Patient transport firm E-zec Medical Transport Services has appointed Licence Check to automate its driver licence checking processes.
The company runs a fleet of 550 vehicles, including large and car-sized ambulances, with 1,400 permanent and 200 temporary staff.
E-zec, which is responsible for around one million non-emergency patient journeys a year, is said to have selected Licence Check following a risk assessment and recommendation by HR director Fiona Potter, who joined E-zec, which previously carried out manual checks, in December 2019, and had worked with Licence Check in a previous role.
She said: “The nature of our business makes driver assessment and licence checking of paramount importance from a duty of care and employment perspective. And I knew that to carry this out more effectively we had to make the process automated.
“There was, of course, initially a large amount of work migrating our drivers onto the Davis [driver and vehicle management] system. But once we had done that everything became automated and so much easier.”
Potter said the company had seen a high staff turnover rate during the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning lots of new drivers needed to be checked, and it found the option to carry this out via automated emails a straightforward and reliable method.
She also cited advantages from the daily email system highlighting issues for managers to address, and benefits with E-zec’s recruitment process.
She said: “The exception reporting dashboard is very valuable as it allows me and our operating centre managers to see at a glance which drivers are satisfactory and those where urgent action is necessary.
“When we are employing a new driver, they have to undertake a driver assessment, which includes a check of their current licence. This is vitally important as we do not employ anyone who has received a driving ban in the last 10 years.
“So being able to carry out a check of their driving record before we make an offer of employment has been an extremely important factor for us.”