Royal Mail & CWU National Terms of Reference on the Trial of a Vehicle Check App

Royal Mail & CWU National Terms of Reference on the Trial of a Vehicle Check App

Branches will recall LTB 381/20 issued on the 16th July 2020 advising the National Terms of Reference on the trial of a vehicle check app. The LTB advised that Royal Mail has committed to maintain its vehicle fleet to a standard agreed with the Department of Transport. In addition, the duty of care to our members and other road users and members of the public, as well as the Health & Safety at Work Act, means that Royal Mail must ensure all drivers are aware of their responsibilities. To maintain vehicles in a roadworthy condition, it is the legal responsibility of every driver to carry out basic safety and maintenance checks every time a vehicle is used.

The LTB advised that the Outdoor Department had been invited to review the Drivers Manual with the intention of re-visiting the driver safety checks which includes the Daily, Duty and Weekly Checks. For clarity, these checks were introduced in order to comply with the company O Licence maintenance obligations, as Royal Mail had committed to maintain its fleet of vehicles to a standard agreed with the Department of Transport.

We can now confirm to Branches that the trials have successfully concluded with positive feedback from Drivers in the 13 sites where testing was undertaken. CWU members involved in the trial have also confirmed the use of the app and guidance provided, to be user-friendly in helping them to complete the vehicle check process. The app has been developed and designed to be simple and easy to use which sits on the PDA and supports operators in completing the checks. The app will replace the requirement to enter details into a vehicle logbook with all data being made available in a QlikView dashboard, for unit managers to view. This will further promote and increase visibility of the pre-use checks being completed.

Both Royal Mail and the CWU support the use of an app for the vehicle check process, recognising that we need to jointly encourage compliance of the actual checks and that this can only be undertaken in a supportive way. The pre-use checks have also been refreshed and categorised as a daily and weekly check that has been tested across the trial sites as advised in the Joint Statement attached to LTB 381/20. Following the positive feedback from the test sites, a Phase 2 app and GBI dashboard was rolled out in October. Draft training materials were also delivered to gauge the best approach to up skill drivers on how to complete the checks, record findings via the app and capture feedback from frontline staff.

It is important to note that the app does not replace the formal PMT1 Fault Reporting procedure which continues to remain in place.

Royal Mail will now roll out this capability nationally from early next year (Jan-March 2021), following which there will be an agreed training approach of using Skype / Microsoft Teams sessions to up skill Workplace coaches (WPCs). The WPCs will then train all drivers with all their training recorded, via Success Factors. The Vehicle Checks app will then be enabled across all PDAs so drivers can begin recording all pre-use checks via the app. The aim is to replace the manual logbooks with the digitised process. National training materials have been developed using driver feedback from the test sites, which consist of widely recognised formats including PDA animation video(s) (accessed via Content on Demand), Vehicle Checks handout, and posters.

Royal Mail and the CWU will carry out a Post Implementation Review to jointly ensure that all drivers are not only able to physically complete their pre-use checks and accurately record via the vehicle checks app, but to ensure that any safety related matters are addressed as a matter of urgency. This includes any resultant work found on the vehicle that ensures complete roadworthiness to the required ministry standard. Further, the Department has yet to finalise any associated times for the refreshed vehicle checks which will remain subject to ongoing discussions with Royal Mail.

Any queries to the content of the above please contact the Outdoor Department quoting reference 300, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch
CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB 571/20 – Royal Mail CWU National TOR on the Trial of a Vehicle Check App – 30.11.20

Attachment – JS – On The National Deployment of the Vehicle Check App – 30.11.20