DIAL-A-COMMUNITY BUS
NEWS
2006
DIAL-A-BUS Volunteer Spring Training Evening
Buchan Dial a Community Bus pictured with the
road safety team
DACB held our spring volunteer training evening
last Monday with the help of a donation from the Atlantic &
Cromarty project team at Exxon Mobil’s St Fergus terminal.
Grampian Fire and Rescue were invited along
to give a presentation on the consequences of a road traffic
collision.
This complements previous presentations that
Grampian Police’s Road Casualty Reduction Unit has given
Dial-a-Community Bus staff and volunteers on driving safely
in order to prevent a collision over the past two years.
Myles Murray, of Grampian Fire and Rescue said;
“I am delighted that we have been given the opportunity
to work with Dial-a-Community Bus to enhance their driver safety
programme. The presentation is very visual and focuses on the
way that people are trapped in a vehicle, times of entrapment,
how the Fire and Rescue Service extricate victims, injuries
that are sustained and the relevant medical issues faced.”
It was an excellent event with over 20 volunteers
coming along to hear the presentation. We felt that it answered
the “what if” questions most drivers have.
DACB has worked closely with Grampian Police over the last year
to encourage people to think about how to avoid a collision
but this presentation showed us what happens if things go wrong.
There were some quite graphic images in the
slides that Myles showed but they drove home the message about
driving safely and no-one was unduly worried or upset.
Both Myles and Alan Brown (Director / Trainer) made it clear
that people didn’t have to look and Myles warned us before
every scene was shown.
Safety is of paramount importance to DACB and
is something the Directors. Trainers and Management take extremely
seriously for the sake of all the clients, volunteers and staff.
We try to offer a wide variety of training programmes for all
everyone who works with us, but as everyone knows, we are a
charity and every penny has to be accounted for.
We wanted to offer the volunteers a Driver
Training evening as an overture to our all day event later in
the year but, since it is an “extra” for Dial-a-Community
Bus, even the relatively small amount of money required was
difficult to find from our budget, which is why we were so pleased
to get the news about the donation from Exxon Mobil in March.
As part of a safety incentive scheme ExxonMobil
staff are periodically asked to nominate local charities to
receive a donation in recognition of safety performance. This
time the Atlantic & Cromarty safety committee kindly thought
about Dial-a-Community Bus and donated £500 to the project.
This type of training certainly helps maintain
the unblemished driver safety record that Dial-a-Community Bus
has to date and is a first class example of the benefits that
occur when local businesses and other organisations work together
in partnership for the good of the community.
DACB is grateful to Exxon Mobil for funding
the event and to Grampian Fire and Rescue and Grampian Police
for their ongoing help and support.
