Driving Towards Zero

Initiatives and Objectives in relation to Transport Safety:
1. Development of a bespoke Light Commercial Vehicle Fleet ‘Drivers Handbook and Safety Guide for Drivers’
The company ‘bespoke manual’ was developed by the Safety and Transport Sections of An Post after much engagement with stakeholder managers, postal driving duties, unions, suppliers of transport and ancillary equipment and services etc, obtaining feedback and completing a gap analysis of our day to day activities and risks to our light commercial vehicle fleet, looking at how they interact with company business, essentially the transport, collection and delivery of mail items such as letters, packets and parcels, their operating environment, risks around driving, adverse weather, lone work, road safety legislation, training and environmental impact by our fleet and its sustainability, impact on other road users etc. It is primarily aimed at new entrants to Postal driving duties, including non-national staff with pictograms to allow for ease of understanding. It is in essence, a consolidation of everything a Postal driver needs to know so as to allow them to carry out their work safely and efficiently. It allows managers to comprehend the role of drivers and manage them better. It consolidates all peripheral company documentation which would not normally be directly available to Postal driving duties, such as procedures on lone working, adverse weather, dealing with workplace violence, road safety legislation and driver behaviour, STPs etc.

2. Advanced Driver Training Programme – All LCV fleet drivers (3,800+)
An Post has an ongoing programme of advanced driver training for all our LCV drivers.

3. Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) – HCV Fleet drivers (500+)
An Post has an ongoing programme of driver CPC for our heavy goods vehicle fleet drivers, who may operate double deck trailers, road-trains, articulated and rigid fleet. Its purpose is to set and maintain high standards of safety and driving, accident prevention and safety towards members of the public. We have a number of centres of excellence nationwide for CPC training.
This aspect of our business training is managed by the learning and Development Section of An Post.

4. Migration from Carbon Based fuels reliance to Carbon Free Initiative by using HVO Fuels over Diesel
This was achieved by the development of an An Post Safety Task Procedure (Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment) STP relating to onsite refuelling (in compliance with The Dangerous Substances (Flammable Liquids and Fuels Distribution and Commercial Supply Stores) Regulations, 2019 (S.I. No. 631 of 2019 and associated legislation) of An Post company motor vehicles and refuelling points using HVO fuel oils. Having safe and secure on-site fuel storage and dispensing equipment is essential for efficient fleet management, but it’s also important that employees are trained in safe refuelling procedures. This initiative was primarily aimed at our HCV fleet with dissemination of this information to a pool of some 600 licensed HCV drivers and all our sites nationwide.

5. Migration to the Use of Electric (Pedal Assist) Etrikes Programme As part of our programme of sustainability and caring for our environment, our company has introduced some 155 Etrikes for use nationwide in urban settings such as city centres and main streets thoroughfares. They have a cargo load area the size of a Euro pallet (1200 x 800mm) with a (SWL) of 120Kgs for mail volumes. Etrikelists are trained by supplier company GreenAer prior to trike first use. An Post has made a commitment to grow this aspect of our fleet.

6. Continued Roll Out of Electric (LCV) Fleet An Post continues to migrate its Diesel fleet to fully electric, in line with company strategic objectives towards sustainability. Over 1600 LCVs and a number of HCVs to date. Some 2,000 Postal drivers have attended for ‘conversion’ training from diesel to electric vehicles, consideration been given that EVs have a far greater torque and are more powerful, use of integrated EV features etc

7. Vehicle Roll-Away/Drive Away Prevention Programme – HCV and LCV Fleets. HCV drive-away may occur in larger Mails Hubs, at organised loading bays/docks, i.e., premature departure of vehicles, etc. LCV roll-away occur where drivers fail to engage a handbrake correctly, especially so in hilly terrain – An Post Safety and Transport Sections reviewed this highly significant risks, developing an STP and held a number of national Transport Safety Forums with key managers over a period of months, discussing causation, its prevention and advised controls. As part of this programme, An Post committed some 400,000 euro to installing audio handbrake alert modules into LCV fleet vehicles, towards absolute prevention. To date, some 1200 LCVs have been retrospectively fitted with this advanced safety feature. All staff have been made aware of the new safety procedures toward prevention. Up until today, there has been a significant reduction in vehicle rollaways from 41 to 24, some 58.54% of an improvement, a significant milestone. It is intended that all our future fleets will have this safety module already fitted.

8. Projects on Rail Bridge Strike Prevention & Use of Unmanned Rail crossings in conjunction with Irish Rail Networks
The objective of this initiative was to eliminate Rail Bridge Strikes and the avoidance of any potential accident/incident events at Rail crossings, achieved by risk assessing each scenario and developing safety related procedures for postal drivers. The STP developed after consultation with our managers and drivers and Irish Rail was further complemented by providing decals in all vehicle cabs warning of such hazards and providing emergency contact numbers for Irish Rail, a first for Irish transport fleets.

9. The Use of a Social Media platform to promote driver safety and transport safety initiatives We adopted the PostPeople online App which allows us to promote safe driving and road safety, with many thousands of people accessing this content. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.anpost.postpeople&hl=en_IE&gl=US

10. The development of a number of new ‘bespoke’ Transport Safety Videos
We developed a number of ‘Bespoke’ postal transport safety videos for our HCV drivers on walk around checks, use of Tachographs and driver CPC. And for our LCV fleet, we included the safe use of Etrikes and EV charging, LCV walk around checks and correct use of handbrakes and parking.

11. New Safety Portal - We have migrated all of our safety documents to SharePoint, an information sharing application. All managers can now directly access transport safety documents from a single portal.

12. Enhanced Programme of Transport Safety Inspections/Audits- During 2022, Our Safety and Transport Sections completed approximately 270 audits of site transport and facilities. A formal report is issued to site managers with required corrective actions. This includes areas which are accessed by members of the public.

13. Programme of Transport ‘Toolbox Talks’ – New simplified process developed for managers to provide and engage with employees, prompting participation and feedback on transport safety topics such as Adverse weather, driving, using tail-lifts, vehicle loading/unloading etc.