Heavy Load Work Done Right

Fabricating and transporting construction steel is demanding and dangerous work. With over 52 years in the industry, John Jones Steel (JJS) knows what it takes to operate safely and efficiently in a complex environment.

JJS works on office blocks, transport interchanges, distribution centres and other large construction projects in Canterbury and throughout the South Island. JJS operate a diverse fleet of almost 160 vehicles, including transporter trucks and trailers, semitrailers, hiab trucks, mobile cranes, elevated work platforms (EWPs), scissor lifts, utility vehicles and car trailers, with a staff of 130 to care for them.   

It all starts with maintenance 

JJS installed Teletrac Navmans’ GPS fleet management system to help them better track certification and maintenance. The software provides at-a-glance visibility of the entire fleet, as well as analytics, maintenance and reporting. 

JJS can now log completed maintenance and set alerts for future maintenance requirements and recalling vehicles to the workshops when needed. Staff use the software to check all records for a specific vehicle to see what other work is required while it is in the workshop. This significantly improves the efficiency and utilisation of the fleets, reducing overall recall time. 

How GPS fleet management impacted on health and safety

Introducing Teletrac Navman quickly led to improvements in health and safety to meet the stringent certification requirements for vehicles and other assets. 

Now all certifications are easily tracked by the Teletrac Navman fleet management software, and the system generates automatic alerts to let staff know in advance when the next certification is coming up, so required maintenance can be carried out and the certification inspection arranged. It’s that easy.

Certifications tracked and recorded in the fleet management system demonstrate that appropriate processes are in place and prove that all maintenance needed to meet certification requirements happened at the right time and was fully completed. 

Heavy machinery is required by law to take certain routes or drive at certain speeds. With Teletrac Navman, JJS is able to monitor the heavy vehicles to ensure they are driven appropriately, and can prove this to the NZTA if required. 

Under health and safety legislation, main contractors-  too, need to know how JJS keeps track of certification: the software provides certainty. On long-term jobs where vehicles need to be swapped out and replaced with new vehicles: it is now much easier to provide certifications and proofs of service to the main contractor. 

Knowing where every piece of equipment is at all times is also crucial. The software lets JJS staff know exactly where every machines is. They can see immediately if one is turned on when it shouldn’t be. This allows them to closely manage safety risks in real-time. 

Improving workplace safety is seldom about making one big change. Rather, because it involves people, systems, equipment and risk, it is means getting a number of things working better together. For JJS, focusing on health, safety and maintenance has allowed them to work much more efficiently, making another 52 years in the industry look quite promising. 

Download our maintenance eBook to learn how you can streamline your maintenance and safety practices using analytics data captured from your vehicles.