Jacobs is one of the world’s largest and most diverse providers of professional technical services. It utilises hire and grey fleet vehicles for its fleet operations, with more than 4,000 drivers in the UK and Ireland.
Jacobs considers driving to be the most hazardous activity that its staff are exposed to. As a result, it has co-ordinated a national road safety campaign across its operations. The key aims of the campaign were:
- to raise awareness among the staff of the potential dangers associated with driving as well as measures that can be implemented to improve their safety;
- to raise awareness among staff of simple measures that can significantly improve the visibility of cyclists; and
- to proactively spread the road safety message to all Jacobs offices across the UK and Ireland and the local community, including businesses and schools.
“Jacobs also involved employees’ families to raise awareness of road safety beyond its workforce, and brought this road safety initiative into the community by visiting local schools, undertaking research into risk hotspots for cyclists in the community, and offering its online training to clients and stakeholders.”
The campaign promoted good practice techniques that could be adopted to enhance road safety for all road users. Each day focused on a different theme directly linked to road safety. These were the six topics covered in the Brake Pledge: Sharp, Silent, Slow, Secure, Sustainable and Sober.
Jacobs worked collaboratively with its corporate partners and sponsors to roll out engaging activities across the UK and Ireland that challenged employees’ attitudes towards road safety. Employees were taught about tyre and driver safety, crash analysis and defensive driving; staff undertook practical exercises to help them understand the importance of checking vehicles before a journey; and safety presentations were shared and made available online for later review.
Jacobs also involved employees’ families to raise awareness of road safety beyond its workforce, and brought this road safety initiative into the community by visiting local schools, undertaking research into risk hotspots for cyclists in the community, and offering its online training to clients and stakeholders.
Rolling this campaign out nationally across the UK and Ireland increased exposure from approximately 150 people in one region to over 7,000 people across the two countries.
As a result of this initiative, staff awareness of Jacobs’ BeyondZero approach to driving has been reinforced and overall driver safety knowledge has been increased. Road safety awareness was also raised throughout schools and the wider community, and collision rates on Jacobs’ journeys have reduce by 70% in two years.
Jacobs received the Road Safety in the Community Award in 2019. This award recognises the organisation that has worked hardest with its local community to improve road safety for all road users.
See more previous winners.