On Monday 24 May 2021 the European INEOS Aromatics business was delighted to achieve the logistics safety milestone of 10 years without a severe vehicle accident* where someone got seriously hurt.
Ten years equates to a total of 28.8 million** kilometers driven, which is more than 718 times around the world.
INEOS Aromatics delivers purified terephthalic acid (PTA) across Europe, produced at its Geel plant in Belgium and used by the polyester industry to make PET bottles, textiles, film and other products.
Graham Knights, INEOS Aromatics Europe Business Director, said: “This milestone demonstrates a shared belief with our hauliers that zero accidents is achievable when we work together and put the right focus on safety. I would like to extend a big thank you to our transport partners at De Rijke, GTS, Move Intermodal, SLI, Teifer and WS Tanker Logistics Ltd for helping us get our drivers home safely every single day.”
Key factors in the achievement
The Aromatics business and hauliers have built a strong partnership over many years, based on open and honest communication, and taking every opportunity to learn and to share best practice.
The single biggest factor has been the commitment of the drivers to road safety through:
- Following our business safety rules
- Respecting the highway code and transport requirements
- Performing daily checks of their trucks
- Reporting near misses
- Driving safely and responsibly every single day
There have been other, systemic factors involved too:
- Regular spot checks to check correct use of PPE, seat belts being worn, mobile phones switched off, technical condition of vehicle, for example
- Use of Telematics data extraction to better understand and improve driving behaviour
- Safety presentations to educate and inform hauliers and drivers on specific driving topics
- Near miss learning where we engage, investigate, formulate actions and give feedback
Graham continues: “Concentrating on driving safely brings additional challenges when you are living through a once in a generation global pandemic. But the drivers have stayed focused, which is demonstrated by this important milestone.”
“But - tomorrow is another day. We will pause to celebrate this moment, then focus on ensuring that the next year, and then the next, and the next, are as safe as the last ten.”
* An ‘SVA’ is a vehicle accident that results in the fatality of an INEOS employee or third-party partner colleague, day away from work case or recordable injury
** Kilometers driven on the road from INEOS Geel facility to our customer on behalf of INEOS - total orders over the past 10 years multiplied by the kilometers on the road to end customer
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