The recent fatal runway crash between a fire truck and an airplane at Peru’s busiest airport has put a spotlight on runway safety yet again. Especially with the holiday season coming up. While the average of 700 runway incursion yearly might not seem high – any collision can be fatal.
Two firefighters died after the Latam Airlines jet collided with the truck at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima. No passengers or crew were killed. Latam’s CEO said the flight had been cleared for take-off, but the airport has now said a routine drill was being carried out by the fire services.
Simplytrak is well-known for providing safety and security telematics solutions across industries. The company counts Wickes, Bigfoot Logistics and Practical Car & Van Rental among its telematics clients benefitting from Simplytrak’s tracking and camera solutions.
AIM: Airside Incursion Mitigation is Simplytrak’s solution for the aviation sector. It was developed with the UK’s fastest-growing airport, Doncaster Sheffield Airport, and is now being used across the UK. Indeed, when presented to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, their response was that AIM would be a “significant benefit to any airport”.
“Since installing our safety telematics solution in runway vehicles, the incursion rate has been reduced to zero,” says Ian Wood, Managing Director. “Runway incursions could be vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles on the runway.”
There are on average 700 runway incursions every year across airports, keeping runway incursions on the Significant Seven key risk areas in the aviation sector (CAA).
Findings from incident and accident reports have been used to determine the new recommendations and associated guidance materials contained in the European Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Incursions.
Runway incursions are a serious issue every day across airports in the European region. Bespoke to each airport layout, the AIM system includes visible and audible in-cab warnings and switches automatically to the new incursion boundaries in case of LVP (Low Visibility Procedures).
“Installed in all airside vehicles, AIM requires no external communications to alert drivers to potential incursion risks,” says Wood. “This effectively eliminates the risk of incursions from whatever the weather or light conditions. Air Traffic Control can also have full visibility of the actual locations of airside vehicles. AIM is not reliant on mobile networks either. With its innovative design, the in-cab device alerts the driver first and then transmits its data to our cloud-based software platform.”
AIM is currently used at airports including Doncaster Sheffield, Durham Tees Valley, Exeter, and Cork. The feedback has been fantastic.
“Since installing Airside Incursion Mitigation (AIM) to all prime fleet engaged in movement area activities, runway safety has improved significantly with a runway incursion rate for airport vehicles reduced to zero,” said Keith Moran, Director of Operations, Doncaster Sheffield Airport. “Added benefits or real time fleet management and tracking are essential to audits and quality assurance. I highly recommend this as key driver in mitigation and risk to an effective safety system to any airport operator.”
Looking ahead, Simplytrak has ambitious plans for the further roll-out of AIM. Earlier this year Simplytrak sponsored the British-Irish Airports EXPO to meet with industry professionals and government decision-makers. Using these conversations as a sounding board AIM plans to create more brand awareness and test the water regarding other UK airports before expansion into Europe, then gaining traction before promoting internationally.
To find out more about AIM, please contact us today.
On the 10th of October, the World Health Organisation annually recognises World Mental Health Day. This year’s theme is ‘make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority.’ Mental health in our personal and working lives is crucial for personal and business success and we put great emphasis on our team members’ well-being here at Simplytrak.
Simplytrak prides itself on the people culture we have implemented for all our employees and into our day-to-day working life. We are honest, caring and great listeners to one another. When we have a hard day at work we know our team will be supportive to push you to do your best.
Our founders, Alison and Andrew Johnson have prioritised mental health in the workplace through our culture. More importantly, they’ve asked members of our team to come forward if they wanted to qualify as mental health ambassadors. They’ve also put into place HR mental health processes and policies to reinforce the successful culture we have. Their “aim is to create a culture where people can work together well, feel motivated and thrive.”
The importance of prioritising mental health in a business just makes sense. Our founders say “when our team’s mental (as well as physical) needs are covered and they are in a happy and productive environment, job satisfaction and productivity levels are high. Simplytrak cares for many clients, but we also know that we need to start by taking care of ourselves and those around us to build that successful relationship with clients.”
Hailey Fryatt, office administrator and mental health ambassador, says ‘it’s important for people to know it’s okay to not be okay.’ Likewise Fiona Downie, fellow ambassador for mental health, comments that ‘having a support network within the business gives employees the opportunity to talk to someone who can be impartial and not necessarily in their day-to-day work lives, hopefully making it easier for people to reach out.’
To further emphasise Simplytrak’s commitment to mental health, our chosen charity of the year is Andy’s Man Club, a men’s suicide prevention charity. They offer peer to peer support groups across the United Kingdom with an aim to end the stigma surrounding men’s mental health.
We hope everyone at Simplytrak feels like they can take some time to themselves and ask their team members how they feel to make sure they’re ok.
Hey Tonicha! Congratulations on starting your new role.
I started working here in April 2021, so more than a year ago now!
It looked like a role I could see myself doing and I could see a lot of opportunity for progression within the company. Simplytrak had so many factors that I love about it and I could see myself fitting in really well.
More responsibility and being even busier! I love constantly having something on the go, and working with new people in the team. As much as I do work with everybody, there are some people I currently work closer with than others, so it will be great to work closer with other members of the team.
The new role I’m going into as Account Manager will be a lot more client based, so working purely with clients rather than our engineers like I do now. I’ll be going out on the road and meeting with them, sorting out all of their accounts. Currently I’m booking in their jobs and getting everything organised day to day, rather than general client management.
Definitely the team I work with, we all get on so well so it’s a privilege to work with them all. Also building relationships with clients and engineers, you don’t feel like you’re working, it’s like you’re chatting with friends all day. I also love how busy I am, I thrive being constantly on the go and there’s always something to do, always something to improve or help people with.
Definitely the team, everyone is willing to help. We always have a laugh and a joke too! As much as you can be hard at work, it’s easy just to have a little catch up and chat. If your workload is hectic everyone is willing to jump in and help. Also, just the company in general – there are loads of benefits to working here like the share option scheme and company days out.
Time management – using your diary to the fullest! I never really used to use a diary, but now using it to book everything in or setting myself blocks out to work on certain things ensures I can prioritise certain tasks. Being a lot more client focused too, I would say that’s definitely a skill to have, to approach people in difficult situations.
We’ve expanded massively since I joined in April 2021. We have a lot more clients now and in terms of products we’re a lot more established. We’re also attending a lot more events such as the British-Irish Airports Expo coming up on 22-23rd June!
Everyone in our team inspires me. There’s so many different aspects of everyone that inspire me, so I couldn’t really choose a specific person.
We have lots of things in store so keep your eyes peeled!
Thanks Tonicha, we can’t wait to see what’s coming up!
Hey Eamonn, you’ve nearly been with Simplytrak for ten years! Let’s have a chat about your career progression…
I started working here in November 2012.
It was actually recommended to me when the company offices first opened here in the East Riding. I called Andrew Johnson, the founder, got an interview the next day and started the job the day after! I haven’t looked back since.
I’m a Technical Operations Manager. My team and I make sure everything runs smoothly from the first contact with our clients, to installation of software and hardware through to the maintenance of trackers and other telematics solutions.
I started here as IT Tech Support, mainly focusing on customer service. I grew to know the products more and moved to Product Development where I stayed for a few years and was then promoted to Operations Manager.
It’s got to be the team work we have. We bounce off each other really well, we work hard and all chip in with each other – but we enjoy it at the same time. It’s driven by Ian Wood, our Managing Director. He promotes a really great working environment and always makes the working day fun.
It’s definitely the best company I’ve worked for. It was a smaller company when I started and even through the immense growth we’ve still got that family feel.
It’s really grown. We’ve put a lot of processes in place since I first started. Compared to ten years ago everything has moved onto digital. Being involved with that has been something I’ve really enjoyed. The number of products and solutions we offer has grown as well.
I would say our founders Andrew and Alison Johnson. The way they have grown Simplytrak and its sister companies is really inspiring.
It’s great, we all work really well together. We work hard and the days are crazy busy, but we always finish the day happy and knowing we have had a great day with everybody in the office.
We have been working on our product innovation SimplySecure for the past year or so. We were approached by the world’s largest courier company to help them find a solution to make their deliveries more secure.They found that their delivery vans and goods were particularly at peril at the point of delivery. With SimplySecure we developed a solution that gets rid of opportunist vehicle theft altogether. Simplytrak has always been a pioneer in security solutions. For instance, we’ve developed remote immobilisation as a solution for our clients. It enables them to shut off their vehicles remotely in the case of theft or unauthorised use. Our camera telematics solutions are exciting as well as they are ever evolving. Our clients are able to integrate cameras and analytics with their fleet tracking allowing them to record events such as collisions for evidence, risk management and security.
Do it, because it’s fun! The working atmosphere Ian promotes is amazing. We work hard and we enjoy doing it. We also socialise and meet a lot outside of work as well, my work mates are also my mates. I would advise anybody to give Simplytrak a go.
Thanks Eamonn, you are an asset to the Simplytrak team!