Zurich Thinks We’re Smooth Operators… and Safe

Everyone knows that roads can be hazardous and cruel to its passengers, which is why since 2005 Ryans’ has been working hard to reduce risks to its team and fleet. There’s even a case study on it.

Zurich Australia, our insurer, has recently published a case study on our transition to a more empowered business. It states that Ryans is, “focused on improvement and innovation far beyond the baseline of compliance”.

But what does that really mean? Basically, with the support of our strategic partners, RSM Insurance brokers and Zurich Australia, we have reduced our claims by 58% over the past three years. Over the course of the nine years that we have been with Zurich our claims have fallen by 78%. Furthermore, the average cost of a claim is down 53%. Essentially, our clients and our company as a whole are benefiting from having much safer and smoother operations.

However, to achieve this we had to decide what Ryans, as a business, really is, and most importantly what we’re good at. Don’t get us wrong, we are good at a lot of things, but if it takes you five hours to make a sponge cake then you should probably ask someone else for help. And that’s exactly what we did.

If you follow Ryans in the media, about two years ago you may have heard some hype about our partnership with Scania. This deal provided that we would buy trucks from Scania and keep them for a period of time. At the end of that time Scania would buy the trucks back (for an agreed value), sell them second hand, and we would buy new ones. The clinch pin of this agreement is that Scania is responsible for all the maintenance of the fleet. That way they take great care of the vehicle – that they will want to re sell – and we enjoy the perks of their flawless maintenance.

Not to say that we aren’t good at maintenance, we have an awesome fleet manager (who you can read about on page four), but we do transport, supply chain solutions, and we are one of the few organisations who look really good in orange… but lets face it: primarily we aren’t mechanics in this modern age.

We’ve implemented quite a range of initiatives in the past nine years that have helped to continually improve our safety performance. You’ve probably heard of a lot of them:

• 90km speed limit – this reduces fuel costs and saves wear and tear to the trucks.
• Our vehicles are easy to spot thanks to our orange bumpers.
• Our drivers undergo medical checks and drug and alcohol testing.
• Our drivers also have to complete certificate III training programs.
• With the help of Great South Coast Medicare Local most of our team has completed a health check, and has access to health seminars and tips and support to improve their health.

So for the next nine years and beyond we will be looking to make new friends and partners in different industries and keep pushing the boundaries of innovation. We do this for the benefit of our business, the satisfaction of our clients, and for the safety of our team and those who share that cruel, hazardous, black bitumen road that we call home.