Focus
The unexpected story behind the Logmaster app and why you'll never want to be without it
O
ut on the road can be a tough and lonely life but the rewards of getting home safely after a long haul make the driving life worth it. The long hours can be difficult and exhausting which is why driver safety and fatigue management have become top-of-mind issues for all players in the industry. A substantial amount of effort has gone into putting the message out there about taking care on the road, and it's really starting to pay off. Driver safety is undoubtedly what inspired Josh Saunders and business partner Stewart Flecknoe-Brown to launch their company Logmaster in 2019. Josh and Stewart had previously worked
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WATM • December 2021
with thousands of drivers to get them started and keep them compliant in the rideshare industry. Driver fatigue was an issue that was constantly being raised as the biggest danger but at the time, there wasn’t really a simple solution. One day Josh went to have lunch with a friend who was a trucking company safety officer. When Josh walked into his office, Brad was sitting at his desk surrounded by paperwork and there was a poster on the wall with the trucker’s prayer. “Keep me safe, get me home" and it really hit me.” says Josh. “We live in a world run by technology. We use our phones for everything, from staying in touch with friends and family,
to running our businesses. People can run their lives and earn a living all from their phones. Phones are no longer just a communication device. “We can now do most things from the comfort of our homes by only using our phones thanks to this new age of technology and it made me think. Why is transport safety still running like my dad used to do things? We no longer use the old referdex thanks to our phones GPS capabilities, or pull out the phonebook to look someone up. So why are we still filling out safety checklists and mountains of compliance paperwork like it's 1999 when there could be a more efficient way to do things.” says Josh. Stewart Flecknoe-Brown has had a similar experience with the traditional way of doing things. "You know, the average driver spends between 200-350 hours per year in their truck, but compliance preparation takes approximately an additional 180 hours per driver per year," he said. "That's a lot of time and effort spent on something none of us enjoy." Stewart and Josh were talking to business owners, industry consultants and telematics companies and they were also lucky to be members of a drivers Whatsapp group. The idea of combating transport safety properly, starting with fatigue management and then incorporating the other typical paperwork got a lot of traction because they saw it was a recurring conversation. Technology is making the world smaller,
