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