EASST Academy delivers first ‘blended’ safe fleet management training course in Minsk
On 23 October 2018, EASST Academy organised a special ‘blended’ version of its occupational road safety course for fleet managers in Minsk, Belarus.
The course was moderated by EASST Academy Managing Director, Dmitry Sambuk, and was based on the Road Safety at Work: Online Course for Managers. It included video-lectures from the online course, a live interactive session about financial management and grey fleets with course instructor Andy Price, followed by live discussion with questions and answers.
You can see a short abstract of Andy’s online lecture here:
The course followed a morning of discussion on the importance of fleet safety management and how road safety can not only save lives but also save companies money. Belarus is a key transit corridor for commercial vehicles travelling between Asia and Europe and therefore work-related road risk is a serious concern. It was heard that in 2018 in Minsk alone 1 person has died and over 60 people have been injured as a result of road crashes involving commercial vehicles.
Local fleet and transport managers, including the Head of Transport of Coca Cola Belarus and Belarusian motor champion and road safety advocate, Sergei Ovchinnikov, as well as EASST partners took part in the training, which is the first of its kind in the region.
The course included guidance for managers on how to make the case for fleet safety management in their companies, as well as how to design and implement an action plan to properly manage road risk in the workplace. Participants were particularly interested in the financial aspects of occupational road safety management as well as the importance of proper screening and profiling process when hiring the drivers.
EASST Academy’s Dmitry Sambuk said,
“We are very glad to be carrying out this pilot training course here in Minsk – combining the best of online tools with class-room activities such as discussions and peer-to-peer learning. We hope that this model could be popular as well and we plan to roll out similar trainings in other EASST countries.”
The course, which is available online in English, Russian and Kazakh languages, is accessible to fleet managers or anyone interested in work place road safety 24/7. Gela Kvashilava, Founder of Partnership for Road Safety Georgia reported back on his experience saying that
“this course persuaded me that road safety policy could be implemented even in medium and small sized companies. Not only in the UK, but in countries like Georgia where it can also make economic sense.”
If you are interested in having or supporting a similar ‘blended’ safe fleet management training for your organisation or in your country, please let us know and email us at d.sambuk@easstacademy.org
