FORS: training is key to fleet efficiency
FORS, the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, is encouraging fleet operators to invest in driver and manager training to help improve overall fleet efficiency and lower operational costs.
Regular training for all road transport professionals is one of the pillars of the FORS voluntary accreditation. Training is built in to all three levels of the scheme, and the organisation emphasises its importance as a means of embedding best practice.
“The FORS vision is clear – to make road transport safer, smarter and greener,” said FORS manager Sonia Hayward (pictured, right).
“Providing those who drive as part of their job and their managers with the knowledge they need to action these safety practices plays a big part in how FORS works.
“At each step of the FORS journey, there are driver and manager training requirements in place which seek to make sure job-specific tasks are completed as safely as possible, with learning ranging from understanding how to drive in busy urban environments and improving the safety for vulnerable road users, to building proactive safety protocols into work schedules.”
But professional development also plays a really key role in ensuring that all staff see the bigger efficiency picture, Sonia says.
“Individuals who drive for a living, and those fulfilling roles where driving is big part of their daily duties, should be trained to drive efficiently to reduce their vehicle emissions. So it stands to reason that if every driver operating on your behalf receives such training, the impact on overall carbon output will be significantly reduced.”
By way of example, FORS cites 2019 and 2020 fuel data from 548 FORS members, submitted for Silver and Gold audits, which suggested they achieved an average of a five per cent year on year improvement in miles-per-gallon, and five per cent reduction in CO2.
FORS now has over 4,750 members across the UK, and each member is required to undertake training at each level of the progressive scheme, with specific training for management staff and drivers of different vehicle types, including HGV and van drivers.
FORS Professional driver training courses arm drivers with the skills they need to minimise carbon emissions in urban environments during their everyday routes, says the organisation; drivers are taught how to reduce fuel usage, while reinforcing safety practices to help mitigate work related road risk.
Sonia Hayward notes: “The FORS Professional LoCity Driving course shows HGV and van drivers how to avoid engine idling, one of the biggest contributors to urban pollution, and how to avoid congestion. This also provides a financial benefit to the operator by helping them to save fuel.”
But increasing efficiency is not just in the hands of the drivers, says FORS; for these practices to really take root, management teams must also be on board.
Poole-based haulier Bournemouth Courier found FORS Practitioner management training led to a dramatic reduction in fuel costs and a more efficient fleet, after transport manager Edward Wateridge completed the series of ten detailed workshops required to gain FORS Practitioner status.
Edward Wateridge said: “For us, the Safe and Efficient Fleet Management and Reducing Fuel Use and Minimising Environmental Impacts FORS Practitioner workshops have had the most impact.
“We have reduced our engine idling dramatically and improved driver behaviour, which has had a positive effect on the environment, and also on our bottom line.”
The ten FORS Practitioner workshops, currently delivered online and open to all FORS members, provide a complete package of fleet management learning, including managing work related road risk, safe and efficient fleet utilisation, reducing fuel use and minimising fines and charges.
Edward added: “We now look more closely at the environmental aspects of our business, and how we can improve on them.
“We monitor three key areas of driver behaviour; engine idling, vehicle speed and harsh braking, and review this information monthly to see how we have reduced fuel wastage and learn how we can continue to improve.”
Meanwhile, the FORS Professional HGV and PCV Fleet Management Essentials course, designed to help supervisory staff working within operator licence undertakings, looks at how fleets can embed effective fleet management activities to lead to greater operational efficiency.
Along with setting out how fleets should manage their operation in line with their operator licence obligations and how it is complementary with the requirements stipulated by FORS, the course also seeks to establish proactive maintenance systems and defect reporting within fleets, to keep trucks and vans on the road.
FORS also provides a range of downloadable toolkits, which managers can draw upon to embed efficiency across their business. Its Anti-Idling Toolkit explores how drivers can reduce fuel use, and its Congestion Toolkit offers tips on how managers can plan to avoid the amount of time drivers spend in traffic.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, FORS took the decision to offer all its FORS Professional manager classroom-based training online, using a virtual classroom for added interaction between trainer and attendee.
Said Sonia Hayward: “It has actually proved a very good decision for FORS to develop an online virtual classroom to be able to continue to offer training to members during the pandemic. Our interactive classroom means no ‘face-to-face’ interaction is lost, and online sessions are less disruptive to businesses, some of whom have very few non-driving staff, and find it tricky to release staff from their ‘day-jobs’ to train.”
She added: “Driver and management training should always be considered as the true route to efficiency. Fleet businesses are under huge pressure to maintain profitability despite growing operational costs, and FORS training seeks to deliver the real-life working tools which will help members achieve these safety and efficiency goals.”
