Squibb Group - MDR Case Study
About Squibb
Squibb Group, founded in 1948, is a family company that has rapidly evolved to become a major global force across the demolition and dismantling sectors. Now with offices across the UK, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The company works across all areas of the demolition process to include top-down deconstruction, remote-controlled demolition, and explosive demolition methods.
The situation
Squibb has recently invested a large sum of money changing vehicle type from Scania to Renault and rebranding its livery. With each lorry costing around £90,000, Transport Manager at Squibb, Danny Nolan wanted to find ways to protect his investment. He explains: “Insurance premiums are ridiculously high and we wanted to find ways to reduce accident claims. Sideswipes are usually settled on a 50/50 basis even when we have witnesses to prove our claims. This means we are penalised even when we are in the right.
Brigade approached us with the offer of trialling their mobile digital recording system. We were keen to trial this technology as leaders in our field and to bring new products to market. We invested a lot of money in our trucks and the digital recording system enabled us to see what our drivers were doing.
The trial
Brigade’s mobile digital recorder was fitted to the vehicle of Squibb’s most careful driver, Peter English, who had never had an accident through fault or non fault. Danny Nolan presumed there would be few incidents recorded. However for the first time in his career at Squibb, Peter English has a collision. He was adamant that he was not at fault but wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened.
Squibb driver, Peter English explained the event.
“I saw the car come around the roundabout. It was in the left hand lane to the services, I was in the middle lane to go straight on. Then I heard a clonk on the nearside. It all happened very quickly. I got out and the driver asked me what had happened. I explained that she had driven in to me and she disputed it. I explained that it didn’t really matter because the vehicle’s cameras would have recorded the entire event. I don’t think she believed me.”
Damage
The lorry only had a damaged step but the car was damaged on the front door and back quarter of the car.
Danny Nolan reviewed the footage at head office, which clearly showed that the car driver was at fault. He said: “It is encouraging to know that Brigade’s MDR-304 is helping to protect us. I sent the footage straight to our insurers.”
Cost benefit analysis
· Damage to step £1000 supply and fit
· Vehicle downtime for 2 days £2000
· Vehicle hire for 2 days £1000
Danny said “In the best case scenario without witnesses, this type of accident would be deemed as knock for knock, costing a total of £5000, without considering legal costs. The MDR-304 has already paid for itself. I think insurance cover will be a struggle in the future for operators without these systems. Digital recording systems are a necessity. They are not even an expensive option. I wouldn’t bat an eyelid to add the cost of a digital recorder to the price of a £90,000 lorry. If there was a fatality, we would know within 24 hours, whether we were liable and what actually happened without a dark cloud hanging over the company.”
Surveillance
Brigade’s digital recording system has huge potential to save costs in other areas too such as surveillance for fuel theft and proving whether a driver stopped at an incident. Danny explains: “Even with 24 hour security and dogs in the yard, we still have fuel stolen from the vehicles. This would enable us to find the culprits. It could also prove a driver did indicate or did stop or did not attempt to stop as the case may be. We take driver standards very seriously.”
To view the captured footage from this incident click here.You can also visit our page on YouTube to see our other video case studies.
