With a reputation of being one of the leading transport specialists in the UK, Hammond Transport is proud to be accredited by the FORS scheme and being CLOCS compliant. With a commitment to the very best customer service, delivering excellent solutions and an outstanding health and safety record, it’s unsurprising that we’ve been awarded the FORS Silver and Gold standard as a business.
As a result, we understand the rigorous process businesses have to go through in order to achieve this and we’re dedicated to maintaining this throughout everything we do.
As experts in this field, our specialist team has pulled together their insights on FORS Silver, sharing the ultimate guide to FORS Silver in our latest blog post.
What is FORS?
As a national accreditation scheme, the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, or FORS, was launched in 2008 to highlight businesses in the transport or logistics sector who are leading the way in best practice. Taking into account all aspects of their operations, the FORS Scheme is a quality management system which looks to enhance the standards within the sector. FORS benchmarks companies across certain criteria and reviews multiple disciplines to provide a Bronze, Silver or Gold award. The standard of award given to a company reflects how specifically they meet the FORS requirements.
How does FORS Silver and CLOCS compliance work together?
Our fleet are all equipped with CLOCS certified door windows to enable the driver to have extra vision out of the door on the near side of the truck.
The FORS Silver accreditation will ensure you are CLOCS compliant if you work in the construction industry and operate vehicles. FORS Silver and CLOCS compliance work together in the following ways:
- CLOCS helps clients to take ownership for road safety across the supply chain
- CLOCS is used in planning conditions and procurement contracts by construction clients
- Fleet operators demonstrate compliance to CLOCS through FORS
- Operators accredited to FORS Silver are automatically compliant with CLOCS
Who can secure a FORS Silver accreditation?
The FORS scheme is completely voluntary, meaning that businesses choose to embark on the scheme and there is no legal requirement to complete it. However, as FORS is seen as a gold standard in the industry, many large scale infrastructure projects stipulate that they will only work with suppliers and partners who have a FORS Bronze, FORS Silver or FORS Gold award, and will not include businesses who don’t have it in their supply chain. Consequently, the FORS standard is highly sought after.
The FORS accreditation is recognised across many sectors and industries including retail, waste management, fleet operations, construction and rail.
What is the difference between a FORS Silver and a FORS Gold accreditation?
With three different standards on the FORS scheme, each award requires different criteria to be met in order to achieve it. FORS Silver is only available to businesses who have achieved and maintained the FORS Bronze accreditation and are able to prove via the DVLA that all driver licences and endorsements are verified.
In addition to this, there are a number of other criteria’s you need to meet to achieve FORS Silver which include professional development, road risk, noise pollution and fuel, emissions and air quality.
The next step up from FORS Silver is FORS Gold, which again requires a business to meet even stricter criteria and achieve exceptional standards.
The benefits of working with a FORS Silver business
There are a wide range of benefits to working with a FORS Silver business, especially the fact that you know that you’re working with a supplier who goes over and above the legal requirements whilst consistently working to the highest of standards.