Smart approach to safety
February 1st 2006

Trials of a new, truck-mounted, driver control system proved so beneficial to personnel at Homebase in Milton Keynes that the company is considering installing it at other stores. In addition to changing driver habits and making them safer operators, damage costs have been significantly reduced

Davis Derby was commissioned by Yale and Homebase last summer to investigate the effectiveness of truck-mounted driver control systems on forklift trucks in the small fleet rear-of-store environment of Homebase, Milton Keynes.

The Milton Keynes store was chosen for the trial as it was identified as a high risk store that has the added hazard of a public pavement running across the yard gate. The trial started in August last year and initially involved fitting three of Davis Derby's truckLOG modules to the diesel engine counterblanaced truck and the reach truck at the store.

Davis Derby was chosen as the preferred supplier due to its ability to deliver an integrated solution and its history of supplying this range of equipment across the retail sector. The three integrated modules installed on the two truck fleet were Smart Card Driver Access Control, Impact Sensing and Speed Zoning.

Driver access

TruckLOGs standard driver access system was installed, which used an electronic Smart card instead of a key to start the trucks. Each operator driving the truck between 8.00am and 8:00pm Monday to Sunday was issued with their own unique smart Card. When the operator logs on, they are required to display their electronic smart card in a pocket on the truck as part of the supervisor's visual check to ensure the owner of the card and the driver are the same. When the driver logs off the truck, the card goes with him, preventing unauthorised access to the truck by non-licensed personnel.

The system was configured to automatically cut-out after two minutes if the truck was left idle. As well as saving fuel, this prevented the opportunity for an unauthorised person to jump on the truck and operate it.

Impact sensing

An impact sensing module was also fitted to both trucks to detect any extraordinary impact shock on the truck and to subsequently cut out the engine.

The operators' driving habits were monitored on site during the trial to decide on the appropriate threshold to which to set the sensor, and the impact level was set in conjunction with the drivers when the system was installed.

When an engine cut-out occurred, the driver had to sign for a 'reset card', which created a log of impact occurrences for the site manager to evaluate trends in driver habits and identify opportunities for improvement.

Speed zoning

Speed zoning was installed to restrict the speed of the forklift trucks within the warehouse, while maintaining higher speed operation in the yard and external areas. In the event of damage or operator misuse, the truck would always default to a safe (slow speed) mode.

Within the warehouse, the counterbalance truck speed was reduced to 5mph. With an engine truck, any lower than this and it has an adverse affect on engine performance. The electric reach defaulted to a safe walking pace as directed by The Workplace Transport Regulations was reduced to 5mph. With an engine truck, any lower than this and it has an adverse affect on engine performance. The electric reach defaulted to a safe walking pace as directed by The Workplace Transport Regulations.

Peter Lerigo, contract manager at Yale, was happy with the trial and comments "The trial was successful in changing driver habits and making them safer operators and, at the end of the trial, the drivers were happy to admit that it had altered their driving habits."

For example, when the equipment was first fitted, the driver speed was such that when the engine truck went into or out of the yard, over a slight kerb, the impact sensor activated and stopped the truck. The operators soon became used to travelling at slower speeds across the public pavement without a major impact on productivity.

The operators also accepted the use of Smart Cards with ownership of these being considered important.

Following these trials, Homebase is considering rolling out the system to a large number of stores nationwide.

Ian Roberts, TruckLOG operations director, comments "The Homebase trials are pivotal to the launch of Davis Derby's new Access Control Plus system. They have demonstrated that access control systems genuinely do benefit small fleet users who may not have the need for either a full fleet management information system or the availability of a PC to devote to analysing data, making this a very competitively priced access control system that can still deliver added value by reducing damage costs significantly."

Data retrieval

Access Control Plus can be expanded to include basic Administrative Software. Data can be retrieved from the truck-mounted control module using a Data Retrieval Wand and can then be downloaded in to Administration Software on a local computer. This allows supervisors to monitor use, issue smart cards or key fobs, check most recent drivers' names, analyse damage/no damage logons, and to acknowledge registered impacts above a preset threshold.

The data retrieved can help to reduce the cost of ownership for all fleet sizes by encouraging better driving and reduced damage.

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