COVID-19: Prioritising your health as an HGV Driver

Local Buzz Marketing Latest news September 9, 2020coronavirus, health, HGV driver, prioritise 0 Comment

As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to affect day-to-day lives worldwide, health and safety has became an even bigger priority than before. For businesses, keeping the environment clean and social distance secure is the primary focus, to ensure everyone is kept safe when visiting and working.

As individuals, maintaining good health should always be important for us, but prioritising it when balancing your work and social life should always be your main aim. Below are a few ways drivers can keep clean and safe during these tough times.

1. Disinfect your vehicle

In order to control the spread of germs, it’s important you keep your “working environment” clean. Germs live on skin, clothes, and most surfaces, so be sure to regularly wipe down your seats, steering wheel, and dashboard. Be aware of your hygiene when you visit petrol stations, too. Recent findings from Admiral have found 41% of UK road users say they are scared about catching the virus from using fuel pumps. After touching the petrol pump, most drivers return to their vehicles and contaminate items in their vehicles. Think about how often you clean and disinfect your vehicle?

2. Keep hand sanitiser and wipes handy

Health — Prioritising your health – Hand sanitiser

Having spare hand sanitiser and wipes in your vehicle will be super handy for desperate times you need to clean your hands or spillages. This will be particularly good if you make regular stops, handle loads, and interact with other individuals throughout your daily routine.

3. Watch what you eat

The food and liquid you ingest every day has a huge impact on your energy, emotional and physical levels. It fuels our body, keeping us motivated and happy throughout the day. However, poor eating habits have been proven to impact driver performance, so it’s vital you stick to a healthy diet plan. We’re not suggesting never touching a takeaway again (who could possibly do that?), but simply prioritising your food plan by swapping out fizzy drinks for water, preparing lunch in advance, and having healthy snacks available rather than your sneaky stash of chocolates – will definitely keep you feeling healthy and energised for the workday ahead.

4. Keep updated with Coronavirus hotspots

As an HGV driver, it’s highly likely you will be traveling to various cities and counties on a regular basis. Stopping for regular breaks and deliveries, it’s safe to say you will be interacting with a lot of different places and people. As a result, during these uncertain times, it would be a really good idea to keep yourself updated with the coronavirus hotspots.

5. Obtain an adequate sleep schedule

When driving on a road, especially in a dangerous, heavy vehicle full of goods, it’s pivotal you feel in a healthy, rested state to make the journey safely. Tiredness impairs driving performance more than anything else, as it reduces reaction time, alertness, and concentration, putting you, passengers, and other drivers close by inconsiderate danger. There are plenty of ways you can avoid the risk of an accident:

Make sure to have a good, early night rest before the day of the journey.
Change drivers if possible and if the passenger is feeling alert themselves.
Make a stop for food, caffeine, or to rest.

Swannells Transport – Haulage Company in Cambridgeshire.

Here at Swannells Transport, as well as providing a quality service in haulage and warehousing, our main focus is keeping our drivers and team safe during these tough times. For more information, please contact us on 01487 822065.

The Please’s and Thank you’s of a HGV Driver – Things to Remember…

Local Buzz Marketing Latest news January 22, 2019HGV, HGV driver, please, responsibility, Safety, thank you 0 Comment

HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) Drivers are highly trained to drive a vehicle up to ten times the size of yours. We carry a large amount of heavy and important goods to deliver to a customer. Whilst we are in a rush to make the delivery in time, an HGV driver is mostly concerned with the safety of those they drive with. It’s no surprise that every year accidents occur regarding lorries and vans making deliveries, and while it is our responsibility, there are a few ways you, as a car-driver, can help prevent and decrease these accidents.

As professional hauliers, we want to offer you the best advice – So, as well as the offering of distribution and warehousing in Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire, we want you to understand the wishes of an HGV driver regarding the fellow drivers out there. As it is a huge vehicle, consider the fact that we need to be ten times more careful and aware of our surroundings than you, because we don’t want to cause an accident.

Distribution and Warehousing in Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire

As a result of this, here are our please’s and thank you’s of an HGV Driver i.e. things we please ask for you to remember, you will thank us later…

Please don’t park inappropriately

As a small vehicle, you can park more or less anywhere. All we ask of you is that you consider other drivers, including us and emergency service vehicles, that your space is appropriate. What we mean by this is it doesn’t cause too much obstruction for passing vehicles or even pedestrians. Therefore, please do not park on opposite junctions (unless it is completely safe to do so) or park anywhere that will block us large vehicles from passing by, as it can significantly disrupt our delivery schedule. Thank you…

Please keep a safe distance

Particularly on roads like motorways, there have been times where we have come across vehicles driving closely behind our Heavy Goods Vehicles, also known as tailgating. This can be extremely dangerous for the vehicle tailgating because if we suddenly need to break, you won’t have an efficient amount of time to react and stop your vehicle within safe time, and as an extraordinarily huge and heavy vehicle, your small engine probably wouldn’t stand a chance running into the back of us.

Additionally, as a larger vehicle we have larger blind spots, meaning that due to the long length of our load, we probably wouldn’t be able to see you if you were tailgating us. This gives you much more reason not to drive too close as 1) there is a chance we could break suddenly and even after checking our mirrors you can still be in harms way and 2) the purpose of your tailgating would be completely unnecessary, as we can’t even see you to feel the slightest intimidation or pressure. So PLEASE be safe and keep an efficient separation distance from us. Thank you…

Please understand that we are also in a rush

Please take your time…

You might be in a rush to work, an appointment or to meet friends, and whilst your social life will be much important to you than our delivery, we please ask you to understand the fact that we too are also in a rush. We may not seem it because we are still driving below the speed limit and taking our time, but providing a successful delivery accurately on time is a huge priority to us. However, it is not our main priority – that is, in fact, the safety of the load, the driver, and the vehicles around the HGV. So whilst we are “taking our time” and “disrupting” yours, we are also taking great consideration into your safety and trying our best to prevent an accident. Thank you…

Please share lay-bys

Us HGV Drivers have strict rules requiring us to have a regulated break after four and a half hours of driving, and when the majority of our journey is taken up on motorways and dual carriageways, usually our only chance of a break is to park in a lay-by and relax. Lay-bys are ideally the easiest option for a large vehicle, as it is probably the most legal and safest place for an HGV to park. Now, we aren’t demanding our own territory here, as other cars and vehicles also have the rights to a lay-by in case of an emergency, but all we ask is to share. Furthermore, often when drivers approach a lay-by, they come across a car parked right in the middle of one, completely obstructing our rights to access. So please ensure you are parked with plenty of room (and more) for other vehicles to get through. Thank you…

Please indicate

Indicating Vehicle

Finally, please indicate your direction clearly to us. Whether you are in behind, in front or next to us, it is important you communicate with us where you are intending to go, so we can prepare and aren’t introduced to any surprises. Doing this genuinely keeps us at ease when driving, as we have a lot of pressure on us anyway. Failure to do so risks causing an accident or a slight scare for us, so please help us out. Thank you…

Here at Swannells Transport, we are a team of experienced individuals offering distribution and warehousing in Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire. We aim to offer excellent service, customer service and take responsibility for our actions – that is why we want a safe and easy ride, here was our advice to do so.

Thank you for reading.

Becoming an official HGV driver for a haulage company

Local Buzz Marketing Latest news, Uncategorized October 11, 2018cambridgeshire, company, haulage, HGV driver, huntingdon

HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) drivers are responsible for the transportation of goods between suppliers and customers. It is a significant job that requires a wide amount of knowledge and awareness. You probably pass these huge vehicles every day but have you ever considered what it takes to be qualified to be behind the wheel of one? If so, that is precisely what we are talking about today.

Haulage Company in Cambridgeshire

Before you become an official HGV driver…

Employees must provide valid evidence that they:

Are 18 years old or more.
Have a full driving license.
Have a Certificate of Professional Competence.
Have completed a training course/apprenticeship relevant to the job (this only applies to some jobs.

Failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected. Not only do you need these significant requirements, but you need to be well informed on the job you are applying for, especially for this industry. This meaning, you need to understand the dangers and benefits of entering the profession. For example, balance the facts that although you will become acquainted with different parts of the country, whilst meeting new people, representing the brand AND getting paid simultaneously, you will also be driving a huge vehicle containing important, fragile goods, all in various weather conditions and surrounded by pedestrians and other much smaller vehicles.

The whole team at Swannells Transport are fully educated and qualified to drive our heavy goods vehicles and are fully aware of both the benefits and dangers of this profession.

Responsibilities of an HGV driver:

According to The Telegraph, the daily responsibilities HGV driver’s may have to face every day are:

Plan and take delivery routes that provide the best journey productivity.
Coordinate and organise drop-offs and pick-ups with customers.
Supervise the loading and unloading of deliveries.
Ensure products are safe and secure in the vehicle.
Check routes for alterations i.e. traffic, accidents, roadworks.
Inspect lorries thoroughly before leaving for journeys.
Logging hours and filling in delivery forms.
Responsible for any maintenance of the vehicle.
Reports any accidents or issues with the company dispatcher.
Be polite and respectful to all customers, represent the brand.

Skills of an HGV driver:

For any job in any industry it’s important you have some sort of skills to expose in your application or portfolios. For an HGV driver, some of the typical (and obvious) skills you may need are:

Excellent driving skills.
Road safety knowledge
Independent work.
Concentration/alertness.
Customer service skills.
Manners and politeness.
The ability to complete paperwork on time and accurately.
Good physical stamina.
Time management.

After you have become an official HGV driver…

So we have discussed what you need to do before you become an official HGV driver, but what about after you have become qualified?

Well, HGV drivers can continue training to obtain qualifications such as an Advisory Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) Certificate – meaning that they can handle more hazardous materials and drive a tanker.

You can also work your way up the career ladder, upgrading to higher paying positions such as an LGV instructor or maybe even the manager of an HGV company.

Here at Swannells, we are a group of confident, educated and qualified drivers, contact us today or visit our careers page to find out more!

Thanks for reading.