Road safety: Bamburi Cement Company to ensure contracted trucks are not involved in preventable disasters

A Bamburi contracted truck on the road

Kenya’s innumerous tragic road accidents that culminated in 58 Home Boyz bus accident deaths recently could be resolved if SACCOs and companies that operate the buses and matatus  adopted a safety regime used by Bamburi Cement Company to ensure contracted trucks are not involved in preventable disasters.

Under the regime that has been in force since 2012, the ill-fated bus would not have been on the road with faulty breaks that the driver had complained about to the owners to no avail. The bus owners (transporters) would have been declared unfit and ineligible to be transporters.

Bamburi’s road safety coordinator Mr Bernard Odhiambo says an average of 1000 truck trailers are contracted  to Bamburi  every month to deliver raw  materials such as clinker, limestone and pozzolana (type of volcanic ash used for mortar) or cement and other finished products yet only one fatal accident has been recorded since  2016.

He says an average of seven accidents by Bamburi contracted trucks used to happen every year prior to 2012.

He clarifies that sole accident that resulted in the death of a minor in 2017 happened when the victim who was being chased by an adult ran across the road and tried to crawl under a moving truck to escape beatings. “We had zero accidents in 2016 and none has occurred this year,” says Mr Odhiambo, an electrical engineer by profession.

He singles out drivers as their most important clients whose training must be 100 per cent satisfactory to boost safety on the roads. ”Driver training has to be both theoretical and practical after which they are assessed for two hours in the cabin,” says Mr Odhiambo.

Truck drivers at a Bamburi Road checkpont

For easy identification, he stresses, reflector jackets are mandatory for all Bamburi contracted truck drivers.

Once entrusted with a truck, explains Mr Odhiambo, it behooves the driver to abide by one track policy. The transporter must inform Bamburi in good time if a driver has to change trucks for any reason. Assessment is mandatory before a driver is allowed to drive a track of a different make or capacity.

For instance, a Nissan Diesel truck driver must be assessed afresh to be allowed to   drive an Isuzu, Scania or any other make of truck, points out Mr Odhiambo.

To ensure drivers are not fatigued by being on the wheel for inordinately long periods without break, expounds Mr Odhiambo, check points are provided where they relax for thirty minutes after every four hours during which they can take meals, non-alcoholic beverages or simply rest. Drivers are not allowed to drive for more than 10 hours per day and must be off the road by 10.00pm,” says Mr Odhiambo.

Commenting on driver recruitment, Mr Odhiambo says they have to be recommended by fellow drivers who are conversant with their driving skills and behaviour.

The check points are equipped with breathalysers to pick out drivers with alcohol in their blood. Those who fail the test are not allowed to proceed with the journey and are promptly reported to their employers for disciplinary action.

“Drivers can sleep in their vehicles at the check points, but those who choose to sleep elsewhere must hand over vehicle keys to officers manning the check point. They are tested for alcohol before they proceed.

brethlyser at check point

Mr Odhiambo says his office is equipped with Integrated In-vehicle Management System (IVMS) that helps detect everything from freewheeling (driving on neutral gear to save fuel for mischievous reasons) to abrupt breaking and harsh acceleration that are pointers to not following the rules. The transporter has a similar system for enhanced visibility of trucks on the road.

“We go physically to the road from time to time to monitor what the system cannot give us such as not keeping safe distance from other vehicles, carrying unauthorized passengers and the like.

 Transporters (track owners) are second in the order of importance. “We have 25 transporters in the Bamburi club who are audited on annual basis and ranked,   based on their management skills,” says Odhiambo.

“They are rated with stars, with the best garnering five stars and the lowest, one star, depending on the way they manage drivers, vehicles, health and safety, journey and load and their general organizational acumen,” states Mr Odhiambo.

He clarifies that one star rated transporters are not eligible at Bamburi. “Our transporters range from two stars and above with 75 per cent of them at three stars. We have two at five stars, the only ones in that category in Africa and the Middle East,” he says.

He cites the turnover rates of drivers as a sign that a transporter is not up to expectation. “The more drivers leave and new ones hired shows that all is not well with the transporter. Good transporters retain their transporters for long because that makes them safer,” says Odhiambo.

As a social responsibility, Bamburi carries out risk assessment at black spots during which locals are sensitized on their safety.