Based in Oamaru and operating since 1999, Mainland Spreading is a Family owned and operated business providing ground spreading services across many parts of the south island. Kylie Stenton from Mainland Spreading drove the partnership with Fleetpin over a year ago, with a prioritised commitment to the health and safety of their employees. Kylie had been in search of the right roll-over safety solution for Mainland Spreading for over 5 years, eventually being referred to Fleetpin by a local farmer. Kylie shares, “Safetrax is now an important part of our business operations and our health and safety plan. Safetrax was New Zealand’s first true GPS rollover safety system, and has become an integral part of Mainland Spreading’s Work Alone policy”. The risk of ground spreaders rolling on hilly backcountry is known all too well to the ground spreading community. Safetrax was designed to not only automatically send out an SOS alert when a truck rolls, but to also prevent a roll-over by warning their drivers that they have reached a predetermined early-warning rollover threshold (this is fully customisable to suit your vehicle and driver capability) by audible and visual alerts, allowing the driver to take preventative action where possible. The warning thresholds can be set for both the longitudinal axis and the lateral axis to allow for steeper angles travelling up or down hill. If a roll-over is detected, an SOS alert will automatically be sent to base alerting them of the incident, even if the operator is out of mobile phone coverage (using the satellite communication option). The system also includes an in-built SOS button that can be manually triggered. Most of the Mainland Spreading fleet of spreader trucks work alone in remote areas on challenging terrain. One of the key focal points is the fact that Safetrax is satellite based and self-activating, Kylie shares that they needed a system that would automatically be triggered in the event of a roll-over, even in rural areas with patchy reception. “As a team, over the last 7 years we have looked into and discussed the available tech on the market that would fall into the above categories and have found nothing suitable until now.” Being able to customise each unit’s parameters to match the individual drivers skill set allows Mainland Spreading to use it as a teaching tool for ongoing driver training. Within this matrix their warning parameters are always much lower than their rollover parameters. The in-cab driver activated SOS feature is another function to help keep their drivers safer in the case of a personal medical event or other scenarios where emergency assistance is required. “Mainland Spreading has found the Safetrax system to be a comprehensive, easy to use safety tool that the Groundspread industry as a whole can benefit from. It certainly gives our team and myself the peace of mind that we have tech in their trucks that works to keep them safer!” Mainland Spreading utilises Safetrax in conjunction with Fleetpin’s GPS tracking system. We are proud of this partnership with Mainland Spreading, as it is excellent to see the business being recognised for the strides they take towards the utmost safety of their people
