Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme 27th October 2015 Steve Agg Add the name of the presenter and the date in the text box below the description above

What is FORS?

What is FORS?  Reduce emissions, raise standards, stimulate business FORS is a unique industry led accreditation scheme aimed at transforming road fleet activity throughout the UK. Helps operators to measure and monitor performance Helps operators to ensure and demonstrate compliance and best practice Links to responsible procurement FORS is designed to improve: Safety, efficiency and environmental protection  Reduce emissions, raise standards, stimulate business FORS was officially launched in 2007 and is a unique, industry led accreditation scheme aimed at changing freight delivery in London It helps companies to measure and control performance It helps them ensure they are operating legally and implementing best practice And it helps suppliers to ensure they are using reputable operators FORS is voluntary and open to anyone operating commercial vehicles The scheme was originally focused on London, but is now available for any operator in the country to join, regardless of whether they ever come into the capital or not   So what standards do we currently have in our sector? The industry has an obligation to comply with European legislation and although it is fairly rigorous, with strict operator licensing requirement covering a whole range of driver and vehicle safety assurance requirements For those operating under a standard licence we also have the requirement to have a competent and qualified transport manager in place however a restricted licence doesn’t have this requirement. There is no argument that the UK system is good and taking a risk based approach it does target those organisations that are more likely to offend and allow the better, more compliant operators ,to continue operating safely. It isn’t perfect however and each year we still have operators called to Public Inquiries, many losing their operating licence, drivers convicted of road transport offences, or worse, on manslaughter charges. A significant number of these organisations are simply just guilty of ignorance, not being fully aware of what they should be doing and how best to do it. FORS is one solution to this. It is a set of standards that clearly define the internal systems required to meet a higher level of transport safety and efficiency. It provides the Quality Assurance that a company has everything necessary to meet their compliance requirements, improve the safety of their drivers and vehicles and are serious about sustaining their performance as a professional transport operator.

FORS Community Partnership vision A single standard for the UK transport sector Robust and respected by industry Offered on a national basis Positively position the value of FORS Clear route to accreditation Develop strong links with contract specifiers Strengthen reach of FORS across UK Build FORS presence in all fleet sectors e.g. van, bus, and coach

How FORS works As a FORS accredited company, not only will you be recognised as a forward- thinking operator, but accreditation could also give you that all important competitive edge FORS is graduated into three levels enabling you to demonstrate, to customers and other companies, your progress through the FORS journey To become a member of FORS you must register online at www.tfl.gov.uk/FORS Essentially you are assessed against the FORS standards Probably obvious that the higher the level the more serious the operator is about meeting and sustaining standards. For many companies, contracting with a bronze operator should suffice however for large contracts and long term services the Gold operator will indicate a different level of commitment. It isn't an easy level to achieve and companies need to invest significant time to achieve it. A bronze operator is a legally compliant operator following good practice - this is the entry level of accreditation if you require extra work to pass. The assessor provides an action plan and advice and support on what is needed to pass. To then progress from bronze to silver, you are required to submit 6 months worth of data into the FORS online benchmarking system in the three areas of PCNs Fuel Use and Number of incidents, and continue to keep it updated. A silver operator is high quality operator, committed to becoming safer, greener and more efficient – this is the intermediate level of accreditation Gold membership - exceptional operator that has met specific targets and is continuing to improve – this is the highest level of accreditation

FORS standards MANAGEMENT VEHICLES DRIVERS OPERATIONS Responsibilities & authority Road worthiness Training and assessment Routing and scheduling Communication Insurance Driving at work Transport control Competent person Fleet performance Fitness and health Fines and charges The FORS Standard is the backbone of the scheme and provides a structure for operators to adopt best practice and move above and beyond the O licensing requirements The purpose of the FORS standard is to ensure, within fleet operations, certain minimum levels of legal compliance, safety, efficiency, and environmental protection. This will help to assure your clients that you are meeting certain minimum levels. The standard is split into four core sections – Management, Vehicles, Drivers and Operators Like any Quality Assurance system the focus is on all the key influencing factors that are necessary to maintain a business that can operate safely and efficiently. FORS has identified 4 key themes, each one contributing to the overall aim of the scheme and aligned with the various grades of accreditation. Its expected that a bronze accredited company has satisfied the basic requirement and has developed the foundations to maintain a ‘fit and healthy’ organisation. The benefits to anyone contracting with them would be the knowledge that they have significant measures in place to reduce risk, that risk being related to safety, operational activities, environmental and also to the image of the company and the sector. What this might mean to a company that uses a FORS transport operator in preference to non FORS is an assurance that their goods in transit will be protected from any associated non-compliance activity- for example, a vehicle with a prohibition could be significantly delayed, a driver involved in an accident could cause damage to your products, an efficient company will control costs and therefore you will have a quality service at a quality price, not a poor quality service at a low cost. There are also the added value and ethical benefits that are also evident with a FORS operator. Contractors will know that contracting with an operator that is serious about the safety of vulnerable road users (cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists), serious about training their employees, especially drivers and also cares about the environment and can provide evidence of how they reduce their emissions and commit to long term improvements, can only be positive for a long term customer-supplier relationship.

Levels of FORS accreditation Bronze A legally compliant operator following good practice – this is the entry level of accreditation Silver High quality operator; committed to becoming safer, greener and more efficient – this is the intermediate level of accreditation Gold Exceptional operator that has met specific targets and is continuing to improve – this is the highest level of accreditation FORS is a progressive scheme and gives you the opportunity to rise through the accreditation levels As a FORS accredited company, not only will you be recognised as a forward-thinking operator, but accreditation could also give you that all important competitive edge. Broadly speaking we’d categorise bronze as operators following best practice Silver as high quality operators committed to becoming safer, greener and more efficient Gold as exceptional operators that are setting targets and continuously improving against them

2,984 349 111 Who is FORS accredited? 26,225 23,868 161,895 OPERATORS VEHICLES 23,868 VEHICLES 161,895 VEHICLES Number of FORS accredited companies is growing steadily Now have over 3,000 accredited operators. Largely bronze but with increasing numbers progressing to silver and gold

Improving manager skills Developing road transport policy Managing work related road safety Managing driver assessment and training Post-collision procedures and analysis Managing driver fitness and impairment Safe and efficient fleet management Reducing fuel use and minimising environmental impacts Minimising transport fines and charges Monitoring and measuring road fleet performance FORS offers a series of manager workshops aimed at improving safety, efficiency and fuel use Each workshop is half day and is driver CPC accredited for those who hold vocational licences But to be clear these workshops are aimed at supervisors and managers A national programme of workshop dates will shortly be announced There are a fours series running in London this year which have continued to be funded by TfL

Improving the safety of others “FORS has been a key factor in changing the safety culture in road transport, with the opportunities it provides to the industry for additional training, sharing of information, and collaborative working towards on-road safety standards.” So how good is FORS A significant reduction in the number of collisions by those companies that are FORS accredited – and if they are involved then better systemes to avoid repeat collissions and minimise insurance claims or other costs associated with vehicle or personal damage. Last year FORS won a Prince Michael Road Safety Award Data input by FORS operators into the performance management system showed some great safety results – injury collisions were reduced by 41% and total collisions by 25%

FORS and CLOCS You may have heard of CLOCS which stands for Construction Logistics and Cyclist Safety. This programme complements CLOCS. Clients and main contractors sign up to CLOCS and implement the CLOCS Standard in their contracts, operators who become FORS silver can easily demonstrate that they meet the requirements of CLOCS as FORS silver is equivalent to CLOCS  

Thank you www.fors-online.org.uk 08448 09 09 44