MLGW transforms their utilities operations with Samsara’s integrated platform

A proactive approach to coaching promotes safe behaviors and reduces incidents.

Every month, MLGW’s service fleet drives an average of a million miles across Memphis and Shelby County to ensure that the community has access to essential utilities. With such an expansive operation, it’s critical that they adopt a proactive approach to safety so they can protect their drivers and other road users. 

Despite their drivers operating heavy-duty vehicles weighing several tons, the safety team had limited visibility into risky behaviors on the road—this made it difficult to proactively coach drivers and minimize incidents. “Before Samsara, we had no idea of the at-risk driving behaviors our employees were exhibiting, like speeding, harsh braking, or following too close,” said Timothy Bishop, Safety Supervisor. “We need to find things that happen before an incident takes place, so we can correct it.”

By installing 1,400 dual-facing AI Dash Cams across their fleet, MLGW now has the real-time visibility required to take a proactive approach to safety. Supervisors are using Samsara’s In-Cab Nudges to provide feedback in the moments that matter most, empowering drivers to self-correct risky behavior. As a result, MLGW reduced safety events by 100%. “With In-Cab Nudges, we give drivers two opportunities to correct themselves before an event is recorded,” said Bishop. “We haven’t recorded a single safety event since January, which means that employees are responding positively to the coaching.” 

Furthemore, MLGW is using Samsara’s Video-Based Safety solution to elevate employee training and promote positive driving behaviors. During monthly sales meetings, footage of safe driving acts as teaching moments that demonstrate defensive driving. For employees that showcase exceptional driving, footage is used to celebrate their achievements. “We send supervisors videos of their drivers exemplifying good defensive driving,” said Bishop. “We ask them to thank their drivers for paying attention because it saves us a liability claim, and more importantly, it saves a life.”

As a result of Samsara proactive, video-based coaching, MLGW achieved a 99% reduction in speeding events over 80 mph, 92% reduction in speeding events traveling 15 mph above the speed limit, and 40% reduction in harsh braking. Overall, this represents a 20% reduction in overall preventable vehicle collisions.

Improving exoneration and minimizing costs with quick and easy video retrieval.

As a public agency operating large heavy-duty vehicles, MLGW’s fleet was especially susceptible to false claims. Prior to Samsara, limited visibility made it difficult to protect innocent drivers and prove false blame, leading to significant spikes in operating costs. “We’re involved in over a hundred vehicle accidents a year, and it was difficult to classify them,” said Bishop. “We had a lot of ‘he said, she said’ situations that led to some costly liability claims.”

With Samsara’s Video-Based Safety solution, MLGW can now use quick and easy video retrieval to streamline incident investigations and prove false claims. Exonerating innocent employees and minimizing costly insurance claims have enabled MLGW to maintain their low rates and continue to provide exceptional service to the community. “We're owned by ratepayers and they own every piece of equipment we have,” said Bishop. “Every dollar that we can cut in litigation or repairs helps to keep our rates low.”

Successful exoneration is not only helpful for minimizing costs, it’s been hugely impactful with transforming MLGW’s safety culture. Footage of successful exoneration are used as examples during safety trainings, helping to secure driver buy-in and foster a positive safety-focused environment. “Samsara not only exonerates our employees, but also teaches them skills to protect themselves with defensive driving,” said Bishop.

Streamlining outage restoration with powerful integrations.

Though over 900,000 residents call Memphis and Shelby County their home, the city must contend with challenging environments. Nearly 45% of Shelby County is under tree canopy, so branches may intersect and entangle with power lines. In addition, the city has seen a surge in power outages in recent years due to the increasing frequency of heavy storms. 

Due to limited visibility, MLGW often deployed a large number of team members to a single concentrated area, causing over-saturation and service delays. Without a way to pinpoint where their crews were located, multiple technicians would be assigned to service the same outage—this not only led to inefficiency, it also exposed employees to hazardous conditions. To streamline service restorations, MLGW needed real-time visibility into the location of their crew. “We did not have a good handle on how our forces were arrayed,” said McGowen. “We needed to identify where our crews were and help deconflict them.”

Using powerful integrations across Samsara and other tools, MLGW has achieved significant improvements in their service restoration. By integrating Samsara and ArcGIS, they can visualize vehicle data on top of an interactive map—providing real-time visibility into the location of nearby vehicles. Furthermore, by integrating Samsara and a third-party distribution automation system, the back office can easily dispatch available technicians based on vehicle location to quickly address the outage. 

Improvements in service restoration have significantly enhanced operational efficiency, ultimately helping to keep MLGW’s rates low. “The economy of deploying resources during an outage and being able to deconflict our team allows us to get power back on more quickly,” said McGowen. “All of that has enabled us to keep rates low.”

After power is restored, MLGW is further leveraging AI Dash Cams to drive awareness for their crew’s service to the Memphis community. “We’re able to visualize the outage with images from the Samsara cameras,” says McGowen. “Being able to show our crews working to get power back on has been impactful in helping the public understand what happens during an outage.”

Safety Scores drive healthy competition, reducing risky behaviors and improving engagement.

Prior to Samsara, limited visibility made it challenging to proactively coach drivers on risky behaviors such as speeding and harsh braking. Safety managers needed a more effective way to engage drivers and provide the feedback necessary to improve their driving behavior and reduce incidents.

By adopting Samsara, MLGW has built a culture of safety that motivates and rewards their drivers. By promoting safe driving habits and friendly competition through Samsara Safety Scores, MLGW has reduced risky behavior and improved driver engagement. “We post the top ten Safety Scores every month during safety meetings, and we tell drivers what their score is and where they rank,” said Bishop. “It helps promote healthy competition.”

Drivers with the highest scores across the last three years are rewarded with a breakfast to celebrate their accomplishments. This safety culture built on positive recognition has led to significant improvements in driving performance. For instance, MLGW recently used Safety Scores to spotlight a driver who earned a score of 100 across over 8,000 miles. He is now recognized throughout the organization as an exceptional employee, and also a shining example of the transformative impact of MLGW’s comprehensive safety program.

Thousands of dollars saved in lost equipment with real-time asset tracking.

For development projects requiring large amounts of water, MLGW uses temporary water meters hooked onto fire hydrants to measure water expenditure. Multiple water meters, each worth up to $1,000, may be checked out at once across a worksite. When MLGW discovered that these water meters were missing, they sought a better way to locate and recover their lost assets.

By adopting Samsara Unpowered Asset Gateways (AG), MLGW now has visibility into the location of their water meters. Using Samsara’s real-time GPS, they are now able to quickly and easily recover their lost equipment, saving thousands of dollars in lost assets.

“There are times when the water meters get checked out and don’t come back,” said Andrew McColgen, Computer Software Specialist. “The Samsara Asset Gateways helps us see where the water meters are, and that’s been incredibly helpful.”