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How to Avoid Tired Tyres and Prevent Unexpected Mishaps

For anyone who makes a living transporting courier loads across the city, nothing is more important than keeping your vehicle (or fleet) maintained and in good working order. Making the ‘daily walk around’ a habit is the best way to ensure you’re staying on top of any potential issues – and one of the most essential things you should be checking is the state of your tyres.
Tyre Inspections Done Right

A cursory glance and a casual kick to the rubber as you get in your van to deliver your daily courier loads is definitely not the way to carry out your inspection. The condition of your tyres affects not only your van’s performance and fuel economy, it also plays a huge part in terms of safety on the road. So just what should you be looking for?

Check the Tread

When a vehicle is being used to transport courier loads, wear and tear happens far more quickly than in a private vehicle, due not only to the miles travelled, but also to the fact that it’s carrying heavier weights. Checking the tyre tread regularly is vital to ensure optimal safety and traction on the road, and if you neglect this, you risk a blow out – which can prove disastrous. Checking the depth of the tread is easy when you know what to look for: if the shallower horizontal ‘tread wear indicators’ are close to being flush with the deep lateral grooves, you’re heading into dangerous territory and it’s time for a replacement.

Under Pressure

Maintaining the correct pressure (aka PSI) is important for the optimal performance and longevity of your tyres. Manufacturers are required to provide the recommended PSI (pounds per square inch) so there’s no excuse for not knowing what it is. A good tip is that you’ll get a more accurate PSI reading in the morning, when temperatures are cooler. Incorrect inflation not only leads to increased fuel usage and reduced economy, it also contributes to excessive wear – meaning you’ll need to replace more often.

A PS on PSI

Another factor to bear in mind is that, if you’re carrying heavier courier loads, the pressure will go down so if you have to travel a long way with a full van you should regularly check your PSI levels. Perhaps make it a rule to do this every time you fuel up so you remember. It’s a very good idea to carry a handy pressure gauge in your toolbox, which will save you from having to use the service station ones and means you can do it at any time.

For anyone who’s not clear how and where to find the recommended tyre pressure, it can be in one of several places. It might be inside the door of your vehicle, in the owner’s manual, within the glove compartment or on the back of the fuel cap door. There are also multiple online tools you can use to check the manufacturer’s recommendation.

Keeping your tyres in tip top condition doesn’t have to be a chore. Make the checks a part of your daily routine to give you total piece of mind that your vehicle is transporting your courier loads as safely as possible.

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Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world’s largest neutral trading hub for same day courier loads in the express freight exchange industry. Numerous transport exchange businesses are networked together on their website, trading jobs and capacity through what is now the fastest growing Freight Exchange in the UK.

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The Pollutant Problem: Tests Show Truckers are the Worst Affected

Those in haulage work are facing a number of issues at the moment. Whether it’s driver shortages, increasing fuel prices or the pressure to ‘go green’, the transport industry is certainly under stress. Currently, one of the main (and most important) problems for drivers is their exposure to air pollution.
Though pollution is being tackled in a number of ways (such as with the introduction of eco-friendly, electric vehicles and various charging stations all around the country), the health risks for those in haulage work are still being overlooked by the government. So, what is being done to change how this occupational health hazard is being perceived?

Testing Underway

After a number of different experiments were performed by environmental charities and experts from London universities, it was discovered that HGV drivers had the highest exposure to pollutants in comparison to office workers and construction workers.

One such experiment was completed with the help of a mobile air quality monitoring vehicle (or, the smogmobile). Thanks to the smogmoblie’s technical capabilities, nitrogen dioxide (an invisible toxic gas) could easily be detected while on the move, both inside and outside the vehicle. It has been said that this kind of pollution leads to thousands of health problems each year in the UK, so it’s clear that we need to change how we’re using fuels – and fast.

There are several air quality monitoring stations around the UK used to show trends in pollution over time, but their lack of mobility does not paint a very accurate picture. With the smogmobile, it is much easier to estimate how much exposure lorry drivers have to pollutants.

Campaigning for Action

With the risks high and pollutant exposure only increasing for those in haulage work, the British Safety Council are starting to act alongside the #AirWeShare campaign in a bid to put pressure on the government to recognise the dangers of this occupational health hazard. The council are hoping that the government will take action and help companies find ways to reduce their staff’s exposure to pollutants.

The head of campaigns at the British Safety Council, Matthew Holder, stated that quick action is vital to reduce these risks for workers across the country. He said that ‘if you work outdoors, drive or commute in a polluted area, your health is at risk… [Employers are] waiting to see if the government and the regulators are going to act’.

There is hope for the future, but it’s no secret that something needs to be done soon if health hazards are going to be reduced. People in haulage work have huge exposure to bad quality air, and they aren’t the only ones suffering the consequences. As soon as the government recognises this, the better.

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Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry. Connecting logistics professionals across the UK and Europe through their website, Haulage Exchange provides services for matching haulage work with available drivers, and is now the fastest growing Freight Exchange in the UK.

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Top Tips for How to Banish Bad Driving

Bad driving is the bane of anyone involved in haulage work. And while most drivers are professional and safe on the road, it only takes one or two to rack up hefty costs to a company’s funds and reputation.
Luckily, there are ways to solve the problem, and managers can play a crucial role in maintaining high standards. The following tips offer a helpful guide on how you can banish bad driving for good within your firm.

The Risks

Recent surveys show as many as 87% of drivers engage in at least one risky behaviour in a month. This can mean anything from driving aggressively or zoning out to texting whilst at the wheel.

These behaviours can seriously increase risks to any road users, including those doing haulage work. The following statistics give some pause for thought:

• Collisions related to aggressive driving increased 400% since 1990, to over 13,000 a year. • Texting while operating a vehicle increases your risk of a collision by 800%. • Up to 25,000 injuries and deaths each year are related to texting at the wheel.

Sobering stuff, and a reminder of just how important good management can be.

Hiring

It seems obvious, but one of the simplest ways to avoid bad driving is to prioritise safety when taking on employees. As well as checking insurance and driving history and performing basic background checks, firms can also benefit from putting applicants through preliminary driving tests. In addition to giving you reliable data, this lets you assess how well prospective workers will deal with the demands of the job.

Any time and labour costs will pay for themselves in savings: safe driving massively reduces the potential for costly legal fees, and fewer collisions will help bring down company-wide insurance premiums.

Coaching

With good standards established at hiring, it’s crucial to maintain them in the long term. Frequent coaching enables employees to keep on top of new regulations without having to seek them out on their own time.

There are plenty of training programmes to choose from, so managers needn’t worry about the costs of developing their own. Pick one that’s tailored to the type of haulage work your firm specialises in, and get moving.

Gathering Data

Of course, all this screening and training is worthless if drivers aren’t meeting standards on the road. Most can be trusted, not least because they have strong incentives to avoid collisions. But it’s always better to have complete datasets. Telematics, for instance, can provide accurate information on drivers’ acceleration, braking and more.

Haulage work can produce a lot of data, though, so it’s crucial managers use it correctly. Start with a weekly or monthly average for relevant metrics and go from there.

Look for trends and compare these to your starting-point to identify problem areas. Fine-grained analysis enables you to spot which drivers make more mistakes and what mistakes they make. You can then use this information to target training and other interventions, preventing small problems from becoming big ones. All in all, there’s a lot managers can do to ensure safety in haulage work. Even better, each of these tips reinforces the others. Having good data, for instance, can help you identify potential problem areas to screen for at hiring and train employees to avoid. The more information you have, the more you can tweak – and the more you can make your business as safe and profitable as possible.

Author Plate

Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry. Connecting logistics professionals across the UK and Europe through their website, Haulage Exchange provides services for matching haulage work with available drivers. Over 5,400 member companies are networked together through the Exchange to fill empty capacity, get new clients and form long-lasting business relationships.

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