Orange Sky has made some key changes to our processes for operating our some of our vans. We’d like to thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work with local leadership teams to find resolutions to minimise disruption to your volunteer experience.
If you have any questions that aren’t covered in the below FAQ, or you believe that your shift could be impacted but you haven’t been contacted about this, please use this form to let us know!
FAQs
Our vehicles undergo rigorous testing and regular safety audits to ensure they meet compliance standards and current legislation. This benchmarking is completed alongside external organisations to ensure that Orange Sky meets and exceeds the safety standards across all parts of our operations. This issue arose during a routine audit of our van fleet. Once we were aware that there was a compliance standard issue, the operations and risk teams began operating and acting on it immediately and with urgency.
Yes. Specifically, once the requirements for our shower vans and Laurie (hybrid van) are executed on to reduce weight they are safe to drive.
At Orange Sky, we’ve always found ways of tackling challenging problems with innovative solutions. These changes are currently permanent until we can find a longer term solution. We will continue exploring alternative compliance options and future enhancements to allow our shower vans and Laurie (hybrid van) to carry passengers and full water tanks again whilst driving.
This can still be achieved. Training a new driver in a shower van (or Laurie hybrid van) can be completed by ensuring there is no water onboard, so an experienced driver of an Orange Sky van can travel as a passenger while the new volunteer becomes competent in driving the van. We recommend a volunteer travels to and from shift twice before travelling on their own.
Yes. You will have to drive back to the van base on your own in the van. However, if you feel unsafe dropping the van back to base late at night on your own, we would encourage a buddy system, where another volunteer follows in their own car back to base until you are safely back in your own car or form of transport. In light of these changes, we are now looking to have water and waste available at all of our shift locations. On the rare occasion where you may need to empty or refill late at night, our advice is to hand this task to the next available shift to complete in daylight hours by communicating with your service leader that you will no longer be able to fulfil this requirement.
No, unfortunately Orange Sky is not able to assist with parking costs associated with attending shift. However, where possible, Orange Sky will prioritise shifts with parking available and in close proximity to public transport. However, this isn’t always possible. If you are being impacted by these changes, please fill in this form, and someone from Orange Sky HQ can contact you to discuss alternative options to support your ongoing volunteering with Orange Sky
If there is another OS volunteer available (not a friend or member of the public) ask them to be a spotter to help guide the van when reversing. If no one is available to spot, make sure the hazard lights are on, and the driver’s and passengers’ windows are down so you can hear noises from any oncoming vehicles or approaching pedestrians. Be mindful of members of the public wearing headphones and not paying attention, and other vehicles passing by.
These options are at the discretion of the team’s involved, and could change from shift to shift depending on circumstances. We encourage the driver of the vehicle to always check if the water tanks are empty before allowing a passenger to drive with them in the van.
We are currently upgrading our training documents and will be adhering instructional stickers inside our vans, so a reminder will always be present for our flexible volunteers.
Unfortunately, there is no manual drainage point on the clean water tank in our shower vans or Laurie. If you need to drain any water in the clean water tank, it must be transferred to the waste water tank before draining. This means you will need to run a shower to transfer the water over.
We expect that your shift will still be able to run with a limited amount of showers and washing loads. The 250L in the tank available could allow for around 2-3 showers and 2-3 loads of washing, depending on the load sizes.
We will be supplying you with a Smart Flow Meter to attach to the water point when you fill your tank. This has a digital reading showing how many litres of water is going into the water tank. We expect these to arrive to you in the first week of October.
