Everyday,huge amounts of hazardous goods are
transported across the country.However, not all
companies are aware of the complex regulations involved
in this process explains Rhys Davies
Specialist training for driversEveryday,huge amounts of hazardous goods are transported across the country.However, not all companies are aware of the complex regulations involved in this process explains Rhys Davies
Specialist training for drivers carrying hazardous goods is essential," says Gary Phillips," Rhys Davies's commercial manager.
"Our customers demand the highest standards, but some don't fully understand the regulations about transporting these goods, so it's important that as their logistics company we know exactly what's involved. We operate strictly in accordance with the ADR (Accord Dangereuse Routiers) the European directive on the carriage of hazardous goods and all of our drivers are trained to meet those exacting standards."
Continuous improvement
As a member of the Responsible Care Programme operated by the Chemical Business Association, Rhys Davies is recognised as being committed to the continuous improvement of health, safety and its environmental performance. The accreditation covers the warehousing and transport of chemical and hazardous products and provides a third-party endorsement that a distributor's procedures are correct and working properly.
"The Responsible Care Programme has practical benefits for the company and its customers," says Gary. "The Programme ensures that we have the right procedures in place when we're handling hazardous chemicals including our arrangements for dealing with spillages and the segregation of products. It can also have a beneficial effect on our insurance premiums helping us keep our prices competitive." Across each of its eight depots in the UK Rhys Davies's drivers are ADR trained, which is essential for carriers transporting potentially dangerous or hazardous goods.
The company's network of vehicles and warehouses are also equipped to store, manage, pick and deliver hazardous goods, such as those produced by Water Treatment Products Ltd, who formulate and manufacture speciality water treatment chemicals for a wide range of companies and applications.
Tim Carter, director of Water Treatment Products was keen to find a company that could offer a good, reliable service to the company and its clients. He found this in Rhys Davies. "They give us the combination of good, reliable service at a reasonable cost and we can now offer our clients next-day delivery which is a bonus." Value-added services of this kind are something that Rhys Davies offers all of its customers. This can be anything from re-working faulty batteries; removing small samples of product and sending them to the client for testing; separating pallets into smaller quantities and repackaging for delivery or, in the case of European paint manufacturer PPG, mixing paint on site.
Rhys Davies provides this service for PPG at its Birmingham warehouse. Gary says, "Because PPG is based in Belgium it makes more sense for the paints to be mixed at our warehouse rather than them shipping paint colours speculatively. It saves them time and money and a local despatch point gives a much later order cut-off for customers." Rhys Davies also offers a comprehensive service to those dealing in liquids, carrying a pump on their vehicles to pump out the product from the Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) on the vehicle into the customer's tank. For example, when they deliver chemicals on behalf of Water Treatment Products the driver is sometimes required to pump product directly into the customer's on-site tanks.
Trusting the delivery of your product to an external contractor is a big leap of faith, especially when the products are hazardous chemicals. Not only are you putting them in the hands of someone else and trusting them to deliver the chemicals safely, you are also allowing them to represent your business to your customers.
Rhys Davies's experience in delivering to large corporations has also proved invaluable to Spanjer Chemicals Ltd., one of Europe's leading car wash chemical manufacturers. Glen Warriner, director of Spanjer Chemicals said, "We are delivering into some very large companies that have strict booking-in and bookingout procedures. Rhys Davies is used to dealing with this and runs a very efficient system." Gary said, "Ours is a complex distribution service which demands careful and closely controlled management. Our fleet management system enables us to track our vehicles effectively and monitor our delivery schedules in a manner which best suits ours and our clients' way of working."
Rhys Davies Freight Logistics is a national network employing 460 staff, operating 170 vehicles through eight operating centres throughout the UK.
