We established EASST Academy earlier this year as educational project of EASST, an independent UK-registered charity. EASST’s aim is to make road travel safer, greener and more sustainable for future generations.
At EASST we always believed in power of education and especially that good road safety training could make a big difference for any organisation and business. So, back in 2013 we teamed up with Cranfield University and produced a pilot classroom training course on road safety management systems for fleet managers.
This year we decided to go a step further and build a course that would be affordable and deliver leading industry expertise to everyone regardless of their geography. We teamed up again with Cranfield University and also got IRU Academy on board and introduced a specially designed online training programme.
‘Road Safety at Work: Online Course for Managers’ aims to help fleet managers set up, run and monitor effective fleet safety systems. The course is delivered online through 10 video lectures led by 8 industry experts. All video lectures are blended with accompanying material to read, case studies, animation videos and quizzes.
Lecture 6 of the online course – ‘Vehicle management’ – is delivered by Derek Rose, Senior Training Instructor from the FTA. We had worked with FTA when we did our pilot course and back then we got very positive feedback from our students. So, we were glad to work with FTA once again and to have such an experienced FTA instructor as a part of our online course.
We believe that by offering the course online we can reach people who may not have had the time to commit to classroom-based lectures. Therefore we can bring the best practises, including FTA’s vast knowledge, directly to your desktop and laptop at home or in the office.
Some of our delegate comments so far:
"The course looks excellent I must say and what a terrific line up of lecturers!" - Suzy Charman, Independent Road Safety Specialist
"This is an excellent course. It is highly relevant, the learning is transferable, your partners are top draw, it is accessible and importantly it is accredited." - Ian Procter, Head of PeopleNET
"Practical advice and examples were given on what you can implement in your business with regards to managing vehicle safety and improving safe driving practices – very important for both public and private sector fleets.” - Anne-Marie Penny, Safety Camera Partnership Project Manager, Kent County Council
Compatible with laptops, tablets and smartphones, the course can be accessed at easstacademy.org.
You can also connect with the EASST Academy directly via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
(The views and opinions expressed by the authors of these blogs are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freight Transport Association)
Helping industry decarbonise
Never has there been more pressure on the road freight industry to focus on reducing carbon emissions and helping to improve air quality. The Centre for Sustainable Road Freight (SRF) is a unique collaboration between Cambridge and Heriot Watt Universities and the freight industry to help make road freight economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.
Set up in 2012 with a major five-year grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Centre has developed a comprehensive research programme.
FTA is a consortium member of the SRF and recently took part in the Centre’s first press briefing alongside other partners to publicise the success of the programme to date. The event provided an insight into the Centre’s research and its impact on helping industry to decarbonise. As research is set by consortium members, the Centre seeks to answer the relevant questions that industry needs to know. Projects have focused on aerodynamics, dual-fuel HGV research and eco-driver training to name but a few.
The SRF has also launched a web-based support tool to help operators decide on the best measures to save fuel and carbon emissions within their fleet. Known as the SRF Optimiser, it is free to use and models the effects of 29 carbon reduction measures including driver behaviour, use of aerodynamics and using alternative fuels. The tool aims to give tailored advice to operators whatever their size of fleet. It will also complement FTA's Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme.
As the Department for Transport (DfT) plans to publish its Freight Carbon Review by the end of the year, it is great to have a research centre exclusively focused on projects to assess how freight can decarbonise.
Find out more information about the SRF
(The views and opinions expressed by the authors of these blogs are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freight Transport Association)
