Flogas
Overview
Flogas are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), covering the whole of the UK from a network of 53 depots and utilising a fleet of over 400 vehicles,
Brief
The company had originally looked at a number of different visual and audible driver alerts, however as these alerts still required the input of the driver, they weren’t considered to offer a high enough level of protection. Being compliant and safe was important to Flogas and whilst they monitor their fleets closely they couldn’t be there 100% of the time. That’s when Flogas approached Vision Techniques, after reading about our innovative range of safety products.
Solution
Rollaway incidents were something the company acknowledged, however, it was very difficult to protect against them until the launch of VT BRAKESAFE. Steve Moir Transport Manager with Flogas said: “With the arrival of VT BRAKESAFE we have found a robust and cost-effective way to apply this protection”.
Rollaways are an issue faced by every fleet manager across the nation, from business with single vehicles to companies with thousands. VT BRAKESAFE is the only system on the market that automatically applies the handbrake if a driver forgets to when leaving the vehicle, helping prevent a vehicle runaway, unlike competitor products which can only give a visual and audible warning to the driver.
One of the key features they required was the ability to link the system to their in-cab camera and DVR system, giving them the ability to review footage of any potential rollaway and assist them with re-training drivers and investigating incidents more thoroughly. Steve added “To be able to capture footage of what was occurring at the time of a rollaway, was vital for us, it will give us unambiguous and impartial evidence of what was going on in the seconds leading up to an incident, which is invaluable in helping us ensure that similar events do not happen again.”
One critical feature was the fact that VT BRAKESAFE requires no interaction from the driver and under normal circumstances only requires input once the system has been activated. Flogas trialled the system first, which was an important exercise for them to ensure it worked effectively with all the other safety devices fitted to their vehicles. It was also reassuring for them that it met all the criteria required for operating in their environments. Steve tells us the reaction from his management team “I demonstrated VT BRAKESAFE to members of my senior management team and they acknowledged its benefits immediately. With the added ability to monitor and report on all activations through a web-portal, I am looking forward to working with Vision Techniques on, what I consider to be, a very exciting development for Flogas.”