For cement, too, the major transport mode is road, accounting for almost 65% of total outbound cement despatches, and around 20 million tonnes of cement is transported by road every month through an estimated 2.5 lakh trucks. In addition, an equivalent number of trucks and bulkers are deployed to move the inbound raw materials like coal, flyash and gypsum to the manufacturing plants. Transit mixers for RMC further add to the total number of vehicles engaged in the cement industry.
At 5.9 million km, India has the second largest road network in the world (next to USA’s 6.9 million km) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is planning to add 60,000 km of roads over the next five years. Under the Make in India programme of the Government of India launched in 2014, Roads and Highways was identified as one of the key focus sectors under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for expansion, including the iconic Bharatmala Pariyojana. Rural road network is also being augmented under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). With the expansion of the road network in the country, it is anticipated that road transportation of goods will further increase in the foreseeable future.
As per industry estimates, India had a truck to driver ratio of about 1:1.3 in the early 90s which is estimated to have dropped to 1:0.75 today, and expected to drop further to an alarmingly low 1:0.60 over the next decade!
Hence, the total number of goods vehicle drivers would be around 7.0 million, with nearly 2.3 million trucks idling due to shortage of drivers.
Last year MoRTH has removed the minimum education requirement (of Class 8) for obtaining a commercial vehicle driving licence to improve employment opportunities, particularly for the underprivileged skilled persons.
And remuneration to the truck drivers is one of most neglected areas of logistics operations in India. The average earning of a truck driver is around Rs 15,000 to 20,000 per month (including daily allowance or bhatta). 85% of the road transport industry is from the unorganized sector, or small fleet operators, and the drivers do not have any fixed working hours, benefit of minimum wages, and a defined rest period. The truck drivers are deprived of benefits like ESI, PF, bonus and leave. The majority of the drivers are uneducated and often learn driving on the job while working as a helper or cleaner and do not have any formal defensive driving training. Added to this is the larger problem of the typical driver having a ‘macho’ attitude and a firm belief that all accidents are not preventable – ‘what has to happen, will happen’. Hence, he may scorn away advice relating to speed limit or wearing of seat belt.
Very few young persons want to join this profession now. Unlike other developed countries, it is rare for an Indian truck driver’s son aspiring to be a truck driver. Often this is due to the driver’s children being better educated and hence exposed to more job opportunities which are better paying without the hardships faced by their father. Many young persons prefer employment in the industrial or service sectors or, in the rural areas, may even opt to earn a living under the Government’s MNREGA scheme whilst searching for a regular job.
Surveys have revealed that almost 53 percent truck drivers suffer from a health issue, 23 percent battle sleep deprivation, about 18 percent face physical stress and 12 percent mental stress.
According to MoRTH, around 1.50 lakh people are killed in road crashes annually. As per a study conducted by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) exhausted and sleep deprived drivers account for nearly 40% of road crashes.
Of the 4.65 lakh road crashes every year, a quarter are linked to truck drivers with a fatality rate of around 25%. Also, 50% of the mishaps happen between sunset and sunrise as drivers prefer to drive in the night to escape police and RTO harassment during the day. This position has changed during COVID-19 as short and medium haul drivers (covering upto 400 km in a day) are not keen to eat out or spend time in roadside dhabas and want to be with their family by night time and have dinner at home.
As per road safety experts’ recommendations, drivers should not driver for more than 8 to 10 hours in a day and take regular breaks at least every 2 hours so that they stay alert. However, goods vehicle drivers in India often drive more than 10 to 12 hours a day. Whilst an average Indian driver may ‘rest’ for 8 to 10 hours, he effectively sleeps for only 3 to 4 hours. (these figures have also changed during the pandemic, with drivers being being on the road for shorter periods).
And many of them have to make do with sleeping in their uncomfortable truck cabin or even under their truck, often in the gruelling heat during summers, for fear of getting robbed of diesel, cash or the goods in their vehicles. It is also not uncommon to find a driver cooking his meal under his truck or inside the cabin using a kerosene stove, with a complete disregard to his and others’ safety. Consequently, truck drivers are under physical and mental stress and this results in accidents as they often doze off whilst driving.
A Transport Control Tower (TCT) was set up in 2018 as a nodal point to monitor the driving patterns of the drivers and provide them counselling on safe driving. The installation of IVMS brought more vehicles within the ambit of TCT monitoring and counseling. In-Camera counseling for drivers was also launched across all plants. Anti-toppling devices were fitted in Transit Mixers to prevent accidents caused by roll-over of mixers.
Another unique initiative was the introduction of ‘Driver Passport’ for each driver (certifying his fitness to drive on company’s work) and a ‘Vehicle Passport’ for each vehicle (certifying its road worthiness to ply on company’s business. These were earlier manual, but later changed to an electronic format. Around 30,000 vehicles and drivers (outbound and inbound) belonging to over 250 Authorised Road Transport Contractors were covered under the programme. This practice was also shared with the Cement Sustainability Initiative (Task Force 3 for Driving and Contractor Safety) of the global CEO-led World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and adopted by other CSI member companies in the Indian cement industry.
What started as occasional eyesight checking camps at ACC plant locations soon turned into a comprehensive health and medical check-up programme as a regular on-going activity. These are usually organized by the medical staff of the plant hospital and often doctors from nearby towns are also called in. The primary aim of the health camps is to cover the following:
a) Vision – At least 65% of our truck drivers have some vision problem, mild or acute. The younger drivers may have myopia and may require their first pair of spectacles. The older drivers also need to be checked for signs of color blindness, cataract or glaucoma and may either need to replace their old specs or get reading glasses. Thousands of drivers have been covered in the eyesight camps and hundreds of drivers provided with free prescription spectacles, mostly on the spot. It is advisable for drivers to have their vision tested at least once every 2 years.
b) Hearing - Hearing loss can have the most significant impact on a truck driver's ability to do his job. The occupational conditions of truck drivers may have bilateral, symmetrical harmful effect on hearing threshold sense in all frequencies, but mainly at a frequency of 4000 Hz. Periodic medical examinations are vital for pre-diagnosing and prevention of any possible impairment.
c) Blood Pressure - Considered a silent disease, as there may be no symptoms of the condition, uncontrolled BP can lead to serious health problems such as heart attack and stroke. Drivers found to be having higher than normal BP are generally advised to exercise, reduce salt in their food, drink lots of water, stop smoking and drinking alcohol, and get plenty of sleep. In fact sleep deprivation is a major reason for drivers having high BP.
d) HIV/AIDS - Truck drivers are at increased risk of HIV/AIDS infection and of contracting other STD diseases. As Ashok Alexander, who headed Avahan (an initiative by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for HIV prevention in India) states in his book A Stranger Truth, HIV prevalence among truckers ranged from 3 to 7 per cent. Avahan’s research showed that long-distance truckers were the ones most at risk; the short-haul truckers got home every night. Health camps for drivers create awareness about HIV/AIDS and counselling for prevention.
e) Alcohol addiction and substance abuse (tobacco, drugs, etc) –Drunk driving is responsible for approximately 20 to 30% of crash fatalities and injuries. Alcohol can seriously impair brake reaction time, steering responsiveness, and lane control. It also increases the tendency of over-speeding and other high risk driving behaviors. Health camps have special counselling sessions to make the drivers aware of the dangers of drinking and driving as well as the legal consequences and the disastrous impact on the driver’s family. Some of our plants came up with an interesting idea of putting the driver’s family photo in the driver cabin to serve as a reminder not to risk his life for the sake of his family who wait for him to come back home safely.
It is heartening to note that the All India Transporters Welfare Association (AITWA) launched a mega project named ‘Highway Heroes’ for the welfare of the truck driver community on 14th November 2019. The multi-dimensional welfare scheme includes provisions like free accident insurance, hospitalization expenses, education help to children of drivers, training, and safety and a centralized national 24x7 helpline for access in case of an emergency like an accident, attack by criminals, theft or any other harassment.
The National Health Authority (NHA) also signed an MoU with AITWA on 14th November 2019 to provide healthcare services to truck drivers under the ‘Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’ (PM-JAY) scheme. Under this partnership, the NHA and AITWA will work together to identify truck drivers and employees of transport companies who could be eligible beneficiaries of the scheme.
It is unfortunate that the driver’s job in India has a social disrespect and stigma attached to it. A large number of drivers find it difficult to get married as people are reluctant to marry their daughter to a driver. The driver’s children do not want to become drivers and drivers themselves have a low self-esteem.
Regular interactive sessions with drivers at ACC’s plants (often in the form of Driver Chaupals) have helped to instill and reinforce self-confidence and dignity in the drivers. They are briefed on the role as being beyond that of a mere driver to that of a brand ambassador and the customer’s first point-of contact with the company. Some of our plants have taken innovative steps like providing laundry service, toilets with bathing facility and even hair-cutting saloons in their parking yards so that drivers can freshen themselves before commencing their trip and look presentable and clean when they reach their customer. Cleanliness, hygiene and grooming also helps to increase the driver’s self-confidence and self-respect. ACC’s Thondebhavi plant in Karnataka was the first to install a full length mirror in the driver rest facility so that he can see how others view him!
ACC’s Chanda plant (near Nagpur) was the first plant in the Indian cement industry to construct a state-of-the-art fully concrete parking yard of 4.5 acres for trucks, with safety features like fishbone parking, one-way movement, no reversing, adequate illumination and separate entrance and exit gates. The parking facility (designed by the renowned Mumbai based Arun Das Associates) has a specially designed resting facility for the drivers with beds, toilets with showers, restaurant, clean drinking water, TV, and recreational and games facilities. The facility had a marked impact on the drivers. Truckers now wanted to visited the plant to pick up loads as they looked forward to a comfortable stay and rest whilst they waited for their turn to be called to roll the truck inside the plant for loading. Proper food, shower and rest ensured an absence of fatigue and safe driving!
a) providing a financial security net through personal health and accident insurance policy
b) more efficient route planning and scheduling of trucks using Fleet Management System supported by GPS truck tracking from ‘Gate Out to Gate In’ (GOGI) and RFID for streamlining the ‘Gate In to Gate Out’ (GIGO) flow of trucks inside the plant which help in optimizing the truck transit time, thereby enabling drivers to spend less time on the road. The drivers can enjoy more time with their family, eat meals with them more frequently, and sleep better.
These award functions serve the twin purpose of motivating other drivers to drive safely and instilling a sense of pride and self confidence in them as well as their family members. The drivers also feel that they have earned the respect of the Management when they are called upon the stage to receive their awards. Some plants have even displayed life size photographs of drivers with good safety record in their plants to motivate them.
A unique initiative taken by some ACC plants was organizing a ‘Driver Chaupal’ on a weekly basis, attended by all drivers present in the parking yard on the particular day. These are typically like corporate ‘town halls’ where drivers get an opportunity to voice their opinions on matters affecting them like plant amenities (drinking water, canteen facility etc) and the senior management can take quick action to redress any genuine grievances.
ACC also launched a ‘Suraksha Kavach’ (‘security armour’) drive at plants to successfully introduce the use of a Seat Belt Convincer to demonstrate the importance of wearing a seat belt whilst driving. The Seat Belt Convincer is a crash simulator training device that simulates a low impact vehicle collision (within a speed range of 8 to 15 kmph) to reinforce the benefits of wearing a seat belt whenever the vehicle is in motion.
Truck Simulators with adjustable virtual traffic, weather conditions and road layouts were also used to train drivers and maneuver the vehicles in different weather conditions and terrains. The simulator allows possibility of encountering dangerous driving conditions without subjecting the driver to physical risk.