roads and everyone who uses them – which is virtually everybody – to keep them safe. Anne-Marie: Within the National Police Chiefs’ Council, you currently hold the portfolio for Roads Policing.  The value of roads policing is considerable and often underrated and unappreciated?  How significant is the role in preventing harm? CC Shiner: It’s really interesting that almost 6 people day die on our roads in this country and yet there is not in my opinion a loud enough outcry around that. I find it completely unacceptable that there is that level of death, trauma and tragedy and all those families who live on without their loved one. Or those people have been significantly injured in those collisions and therefore their lives have changed forever - so this portfolio assists with trying to draw the attention to road policing, make sure it’s more amplified in terms of when people are thinking about our wider communities and also appreciate the role that every single person has in  making those roads safer and therefore reducing the number of people who are killed and seriously injured because everyone has a role in that. I’m a

10. 

    17 Jun 2022

    Ashlee Field - Road Safety and Partnerships Manager, DPDgroup

    Show notes Ashlee Field, DPD Group talks to us on how the road safety culture has been cascaded throughout the organisation - including the sharing of best practice by drivers with their peers. 'We like them to have a conversation with each other on how they’ve improved their driving styles based on telematics and their apps. They can look at what they are doing on the day, and we basically put them at the heart of anything we are implementing or new into DPD.' https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/women-in-transport/ashlee-field/ Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast: Ashlee Field - Road Safety and Partnerships Manager, DPDgroup Anne-Marie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast. In this series we’re celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety. Driving for work is one of the biggest risks to the business. With me today I’m very pleased to introduce Ashlee Field, Road Safety and Partnerships Manager, DPD group UK. Ashlee, welcome to the podcast. How did your passion for improving safety on the road come about? Ashlee: What a great question! Back in 2018 we were asked to provide support to a local school and being an expert organiser I took on the challenge. So, I organised the vehicles, the staff, the content and how we would promote road safety, and all the goodies we took with us. We engaged with over 500 children from reception to year 6 and that started my passion for road safety. Anne-Marie: When you went to the schools did the children really understand what you were telling them? Ashlee: Initially it was difficult – the reception age group was difficult. When you started to get year 1 the engagement increased. One of the things we noticed was that the teachers were flabbergasted to see a truck and trailer on site and they were interested in coming to find out about it. We took onboard the elements of blind spots and making sure you’re visible and standing in the right areas so the driver could see them. They really understood that. Yes, it’s difficult but actually some of what you are teaching them is something they already know, and it gives them an opportunity to see what it looks like from the cab as well. Anne-Marie: Yes, it’s so important to make it real and a brilliant approach you took there. Let’s talk about DPD. What’s the DPD approach to managing work related road risk. How do you monitor driver behaviour without it feeling like Big Brother? Ashlee: There are tons of ways you can look into driver behaviour. The most basic version is the digital tachygraph reader that tells you a lot of things on what might be going on with the drivers on the road. It will also give you potentials like if you have a conversation with that driver it can tell you that the route is not necessarily suitable based on the fact there’s road works or additional traffic or the times they hit it are not convenient because there are schools in the area – it’s worth having a conversation with the driver first and foremost. Some of what we do is data based like telematics, monitoring harsh braking, hash acceleration and fuel economy. Other things are in cab cameras – these show you things from the road view such as dash cam footage and you also get a view in the cab as well, so it’s a good way of looking at it. One of the things we are quite keen on is being open and honest with our drivers, so we encourage sharing of best practice with peers. We like them to have a conversation with each other on how they’ve improved their driving styles based on telematics and their apps. They can look at what they are doing on the day, and we basically put them at the heart of anything we are implementing or new into DPD. We are lucky at DPD that the drivers know we monitor their driving to improve their driving styles and it gives them better coping strategies on the road which gives us a better version of our Driver CPC and it means they are doing a smoother journey which is

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    17 May 2022

    Astrid van der Burgt

    Show notes Driving for Better Business Women in Transport Podcast: Astrid Van Der Burgt, Holcim Group. In this podcast series we’re celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety and today I’m very pleased to introduce Astrid Van Der Burgt, Head of Road Safety at Holcim, who talks about the initiatives Holcim have in place to reduce road risk, as well as the success of the Women on Wheels project. https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/women-in-transport/astrid-van-der-burgt/ Useful links Astrid van der Burgt - LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/astridvanderburgt/ Women on wheels in Nigeriahttps://www.holcim.com/who-we-are/our-stories/women-wheels-nigeria Women on wheels in Nigeriahttps://www.holcim.com/who-we-are/our-stories/women-wheels-nigeria Women on wheels in Ugandahttps://www.holcim.com/media/media-releases/uganda-women-wheels Women in Transporthttps://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/women-in-transport/ Transcript DfBB Women in Transport Podcast: Astrid Van Der Burgt, Holcim Group Anne-Marie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast. In this series we’re celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety and today I’m very pleased to introduce Astrid Van Der Burgt, Head of Road Safety at Holcim. Astrid, welcome to the podcast. You have an interesting career history. How did you get into transport safety? Astrid: Thanks so much for having me. I worked in logistics all my working life and married into logistics – this resulted me working as a transport manager, maintenance manager, customer service and also as a driver. This meant I learned what a difference safety awareness makes to drivers. If you give drivers the tools to make the right decision behind the wheel, this makes a difference to them – makes sure they go home to their families at the end of the working day. This gives me really a lot of job satisfaction. This mantra of giving drivers the tools to make the right decisions has been my guide all through my career. Anne-Marie: You’ve talked about giving drivers the tools – what has worked well for you? Astrid: Certainly, in Holcim we operate in such a diverse market, and we take it for granted in the UK and in Europe that people know how to drive a truck, but that is not always the case in other markets like Sub Saharan Africa or India so it’s been a 3 pronged approach. We train drivers to make sure they have the knowledge and the skills to operate the vehicle and tackle the road situations, we have telematics installed in vehicles so we can monitor driving behaviour, and then the most crucial point, we give feedback to the drivers. We talk to them – ‘okay you had harsh braking, speeding – what happened and how could you prevent this happening in the future?’ They have this awareness that they can have an influence on the outcome of their driving day. Anne-Marie: Interesting – it’s not about catching people out and I think you’re right – that feedback bit is just about trying to raise their knowledge and understanding on the influence they have on that road space Astrid: Absolutely, we celebrate successes as well. If a driver does well it’s recognised, and if a driver does exceptionally well it’s rewarded – driver of the month, driver of the year programme, with some financial rewards. Even a good student likes to hear they’re doing well, it’s not just pulling up those that are underperforming. Anne-Marie: As well as creating job, opportunities, and growth, tell us about the Women on Wheels project. Astrid: Yes, this project has been so interesting. It was very much an idea for sustainability and innovation, and we had an inaugural programme in Uganda to increase diversity in driver population. They had decided they wanted to operate their own fleet, and right from the beginning they said let’s create parity and diversity. It’s been a huge success. The aim is not just to influence country management teams, so they

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    7 Mar 2022

    Celebrating Women In Transport For International Women’s Day

    Show notes Driving for Better Business is marking International Women’s Day (8 March), launching a year of videos, podcasts and features, and teaming up with Women in Transport, a non-for-profit promotional, professional-development and support group. Women make up 47 per cent of the UK workforce yet remain underrepresented in the transport sector, accounting for only 20 per cent of workers. However, this is changing steadily, and women are represented at every level. Driving for Better Business is a National Highways programme led by Anne-Marie Penny*, Senior Road Safety Policy Adviser, who says: “This is a great opportunity to raise awareness of the thousands of women who work in this sector, from CEOs of large multinational corporates, national and local government officials, directors of influential safety charities, freelancers, apprentices and everything between. Transport – like all areas of life – benefits from a diverse range of influences to best serve everyone.” Through the Driving for Better Business programme, those organisations which collectively employ millions of staff who drive for work have access to a range of free tools and resources for employers, along with examples of good practice and strong leadership. Women in Transport provides a varied and lively events programme with access to thought leaders, senior stakeholders and professional trainers. As the Secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group for women in transport, it is committed to working with the UK government to increase the representation of women in the transport sector. Sonya Byers, CEO of Women in Transport says: “We are delighted to be teaming up with the National Highways Driving for Better Business programme to celebrate women’s achievements in the transport and fleet industry over the coming year. With this year's International Women's Day theme of #BreaktheBias, we have a wonderful opportunity to raise the visibility of talent we have at every level of transport from women just starting their career to senior leaders - and to showcase the diversity of opportunity in the transport sector." Transcript Becky: Hello and welcome to this interview to mark International Women’s Day in the world of transport. I’m Becky Hadley and I work with some fantastic organisations in transport and road safety. One of those is Driving for Better Business. It helps companies reduce the risk their employees face when using the roads for work. Another great organisation is Women in Transport. This is a not-for-profit member’s group that offers professional development and support and now has nearly 1000 members. And the good news is that Driving for Better Business has teamed up with Women in Transport to celebrate International Women’s Day. Driving for Better Business is led by Anne-Marie Penny. Anne-Marie, tell me a little bit about your role, and how did you get into transport and road safety Annemarie: Hi Becky. Thank-you. I’ve been in road safety for nearly 2 decades. I was on the other side of road safety for many years as an avid motorcyclist and everything changed when I had a bike crash. I realised I had responsibilities as well and that changed my thinking. 20 years ago, a job came up in road safety and I thought I could talk about that. Here I am years later, and I feel passionate about saving peoples lives on the road. I joined National Highways 5 years ago and my main role is looking at Driving for Better Business and helping employers to meet their duty of care to make sure their drivers are acting as they should on the road. It also has great benefits to business as well, if we’re doing everything right in the management of our drivers, so it’s really important to get things right and I love my job. Becky: And how is DfBB getting involved in International Women’s Day this year? Annemarie: We’re marking International Women’s Day with the launch of a year of videos, podcasts, and features, looking at infl

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