Women in Transport Podcast

Astrid van der Burgt

Show notes
Driving for Better Business Women in Transport Podcast: Astrid Van Der Burgt, Holcim Group. In this podcast series we’re celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety and today I’m very pleased to introduce Astrid Van Der Burgt, Head of Road Safety at Holcim, who talks about the initiatives Holcim have in place to reduce road risk, as well as the success of the Women on Wheels project.
https://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/podcast/women-in-transport/astrid-van-der-burgt/
Useful links
Astrid van der Burgt - LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/astridvanderburgt/
Women on wheels in Nigeriahttps://www.holcim.com/who-we-are/our-stories/women-wheels-nigeria
Women on wheels in Nigeriahttps://www.holcim.com/who-we-are/our-stories/women-wheels-nigeria
Women on wheels in Ugandahttps://www.holcim.com/media/media-releases/uganda-women-wheels
Women in Transporthttps://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/women-in-transport/
 
Transcript
DfBB Women in Transport Podcast: Astrid Van Der Burgt, Holcim Group
Anne-Marie: Welcome to the Driving for Better Business podcast. In this series we’re celebrating women working in transport, fleet management, and road safety and today I’m very pleased to introduce Astrid Van Der Burgt, Head of Road Safety at Holcim.
Astrid, welcome to the podcast. You have an interesting career history. How did you get into transport safety?
 
Astrid: Thanks so much for having me. I worked in logistics all my working life and married into logistics – this resulted me working as a transport manager, maintenance manager, customer service and also as a driver. This meant I learned what a difference safety awareness makes to drivers. If you give drivers the tools to make the right decision behind the wheel, this makes a difference to them – makes sure they go home to their families at the end of the working day. This gives me really a lot of job satisfaction. This mantra of giving drivers the tools to make the right decisions has been my guide all through my career.
 
Anne-Marie: You’ve talked about giving drivers the tools – what has worked well for you?
 
Astrid: Certainly, in Holcim we operate in such a diverse market, and we take it for granted in the UK and in Europe that people know how to drive a truck, but that is not always the case in other markets like Sub Saharan Africa or India so it’s been a 3 pronged approach. We train drivers to make sure they have the knowledge and the skills to operate the vehicle and tackle the road situations, we have telematics installed in vehicles so we can monitor driving behaviour, and then the most crucial point, we give feedback to the drivers. We talk to them – ‘okay you had harsh braking, speeding – what happened and how could you prevent this happening in the future?’ They have this awareness that they can have an influence on the outcome of their driving day.
 
Anne-Marie: Interesting – it’s not about catching people out and I think you’re right – that feedback bit is just about trying to raise their knowledge and understanding on the influence they have on that road space
 
Astrid: Absolutely, we celebrate successes as well. If a driver does well it’s recognised, and if a driver does exceptionally well it’s rewarded – driver of the month, driver of the year programme, with some financial rewards. Even a good student likes to hear they’re doing well, it’s not just pulling up those that are underperforming.
 
Anne-Marie: As well as creating job, opportunities, and growth, tell us about the Women on Wheels project.
 
Astrid: Yes, this project has been so interesting. It was very much an idea for sustainability and innovation, and we had an inaugural programme in Uganda to increase diversity in driver population. They had decided they wanted to operate their own fleet, and right from the beginning they said let’s create parity and diversity. It’s been a huge success. The aim is not just to influence country management teams, so they understand women are an option, but also to make it a global approach where we embed search, hire and retention of women drivers into our recruitment strategyReally, we are trying to fight the myth – there’s no reason why women shouldn’t be truck drivers. The days are over when trucks were unwieldy beasts to operate. We need to be aware there are still some challenges. There is safety and security – safe parking, rest houses, that we have ‘home at night’ trips, and in terms of emergencies so we know if there’s an adequate response time – and work/life balance. Flexibility for childcare, family commitments, and my personal number one is hygiene, decent bathrooms for women to use on the road. It is the logical way forward for us at Holcim. We have the programme in a number of countries, and we hope to double the number of female drivers by the end of the year. In Uganda they have moved to phase 2 – not just gender parity in their fleet but also with their major transport partners – having the same in their fleet. The business case is there – apart from the safety aspect – a 7% increase in kilometres without any violations such as speeding, harsh braking, but they have also seen 6% better fuel consumption 15% lower maintenance, 12% better turnaround times and the customers love it – they are requesting our female drivers because they know it will arrive on time and with a smile.
Anne-Marie: Alongside Women on Wheels, partnership and collaboration is a big part of your role…
Astrid: You can’t do yourselves – working with the experts has helped us, particularly in the Women on Wheels programme. We have to work with other organisations to build the credibility of the programme – the training schools, truck manufacturers, government bodies, NGOs to create this partnership. It makes it more sustainable when each party has a vested interest. In South Africa we work with a truck manufacturer and a training school. At the end of the driving training, they then receive business acumen training and we help them to set up business with favourable truck financing, they get a contract for a couple of years work to get their business started. All parties win – we have reliable transporters, the truck manufacturer wins, and the driving school gets more business, and the women themselves have all the tools for success.
Anne-Marie: I love the idea that as well as creating jobs it is creating opportunities and growth and help for people all over in those countries. What are some of the personal stories?
Astrid: There are so many – I love to hear them. It’s the best bit of my job. You receive messages from a son of a lady truck driver – ‘I saw your profile on Facebook it was my Mum that you spoke to and she loves to be a truck driver…’ but the two stories that stand out for me – in countries where you least expect a women to be a truck driver. In Kenya a lady had 3 children, one at university, one at secondary school and one at primary school. She was so proud to tell me she was independent and on her own raising her family – because of the consistent income from the truck driving job she was paying all their school fees.One of the female truck drivers in Uganda – she kept seeing this particular police officer who observed her nearly every day, eventually she was stopped and she expected it to be papers, insurance etc, but instead she was offered a basket with food, drinks by this police officer, because he had never seen a female truck driver in his life and he was really pleased to see it.
Anne-Marie: Building resilience for those families – I love the way it’s changing perspectives. How do you think it’s been perceived in these communities?
Astrid: I think it’s been positively because of the opportunities and growth its creating and the fact that it makes these women independent. We are now venturing into the Middle East and in one of the countries there they are looking at setting up the programme which would be the most incredible thing ever to have a Women on Wheels programme in that type of environment. ‘Women should be staying at home looking after the family’ – it’s changed – people are realising that is not the case anymore. Women can do this.
Anne-Marie: Astrid if people want to learn know about Women in Wheels and Holcim where should they go?
Astrid: We have a website Holcim.com and if you type in ‘women on wheels’ or Uganda you will find these stories and all the information is there. Of course, people can find me on LinkedIn and ping me a message and I’d be happy to share what we do and how we are structuring this.
Anne-Marie: Astrid, thank-you so much and if you’re listening to this and want to know more about ‘Women in Transport’ visit the Driving for Better Business website – Drivingforbetterbusiness.com
Useful links
Astrid van der Burgt - LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/astridvanderburgt/
Women on wheels in Nigeriahttps://www.holcim.com/who-we-are/our-stories/women-wheels-nigeria
Women on wheels in Nigeriahttps://www.holcim.com/who-we-are/our-stories/women-wheels-nigeria
Women on wheels in Ugandahttps://www.holcim.com/media/media-releases/uganda-women-wheels
Women in Transporthttps://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/women-in-transport/
 
 

Celebrating Women In Transport For International Women’s Day

Show notes
Driving for Better Business is marking International Women’s Day (8 March), launching a year of videos, podcasts and features, and teaming up with Women in Transport, a non-for-profit promotional, professional-development and support group.
Women make up 47 per cent of the UK workforce yet remain underrepresented in the transport sector, accounting for only 20 per cent of workers. However, this is changing steadily, and women are represented at every level.
Driving for Better Business is a National Highways programme led by Anne-Marie Penny*, Senior Road Safety Policy Adviser, who says: “This is a great opportunity to raise awareness of the thousands of women who work in this sector, from CEOs of large multinational corporates, national and local government officials, directors of influential safety charities, freelancers, apprentices and everything between. Transport – like all areas of life – benefits from a diverse range of influences to best serve everyone.”
Through the Driving for Better Business programme, those organisations which collectively employ millions of staff who drive for work have access to a range of free tools and resources for employers, along with examples of good practice and strong leadership.
Women in Transport provides a varied and lively events programme with access to thought leaders, senior stakeholders and professional trainers. As the Secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group for women in transport, it is committed to working with the UK government to increase the representation of women in the transport sector.
Sonya Byers, CEO of Women in Transport says: “We are delighted to be teaming up with the National Highways Driving for Better Business programme to celebrate women’s achievements in the transport and fleet industry over the coming year. With this year's International Women's Day theme of #BreaktheBias, we have a wonderful opportunity to raise the visibility of talent we have at every level of transport from women just starting their career to senior leaders - and to showcase the diversity of opportunity in the transport sector."
 
Transcript
Becky: Hello and welcome to this interview to mark International Women’s Day in the world of transport.
 
I’m Becky Hadley and I work with some fantastic organisations in transport and road safety.
 
One of those is Driving for Better Business. It helps companies reduce the risk their employees face when using the roads for work.
 
Another great organisation is Women in Transport. This is a not-for-profit member’s group that offers professional development and support and now has nearly 1000 members.
 
And the good news is that Driving for Better Business has teamed up with Women in Transport to celebrate International Women’s Day.
 
Driving for Better Business is led by Anne-Marie Penny.
 
Anne-Marie, tell me a little bit about your role, and how did you get into transport and road safety
 
Annemarie: Hi Becky. Thank-you. I’ve been in road safety for nearly 2 decades. I was on the other side of road safety for many years as an avid motorcyclist and everything changed when I had a bike crash. I realised I had responsibilities as well and that changed my thinking. 20 years ago, a job came up in road safety and I thought I could talk about that. Here I am years later, and I feel passionate about saving peoples lives on the road. I joined National Highways 5 years ago and my main role is looking at Driving for Better Business and helping employers to meet their duty of care to make sure their drivers are acting as they should on the road. It also has great benefits to business as well, if we’re doing everything right in the management of our drivers, so it’s really important to get things right and I love my job.
 
Becky: And how is DfBB getting involved in International Women’s Day this year?
 
Annemarie: We’re marking International Women’s Day with the launch of a year of videos, podcasts, and features, looking at influential, and successful women in and around the transport sector. There are many women doing things extremely well. They’re a part of our workforce we’re really proud of. Sometimes the choices for women as they come into the workplace are not always in the transport sector. We hope to inspire people to think about the transport sector – as a woman you could make a real difference in that sector.
 
Becky: So what’s the idea of the campaign?
 
Annemarie: Women make up about 47 per cent of the UK workforce yet they are underrepresented in the transport sector, it’s about 20 per cent I think of the workforce are women.
 
There’s a great opportunity to raise awareness of the thousands of women who work in and make a difference in this sector, from the youngest and newest employees on apprenticeships right the way through to successful CEOs of large multinational corporates, small business, large business, private and public sectors – but there’s really a lot we can highlight here. We want to put the spotlight to inspire people to think about their choices and how they can make a difference.
 
Becky: So what will this campaign look like? Who will Driving for Better Business be interviewing?
 
Annie: We’re running through 2022 and we’ve got a whole list of women we’ve approached to take part – we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response. So, we’re going to have podcasts like this one, interviews and ‘days in the life of’ just showing the type of work that women do in the sector and just highlighting the influence that women can have, and the good practice. We often look at the transport sector as a male dominated environment but making it more diverse means it can be more successful, and women can contribute to that success.
 
Becky: You mentioned women right at the very top of organisation. To what extent is leadership part of managing road safety?
 
Annemarie: Driving for Better Business is all about good leadership and good practice – we work with employers to influence them to make the best choices. Women are leading as fleet managers, as CEOs – that’s a really important role to play and we’ve got great examples in the podcasts and articles coming up that show women in leadership roles being the exemplar in managing risk on the road, to reduce injury, to reduce all the horrible stuff that comes with road crashes and casualties. So leadership from women in the transport sector and road safety – absolutely important.
 
Becky: So, tell me a few more of the women you have lined up for about the interviews you’ve got coming up
 
Annemarie -So we’ll be at the Health and Safety Event at the NEC 5th to 7th April. Driving for Better Business will be hosting the Driver Safety Zone. We will have Nina Day from the HSE, Alison Moriarty from Drive who is a risk management specialist in fleets, and Dr Gemma Briggs who again is a specialist in driver distraction so we’ve got 3 really key people to begin with. On the Thursday we will be hosting a panel discussion on risk management and 2 of our panel are women – really good women in action
 
Becky: Driving for Better Business is part of National Highways. How do NH support women in their careers?
 
Annemarie: – It’s a great organisation to work at in terms of their flexibility and their support for women, Many women are part timers when they come back after a career break to have children so it’s great to know they support you. We have our own Leading Women Group within the organisation so there are people you can turn to for advice and guidance at all levels.
 
Becky: Does National Highways have any women as patrol officers?
 
Annemarie: Yes, we do – I can’t tell you how many, but we do have women in those roles. We have women in our regional control centres – women are throughout the National Highways organisation – lots of different roles and right up to the top as Executive Directors
 
Becky: Where can people find these podcasts an articles?
 
Annemarie: You mentioned we are teaming up with Women in Transport – they’ll be signposted on their website, and they’ll be on the DfBB website – drivingforbetterbusiness.com – and we will have the features and articles readily available
 
Becky: That’s wonderful news - finally, what would be your advice to any woman thinking of coming into a career in the transport sector, which is heavily male dominated?
 
Annemarie: Sometimes that can be quite scary. Maybe you don’t always feel confident in that environment but the transport sector is a great environment - the different roles are so varied. Women should feel that actually, there are role models who can show them how they worked through challenges, to achieve success. It’s about thinking about career choices and how they come into this sector bringing their knowledge and experience – different and new ideas. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to the sector or been here for a long time. There’s a place for you here.
 
Becky: And, of course, any woman can join Women in Transport – there’s plenty of opportunities for mentoring, learning, support groups and it’s a great chance to meet likeminded individuals in the sector. Come and join us – Happy International Women’s Day for all women around in transport.