Synergising Efficient Operations with Health & Safety
Snapping up a number of awards and accolades in recent years, Speedy Hire increasingly sets the bar for environmental, safety, and operational best practices for fleet management. Dating its origins back to 1977, Speedy Hire is regarded as one of the UK and Ireland's leading suppliers of tools, specialist equipment, and services for the construction industry. Boasting an impressive network of circa 140 stores and an impressive turnover of GBP421.5m, Speedy Hire is amongst the largest players in the market and, over the years, has supported some of the UK's most iconic construction projects.
As an overarching summary, Speedy Hire maintains the complete spectrum of tools and equipment for the construction industry, including: power tools, heating systems, lighting systems, access equipment (including powered access), power generators, material lift systems, concrete and compression tools, and an assortment of plant for just about every on-site requirement; this includes the likes of dumpers, excavators, moling equipment, outrigger mats, rollers, telehandlers, forklifts, and trailers. Training courses are also available for all specialist plant and equipment. Beyond the supply of industry leading equipment, however, Speedy Hire has made a name for itself in serving as a "one call" solution for total control of equipment and consumables, helping clients to maintain and operate their plant and equipment at maximum efficiency.
In particular, dedicated specialist support and services are offered for: welding technology solutions; lifting, inspection, and testing through Lloyds British; safety and skills training; and equipment and consumable sales support. Briefly touching on the fleet supporting these solutions, Speedy Hire maintains a significant fleet of 1674 vehicles, including 634 company cars and 104 commercial vehicles. The fleet is overseen by Aaron Powell, Fleet & Logistics Director for Speedy Hire, considered to be amongst the industry's most influential fleet managers by GREENFLEET (currently ranking in 42nd place as of 2025's list of 100 most influential fleet managers).
We spoke with Aaron himself to better understand his role and specifically the ways in which he has been inspiring new best practice standards for the industry. Going Above and Beyond to Protect Lives As of 2025, health and safety remains one of the most important topics in the industry (particularly in the case of the transportation and construction fields), but when we discuss health and safety within the field we find that the discussion traditionally homes in on the safety of a firm's own employees and those stakeholders affected by the delivery of the same firm's solutions - in essence, its a case of minimising the safety risk created via the operations underpinning a given service.
This is by no means an issue, but it's an important point to clarify when we assess Speedy Hire's approach to the topic. From a health and safety perspective, Speedy Hire embraces a diverse approach to the topic. First covering the fundamentals, the organisation uses a combination of Masternaut and VisionTrack systems to monitor incidents and safety behaviours within all of its vehicles, which is then paired with continued safety training and transparent communication to ensure the complete mitigation of risk to both the business and personnel.
According to Aaron, it's a fairly integrated process, with reports coming from Masternaut and VisionTrack as an integrated report which allows for effective identification of any issues. Beyond this, however, 2021 saw Speedy Hire began what would be a transformational decision for the business, with the firm announcing a partnership with Aero Healthcare and the British Healthcare Foundation to install Automated External Defibrillators (AED) at all of the company's operational locations UK-wide and, later throughout the entirety of the commercial fleet. It's a decision which is as equally impressive as it is surprising to see in this segment of the industry.
We spoke with Aaron to better understand what drove this decision and how well it's been received by both employees and the firm's client base. According to Aaron, the decision was primarily driven by personal experiences and an overarching emphasis on the importance of protecting people's lives, not just when conducting work on-site, but even at home or wherever its vans may be located at a given time. Expectedly, the decision has also proven an enormous success amongst the firm's client base, with many considering the carrying of AED units as a wonderful way to complement their own on-site safety initiatives.
Aaron explained: "All of our engineers' vans come with a defibrillator now so that, if someone is unfortunate enough to go into cardiac arrest, the vehicle is there on-site and they can use it. Our clients love it, we always get good feedback from them who think it's great, but we also didn't do it for publicity really - I wanted to do it so that if someone's unfortunate enough to go into cardiac arrest, we can save their life. "It came about because my wife is a carer and she goes to people's houses to take care of them within the community.
When she was visiting a client, the neighbour had a heart attack and she went in to continue CPR (the grandson had started) and if she'd had a defibrillator, she might have been able to save them. That's where I got the idea from, so I put them into our vans. Next, I'll be looking to put them in our company cars; I already have one in mine.
It's not even just about using them at work, but also in their own life when they take the vans home." For his efforts, Aaron Powell was recognised as Transport Manager of the Year in the prestigious Fleet News Awards 2025, with one of the judges recognising the installation of defibrillators within the fleet as a noteworthy distinction. Commenting on what it meant to receive the prestigious award, Aaron said: "It's the pinnacle of your career to have your peers choose you as the winner of those awards, in particular with the Fleet News awards since it is a huge award to win.
I've done so much with Speedy Hire over the past 4 1/2 years, in terms of changing the company car list, bringing in EVs, and the safety equipment we've brought in. The feedback I received on the day was that while Speedy Hire's record on safety and compliance was already to a high standard, it really was all about the further improvements in these areas I'd brought into the business." He added: "There are so many awards coming on board recognising the work that we do, but many are about the transport that actually puts the kit on the road and provides the customer with what they need in the first place.
Typically it's the transport companies that get the recognition, so winning this award in a business that isn't primarily a transport company is amazing, as you are judged by very professional people who know the industry incredibly well; for them to choose you as the number one is incredible." Leading the Way in Sustainability & Electrification Continuing on from Speedy Hire's impressive safety innovations, a similar level of bravery and commitment to a cause can be seen within the approach taken to the environment.
In fact, acting somewhat in contrast to many of the bigger players in the industry, Speedy Hire is aggressively driving an electrification journey deemed impractical or even impossible to many across the transport and logistics space - particularly in the case of HGVs. Firstly looking at the fleet, it's believed that Speedy Hire currently has the largest EV fleet in the hire industry, including vast swathes of its cars and commercial vehicles as well as an impressive 13 fully-electric HGVs. And although Aaron certainly nodded to the challenges along the way in terms of onboarding its driver engineers and adapting to the limited EV charging infrastructure presently available (primarily through the supply of Juice Booster cables), thus far the move has been a resounding success for Speedy Hire both internally and externally.
Even looking at the plant available for hire, the same commitments can be seen, with the firm not only boasting an impressive range of EV plant and equipment, but also in being the first hire company in the UK to offer fully hydrogen-fuelled powered access systems and in entering into a joint venture with AFC Energy to produce the hydrogen power required. Already, Speedy Hire's efforts have been recognised by the wider industry, with Aaron Powell himself snapping up the Private Sector Fleet Manager of the Year award at the GREENFLEET Awards 2024, with specific mentions being made to the impressive carbon reductions achieved (25% last year), the rapid transition to electric and hybrid vehicles, the installation of solar panels on the roofs and cabs of the EV fleet, and the introduction of the industry's first 27-tonne fully-electric plant-bodied vehicle. Beyond what the company has already achieved, Aaron laid out his plans to continue the transition to alternative fuels across the fleet as much as possible, with HVO being used as an alternative in challenging use-cases.
It's hoped that these efforts (among others) will support the company in delivering continued annual carbon emission reductions of approximately 5%, allowing the firm to reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2030.
Transport & Logistics - Driving The Industry Forward