JWS News Bulletin Issue 52 - Autumn Edition - October 2009

Contents

Suckling seek two awards

Suckling Transport launched its 1mKm challenge at Worcester racecourse in July.  The event raised £800 for safety organisation Brake and gave further impetus to the Company’s Zero Incident Project (ZIP).

 

ZIP has been short-listed for two further awards.  In October it competes with London Underground and CEVA Logistics for the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Safety Award.  And, one month later, it takes on The Highways Authority, Magnox and Amec for the Energy Institute Safety Award, alongside Shell, BP and Marks and Spencer, who have all been short-listed for other EI awards.

Driver Dave Elliott was on hand at Worcester to accept the 1mKm Challenge on behalf of the drivers.

The first 1mKm Challenge winners will receive a cheque for £1,500 for their chosen charity. 

Suckling reap Brake Award

Suckling Transport Managing Director Peter Larner received the Road Risk Manager of the Year award from the Safety organisation Brake in June.

 

“I am very pleased to receive this honour” said Peter.  “It is extremely satisfying to have my commitment recognised by others in our industry, particularly those who, like me, place such a high priority on road safety”.  The company was also highly commended by Brake for its ZIP project.

1mKm League table

International Teams:

 

                                                      KMS

Scotland                       628,493     

Wales                                   185,151

England                         91,288

 

Operating Centre Teams:

 

Grangemouth (Shell)       509,589

Avonmouth                         169,863

Hythe                                   164,384

Cardiff                         127,397

Plymouth                       84,932

Grangemouth (T/Share)    67,945

West London                 64,548

Pembroke                             57,753

Aberdeen/Inverness           50,959

Management                       33,973

Westerleigh (Petroplus)    33,973

Coryton                                 24,932

Westerleigh (Jet)                22,082

Walk the Walk

At the launch of Walk the Walk on 1st August 2009, 27 employees in Scotland signed up to take the challenge of completing 500,000 steps in an effort to be more active.

 

The initiative was borne out of a staff questionnaire which was part of the Healthy Working Lives award program which identified a desire for increased physical activity.

 

We are grateful to Paths to Health and Healthy Working Lives who provided pedometer packs, in order that steps could be recorded, along with promotional items and information leaflets. 

 

Thanks also go to BTS Engineering, Grangemouth who sponsor the first past the post with a donation to the winner’s chosen charity.

 

The first ten employees to complete the challenge will receive a gift and everyone who takes part receives recognition, It is hoped that everyone will feel the difference, and yes Alex McPhee has signed up too!

Safety Switch

The Safety Bonus scheme for drivers on the Shell Contract was reviewed recently and changes will take effect from 1st October 2009.

 

The revised scheme, will no longer reward Toolbox talk attendance or reporting Safety Observations. 

 

The new bonus will have a Health & Safety value of £120 per quarter and any driver who is involved in a blameworthy spillage, crossover, vehicle accident or LTI will lose the bonus for that quarter.  Sickness will continue to be deducted at £20 for every day absence from day one.  The only exception with sickness will be for pre-planned hospitalisation.

 

The 6-monthly lucky dip draw remains unchanged.  But to qualify for the Annual Jackpot, drivers must earn a minimum of £440 per year in individual bonuses.  They must not receive any disciplinary warnings during that 12-month period and must not receive any endorsements on their driving licence, whilst in work and also in their own personal time (as recorded on a DVLA licence check).  Drivers will have to have a full year’s employment on the Shell contract.  The jackpot bonus amount will consist of all deductions taken from individual bonuses over the year and will be shared out amongst the qualifying drivers.  If no drivers qualify for the jackpot bonus, the amounts will rollover to the following year. 

McGreat!

Our top team this quarter is the Grangemouth drivers working on the Shell contract.  In Q3 2009 they achieved a fantastic result in respect of service levels, hitting an overall shift provision of 99.6%.  This figure takes account of dropped shifts, dropped loads and short shifts.  For such a large, and busy terminal, this is a wonderful achievement.

 

In addition, the terminal’s safety performance has been excellent.  There were no accidents, spillages, crossovers or personal injuries at Grangemouth in the quarter.  The team is also more than half way to becoming the first 1mKm Challenge winners, having clocked up over 500,000 kms since the Challenge began on 1st July 2009.

 

On Course to Success

Suckling Transport’s team of Driver Instructor/Assessors undergo their training in the Smith’s System this month.

 

Dave Elliott, Bruce Dalgleish, Scott Douglas (right), Richard Burrows , Nigel Harding (left) and Dave Shaw will attend a one week course at West Thurrock and will qualify as Smith’s System Instructors.

The week-long course is supplemented with guest speakers in the evening.  Konstantin Rankin, of RTL, kicks off on the Monday evening with a talk on on-board computers.  He is   followed   by    Stuart   Morton MAN’s Senior Driving Instructor    on    Tuesday   and   Peter Jackson, who has a similar role with DAF on Wednesday.  Peter Larner concludes the evening talks on Thursday.

The team will also qualify for the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence as all 5 days count towards the new training requirements.

News on the Company’s CPC training arrangements will be included in the next Bulletin.

European success for ZIP

Suckling Transport came a creditable 3rd in the Euro Tra Safety Awards last month.

 

The European organisation shortlisted 9 of 15 entries for the 2009 awards.  Royal Mail’s safety concept vehicle helped them take first place, with JOST coming second.

 

Suckling Transport finished 3rd ahead of Brigade Electronics.  Royal Mail collected their 1,000 euro prize from the Euro Tra Board of Directors in Italy.

5-Question Interview

Jess Clewley our new Financial Controller took the 5-question interview this time round.

 

What did you do before joining Suckling’s?

I worked as an Accountant for an IT Recruitment company.

 

What was the worst job you ever had?

Fruit and veg shop.  Loading sacks of potatoes into customers cars.  I left after 3 days.

What was the last CD you brought?

A Daniel Merriweather CD for my mum who mistook him for Floyd Mayweather.

 

What was your most memorable day?

Stockholm May 1998, watching Chelsea win the European Cup Winners Cup.

 

Where was the best holiday you ever had?

Kos, with my mates, about 8 years ago, or last year at the Oktoberfest in Munich.

 

Can you suggest an employee who should face the 5 question interview?

Company Mission Statement

Suckling Transport is an independent company which provides resources and services for the distribution of hazardous and non-hazardous goods in bulk.

 

Our mission is to be the leading provider of goods transportation services in the United Kingdom in terms of quality, safety and profit.

 

We are resolved to achieve this aim by providing exceptional standards of service to our customers on terms which allow us to reward both our employees and shareholders, whilst providing a sound basis for continuing growth in the future.

Other News...

Safety Talks

The dates for Q4: 2009 Driver Safety Talks are shown below.

 

SHELL

Grangemouth       20st/21st Oct 09

Avonmouth            27/28th Oct 09

Aberdeen           27/28th Oct 09

Hythe                      3rd/4th Nov 09

Cardiff               16/19th Nov 09

Pembroke              17/18th Nov 09

Plymouth            01st/2nd Dec 09

CONOCOPHILLIPS

West London       28th Oct 09

Coryton                 4th Nov 09

Westerleigh         18th Nov 09

 

PETROPLUS

Westerleigh         18th Nov 09

 

Tacho Checks

The Freight Transport Association will be conducting their quarterly checks on Tachograph charts at our operating centres on the dates shown below.

 

Aberdeen  – Digitally sent

Pembroke – Digitally sent

Inverness – Digitally sent

Plymouth – Digitally sent

Hythe – 12/13th October 2009

Avonmouth – 15th October 2009

Grangemouth – w/c 19th October 2009

Cardiff – 22nd October 2009

W. Thurrock / Immingham / Westerleigh & Kingsbury – w/c 26th October 2009

 

Quality Upgrade

Suckling Transport recently successfully upgraded their Quality Assurance Registration.  The Company is now registered to ISO9001:2008.

 

This is the first significant amendment to the Standard since 2000.  The changes were required to ensure that corrective action was verified and validated by senior management to ensure service failures did not re-occur.

 

New Employees

Two new employees joined the Company recently.  A warm welcome to: -

 

Martin Slade is working as casual drivers on our contract with Shell at Avonmouth and Andrew Mattick is employed on the same basis, covering Cardiff and Pembroke.

 

Four new members of staff also joined head office, Jess Clewley as our Financial Controller, Shaun Rees-Brown as Operations Manager (right), Angela Stevens as Payroll Clerk, who is covering for Gemma Burns who is on maternity leave, and finally Spencer Holmes a nightshift dispatcher.

Big 60

Congratulations to Ann Chapman our Payroll Clerk, who celebrated her 60th birthday recently.

 

Colleagues celebrated her birthday at TGI’s Fridays and presented her with some Theatre vouchers.

 

 

Diddie Doddie

Congratulations to Alan Dodson and his wife Sam who became proud parents again to a baby boy Luke Anthony Dodson, weighing 8lbs 1oz.

 

We wish them all the best for the future.

 

News Bulletin

The next issue of the bulletin will be in January 2010. 

 

Please let Sue Nicholas have any news items by early December 2009 please.

 

Close this Window