The City of London Corporation is now specifying FORS accreditation across its procurement contracts and supply chains.
The local authority for London’s Square Mile has itself achieved FORS Gold accreditation for 10 consecutive years – just one of five fleet operators to have done so. It’s maintained FORS’ highest level of accreditation across its Cleansing Operations city fleet, leading to a range of major benefits. As a result, it’s now set FORS as a standard requirement for its supply chain.
Business performance & transport group manager Vince Dignam, who oversees the authority’s work on FORS accreditation, said: “One of the learnings we’ve taken from our journey with FORS is the importance of the bigger picture and the standard we should expect from our supply chain.
“Both our cleansing & waste and highways maintenance contractors, for instance, have been part of the FORS journey with us. One of the benefits of specifying FORS in contracts of this nature is having all drivers trained to the same standard for safety, courtesy of courses like FORS Safe Urban Driving and Van Smart.
“What we felt, from our own FORS experience, was that if we specify compliance with the FORS Standard and require that contractors apply that same level of professionalism to their operation, we can have full confidence in the entire supply chain. One standard adhered to by all is the best way forward.”
Dignam also said that FORS accreditation has delivered significant benefits for The City of London Corporation’s fleet, which comprises a mixture of passenger cars, LCVs and a handful of light goods vehicles.
“The standout improvements that we’ve seen have been in safety, improved emissions, and training,” he commented. “By placing more of an emphasis on improving air quality and lowering our carbon footprint, we’ve been able to bolster the green credentials of our fleet.
“We’ve also derived enormous benefit from the range of training available through FORS. Whether it’s through our managers and supervisors taking the FORS Practitioner workshops, or our drivers taking online Driver Training modules, FORS Professional training has really raised the bar when it comes to the ongoing development of our team.”
