Plant, tool and equipment hire company A-Plant has been named the latest FORS Champion.The company has been a member of the FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) since 2009 and is also championing the scheme amongst its suppliers. A-Plant will be writing to each of its transport suppliers to encourage them to become FORS members by the end of 2017, as well as promoting the benefits of the scheme with which it has first-hand experience.
A-Plant’s director of transport services Shaun Winstanley said, “As an operator we are well placed to champion the benefits of the scheme, and will be encouraging the companies we work with to sign up and get the most from the scheme as we have done.”
The company is also the first to renew its Whole Fleet Accreditation (WFA) under FORS Standard v4.0. The WFA status means that its own auditing process has been approved by FORS for use across its network. The company also has a dedicated member of staff whose role involves helping different centres progress through the accreditation levels. A-Plant currently has 24 sites at Gold Standard, 136 at Silver and 31 at Bronze, but it is in the process of progressing its Silver sites to Gold status.
“Achieving FORS Gold status demonstrates to our employees that we are investing further in their safety and improving their skill-sets,” said Winstanley. “The accreditation also assures customers that they are dealing with a professional, trusted company which takes compliance, safety and the environment seriously.”
“As we have progressed through the FORS Standard, we have trained in excess of 1100 drivers on Safe Urban Driving courses (SUD), and extended our own mandatory new employee driver training course to incorporate it,” he added.
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