Fleet professionals from around the world attended CEI’s Global Fleet Driver Management Workshop in Philadelphia on March 9-11, 2016. The three-day event was held at the Hotel Sofitel and drew guests and speakers from across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Australasia.

More than 40 guests and speakers gathered to hear presentations and case studies. Among the fleet attendees were representatives from AkzoNobel, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Ecolab, Merck, Mondelez International, Philip Morris Mexico, and others.

Featured speakers included:

• Patrick Hekkert of the Dutch fleet safety and risk management firm, VVCR.

• Rosina Cammarota of South American fleet safety company, CEPA International.

• Erik Roelofs of Cito (Dutch Assessment Institute).

• Joe LaRosa, global vice president for NAFA.

• Eliot Feldstein of Lytx.

• Mike Antich, editor and associate publisher of Automotive Fleet magazine.

• Jaap Van Den Akker of AkzoNobel.

• Joe Simone of Merck.

• Eli Polak of BAZZ, an Israeli driving safety technology maker.

• Ken Latzko and Brian Kinniry of CEI.

Focusing Solely on Fleet Safety

Three of the presenting companies work together as international fleet safety partners. One of them, CEPA was founded in 1987 in Uruguay. Two years after its founding, CEPA started a partnership with Johnson & Johnson, administering the pharmaceutical company’s SAFE Fleet program in South America and the Caribbean.

In 2015, CEPA partnered with VVCR, an international fleet risk management company operating in 50 countries. Lytx has been a partner with CEPA since 2013.

In her presentation, CEPA International Chief Operating Officer Rosina Cammarota outlined the six goals of a fleet safety program. They are:

• Risk assessment of both the driver and the company.

• Assembly of a safety team and the creation of a fleet safety policy.

• Data management of safety and accident information.

• Driver training and coaching.

• Consultation and crash investigation.

• Maintaining open communication and implementing fleet safety technologies.

Workshop attendees agreed that global fleet safety performance can be significantly improved by uniform adoption of driver assessment methods, training and procedures for intervention with high-risk drivers, in spite of driving cultures that vary from country to country, according to the CEI Group, providing technology-enhanced vehicle accident, driver safety and fleet risk management services.

“The case studies presented by the speakers confirmed that, while there may be obstacles to establishing a unified approach to fleet safety, they can be overcome when corporate fleet executives take the right steps,” said workshop host Wayne Smolda, president and CEO of the CEI Group, Inc.

The key, he said, is demonstrating that a program has had success in saving lives and reducing accidents in a major country, and adapting that paradigm to each country in which a multinational fleet operates.

One case study focused on Merck’s global fleet safety program covering 24,000 drivers in 75 nations. The presentation was made by Joe Simone, associate director, CoE commercial operations, global safety for Merck. In addition to four-wheeled vehicles, globally Merck operates 3,000 motorbikes, of which 1,200 of them are in India.