How Countrystyle Recycling elevated safety standards and reduced insurance claims by 21.6%

“We can rely on Samsara – the benefits it gives us, and the protection it provides to our drivers as well. It’s a great tool to have in our business and we’re proud to be a partner.” Carl Leader, Logistics Director

Standout Benefits

• 21.6% reduction in total number of insurance claims 

• 40% of insurance claims now non-fault, zero cost claim

• Reduced reporting time from 6 days down to 1.16

• Improved driver safety scores from an average of 76/100 up to 92/100

• 85% reduction in mobile phone usage events

• 93% reduction in seatbelt alerts

• 34% reduction in tachograph infringements

Poor visibility leads to rising insurance costs

Leading waste management business Countrystyle Recycling has enjoyed sustained growth over the past five years, scaling up both the commercial waste and domestic waste arms of their organisation. But as operations expanded, it was clear that Countrystyle's current telematics system wasn't up to the job.

“The existing system we used couldn’t keep up with our demands," said Lauren Austen-Nash, Head of Fleet Compliance at Countrystyle. “We were growing quickly, and the footage from the forward-facing cameras installed in the vehicles cut in and out. The lack of visibility made it increasingly difficult to understand how our drivers were behaving on the road as our fleet grew.”

Without insights into risky behaviours, safety issues were common, and insurance claims continued to rise. The company also lacked the evidence to exonerate drivers in non-fault incidents, further increasing the cost of claim payouts. 

A full view of driver behaviour and faster reporting processes

Countrystyle turned to Samsara to gain a full view of their operations by installing dual-facing AI Dash Cams and Vehicle Gateways. That said, implementing a safer culture required more than just technology alone. Drivers needed to be invested in the process for the Samsara solutions to have the desired impact. 

“It took a while to get our drivers on board, as the inward-facing cameras can feel like an invasion of privacy,” said Austen Nash. “We couldn’t just switch everything on at once. We had to move forward carefully, and show that we’re using the cameras for their own protection in order to gain that foundation of trust.”

With this in mind, Countrystyle took a phased approach: gradually toggling on safety alerts to give drivers time to adjust to the AI dash cams – without feeling overly scrutinised. Once drivers became more comfortable with the technology, Countrystyle used Samsara dash cams to automatically capture and upload footage of safety events like, seatbelt infringements, eating at the wheel, and mobile phone usage. The fleet compliance team can now quickly review issues from their inbox, and coach drivers on where they can improve their behaviour moving forward.

In addition, the Samsara Camera Connector allowed Countrystyle to link their third-party cameras for 360-degree visibility. All vehicle footage and data is accessible through an integrated dashboard, so fleet managers don’t have to waste time navigating siloed information and manual reporting processes. 

“A major hurdle with the old technology was our inability to view live footage as quickly as required. For example, if one of the vehicles was involved in an accident. Now, we have footage readily available – no matter the driver’s location,” said Austen-Nash.

Greater driver safety and cost savings

Integrating Samsara Video-Based Safety and Digital Workflows has made a huge difference to Countrystyle’s administrative processes. Instead of waiting a day or more to access incident footage, it’s now available to fleet managers within the hour. “Samsara has saved us time on a massive scale. We can handle more documents and resolve more queries in a day than we ever could  previously," said Austen-Nash.

With video evidence at their fingertips, Countrystyle’s fleet compliance teams can swiftly exonerate drivers for valid claims, reducing the total number of payouts by 21.6%. This streamlined process has accelerated reporting speed, slashing the average time from six days down to just one. Automated tachograph data collection also eliminates the need for manual downloads for drivers at the end of their journeys, further reducing time spent on admin.

Elsewhere, real-time data insights allow fleet managers to provide targeted coaching on issues captured on camera, like mobile phone usage and seat belt compliance. Within months, Countrystyle saw an 85% drop in phone violations and 93% reduction in seat belt alerts as drivers corrected risky habits.

To create a healthy sense of competition, Countrystyle shares weekly performance scores across its teams and depots. Drivers now strive to be the best among their peers and seek support on where they can improve if they don’t appear at the top of the leaderboard. As a result, safety scores have improved from 76/100 to an average of 92/100 across the fleet.

Maximising safety and efficiency with a standardised approach

Building on the success so far, Countrystyle are looking to expand the use of Samsara technology across their fleet, including adding dash cams to company cars, trailers, and dust carts. The aim is to create a standardised approach to improving safety and operational efficiency in the future. 

Countrystyle also plans to work on further use cases with Samsara. “We’re keen to see additional features in Samsara’s technology, including mobile app insurance reporting and asset trackers for our bins and other items, to give us even greater insight into our operations," said Austen-Nash.

“We’re very pleased with how the partnership has begun and look forward to working on the next stage with the team.”