Clarkson Electrical Improves Driver Safety with Argus Tracking
With over 110 vehicles in their fleet, and driving behaviour worse than the national average, Clarkson Electrical knew something needed to change.
Clarkson Electrical has been providing commercial and industrial electrical services for the past 20 years. They mainly service petrol stations – petrol pumps, electrics, building and garden maintenance – and other commercial electrical installations. With Argus Tracking, they saw they could improve their driver behaviour – and with it their health and safety record.
After becoming an Argus Tracking customer in May 2017, Clarkson business systems and IT manager David Townsend talks about how the GPS tracking software has helped them improve their crew’s driving behaviour. They also streamlined their fleet management and asset tracking, and reports have become an integral part of day-to-day business operations.
“Better Visibility” Creates Better Safety
Last August, with risk points consistently sitting above the national average, Clarkson Electrical needed to focus on improving driver behaviour. Argus Tracking’s driver-behaviour reporting awards each Clarkson driver with risk points for driving events that put them at risk.
David explains how they’ve used the reports from the driver-behaviour feature to monitor over speeds of more than 15km in any speed zone on a weekly basis. Month to month, they generate a report that identifies the top 10 at-risk drivers, which lets them focus their management efforts.
That oversight has paid dividends. In just the first three months, Clarkson dropped an average of 30 risk points each month, until in December, they’d dropped 83 points to sit below the national average. Since then, they’ve been consistently on or below the national average.
“Argus Tracking has given us better visibility and provided us with a simple solution to monitoring our driving behaviour. In six months we’ve been able to improve on our overspeeds, so we’re now sitting below the national average.”
Saving 23,000km a Year with Geofencing
Clarkson Electrical had other fleet concerns, like asset tracking and after-hours use of their vehicles, that put them in the market for a fleet management system. The company has a lot of expensive equipment that is often passed around by the crew, and because their staff and work sites are mobile, it can be challenging – and costly – to keep track of everything. When they implemented Argus Tracking – and ran a utilisation report – David found that in one year, just over the weekends, their vehicles had been used a whooping 23,000kms – at a time when the fleet shouldn’t be in use at all.
With Argus Tracking, Clarkson Electrical has been able to set up geofences around all their major work sites. This lets them easily report on when their staff have last visited the site, last serviced the equipment, and how long they’re spending at each job. David can now also run monthly trip reports to keep track of work, work-related, and after-hours travel.
Compliance a Breeze
Keeping up with the road user charges and registration for one vehicle can be tricky and admin-heavy – let alone for a fleet of 110. David says they weren’t 100% confident in the solution they had, so now use the Argus Tracking compliance feature to stay on top of vehicle maintenance accurately.
“Reporting is key – there’s too much data involved with 110 vehicles. Now, with Argus Tracking, I can run reports daily, weekly, and monthly – which makes keeping on top of things so much more manageable. Like, we run a weekly compliance report to make sure we have current WoFs and services, and our road user charges are up to date.”
Easy to Use, Great Team
David recommends Argus Tracking to any business looking for a fleet management solution – particularly for those who need to get on top of their health and safety, vehicle compliance and maintenance, mileage and asset tracking.
“It’s very easy to use, has a good interface, and the Argus team is very responsive to any problems we might experience. The reports have helped us with our health and safety, and it’s allowed us to see what our guys are doing when out on the road or on-site. And, because of our line of work, we’re often on sites where phones are restricted. With Argus Tracking, in the case of emergencies, we can see exactly where our vehicles and employees are.”
