Throughout the transport industry one of the biggest talking points is training and driver development. This has been aided by the introduction of the Driver CPC training requirement making it mandatory for HGV drivers to continuously complete training throughout their career, as well as the driver shortage companies have experienced throughout the United Kingdom which could be attributed to a lack of opportunities for progression and training once gaining their Driver CPC.
Over recent years strides have been made to bridge some of these gaps in driver training and provide more options for people looking to progress further. One example of this is the FORS programme, a voluntary road safety-based accreditation scheme that is aimed to promote best practice and raise the efficiency of operations within a business. The FORS standard incorporates training requirements that must be completed in order for companies to progress through the accreditation levels, enabling drivers to continue their development while the company receives the benefit of their increased efficiency and better fuel consumption levels.
FORS accreditation has established itself as arguably the go to safety scheme within the transport and haulage industry, when commuting along motorways or urban areas you will often see HGV’s with FORS stickers visible on them.
Safe Urban Driving and Van Smart training can help you comply with the requirements of FORS and enable your drivers to gain valuable CPC hours, in order to progress to FORS Silver all drivers operating within a fleet must of complete one of these vulnerable road user training courses. The content covered within both of these courses is the same as they both address one of the major road safety issues of recent years, the only way these courses differ is the examples and terminology used which is tailored to match either professional HGV or van drivers.
FORS accreditation can provide a variety of benefits to a business’s fleet. One of the most documented benefits is that over 50% of specifiers are asking for FORS silver from companies working on their site, therefore you can gain access to more tender opportunities by achieving FORS silver accreditation.
Overall, completing this training can potentially provide benefits at all levels of a business. The training element educates drivers on how to increase their efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and effectively plan their routes which could save a significant amount of money on fleet bills; as well as aiding the drivers to progress their careers further by showcasing their new knowledge and helping to reduce the fleet expenditure. The larger business can also benefit by gaining access to new tender processed that specify FORS silver and above companies only, enabling them to potentially gain new contracts.
If you want to complete your vulnerable road user training and take a step towards gaining FORS silver accreditation contact us today, we will endeavour where possible to make arrangements that meet your requirements as a company so that training has minimal impact on your operational activities!