HS2 is one of the most demanding and exciting rail transport projects in Europe, and following the government’s announcement in November, it is set to deliver £12 billion worth of supply chain contracts over the next 18 months.
For those in the road transport industry involved in construction, HS2 is economically significant, and Aquarius IT is pleased to be supporting JPE Aggregates who have become only the third company in the UK to achieve both DVSA’s Earned Recognition (ER) Standards and HS2 Audit Standards – the pre-requisites required by transport operators wanting to tender for work on the HS2 project.
JPE Aggregates is also a major hub spot for the HS2 project, set out to gain these accreditations in the middle of last year. The family-owned business, specialists in the construction and motorway maintenance industry, was already FORS Gold accredited but to help them take the next step to achieve ER, they needed to have IT and software systems in place, as specified by the DVSA, that could help them report more dynamically on important driver and vehicle performance measures.
This resulted in JPE Aggregates appointing Aquarius IT, whose ClockWatcher Elite tachograph analysis software and asset maintenance portal are both approved by the DVSA for ER. ClockWatcher Elite provided JPE Aggregates with the all-encompassing automated digital solution they needed to successfully achieve ER.
By applying an integrated approach to tachograph analysis, vehicle maintenance / inspection and driver defect reporting – underpinned by Aquarius IT’s e-SIGN technology– it ensured JPE Aggregates ticked all the boxes and could easily manage and report on all the driver and vehicle performance measures required under the ER scheme.
Lindsay Smith, JPE Aggregates’ Compliance Manager who oversees the company’s 40 drivers and 39 vehicles compliance responsibilities, explains: “Our aim in gaining these accreditations was so that we could be formally recognised for the high standards we maintain as an organisation and to show how conscientious and committed we are as an operator.
“To achieve ER, it was a case of formalising our procedures and policies in relation to driver and vehicle compliance, which ClockWatcher Elite has enabled us to do. Aquarius IT have also worked with our maintenance provider to ensure that digitised maintenance inspections go straight into the Asset Maintenance portal – this has transformed the way we work because it provides a full audit trail and complete paperless storage solution for all our vehicles requiring periodic maintenance or inspection.
“With all these systems now in place, monitoring and maintaining our compliance has become an easier task. For ER, it enables us, on a monthly basis, to report our KPI figures to the DVSA who monitor our drivers’ tachograph infringements and our vehicle maintenance KPIs.”
“Plus, now we are accredited as an exemplary operator, we can actively seek HS2 work for which we are now accredited to perform.”
