Why is the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme important to Haulaway?
What is FORS?
Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) is a national accreditation which aims to raise the level of quality in fleet operations including improved safety, greater environmental protection and better efficiency. Companies with FORS accreditation are expected to exceed the industry standard and be of the mindset of continual improvement. It is a completely voluntary accreditation and is available to all fleet operators and all types of vehicles including cars, vans, heavy goods vehicles and passenger carrying vehicles.
How does FORS benefit a company?
Road Safety
Training is given to managers and drivers equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to improve their work-related road safety, reducing the risk of collisions with other drivers and other road incidents.
Environment
Drivers receive training courses to improve their driving standards resulting in more economic driving and therefore a reduction in carbon emissions and fuel costs.
Advice on the latest technologies and systems is available to keep your vehicles as environmentally efficient as possible.
Compliance
Fleet operators have a Duty of Care by law to keep a check on the competency and capability of their drivers. Being compliant with the FORS standard ensures this Duty of Care is met as well as any other legal obligations.
How is FORS accreditation achieved?
There are three levels of FORS which are Bronze, Silver and Gold. Bronze must be completed first before progressing onto Silver and Gold.
It’s easy to apply for Bronze, you simply register on the FORS website. You then have 90 days to achieve the accreditation which is awarded using an audit process. An initial audit is carried out and after this you will have a chance to rectify any short comings before a second audit takes place within the 90 days.
Audits are then carried out annually for Bronze accreditations to ensure you are meeting FORS standards. You must provide evidence of systems, procedures and documentation that demonstrates your company has maintained the required standards.
Silver can only be achieved once it has been proven that Bronze standards are maintained as well as other specifications including being compliant with CLOCS Standard for Construction Logistics.
To achieve Gold, you must demonstrate improvements against Silver and supporting data such as miles per gallon and incidents per 110kms.
Haulaway has held its Bronze accreditation for just over a year and we caught up with our site foreman Sam to find out a bit more…
Q. How do you feel FORS has helped you?
A. ‘Although we already had many of the correct procedures and risk assessments in place FORS confirmed that what we were doing was right. It has however given us more structure and helped us to keep our paperwork in better order. There were a couple of risk assessments that we didn’t have in place and FORS brought my attention to these and has expanded my knowledge on road safety.’
Q. How are FORS procedures and training different from our standard company procedures and in-house training?
A. ‘Acting as transport manager, I had to undergo extra CPC training. All of our drivers had to take FORS eLearning modules which increased their knowledge and understanding of road safety and increased their driving standards.’
Q. Do you feel that being FORS accredited has improved our fleet’s performance?
A. ‘Definitely! Not only has it improved our fleets driving standards and awareness on the road we now have peace of mind that we are meeting all of our legal requirements by maintaining the FORS standards.’
