🕒 Article read time: 2 minutes
FORS – preparing to deliver real change
Content sponsored by FORS
After 12 months of transition and transformation, FORS, the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, is ready to deliver real change on the ground for its accredited operators in 2023.
FUTURE OF ACCREDITATION
The scheme’s flagship project this year is the ‘Future of Accreditation’, where a quality customer experience will be created by removing unnecessary complexity and creating transparency in audit and quality assurance processes. FORS will be more accessible, have simpler routes to accreditation and will be easier to understand. The project also aims to provide regulatory and enforcement agencies with more confidence in the FORS Standard and its auditing process.
CHANGES TO TRAINING PORTFOLIO
Changes are also afoot within the FORS Professional training portfolio, arguably the transport industry’s most comprehensive training resource for drivers and fleet managers. In 2022 alone, FORS has funded 1,637 courses for drivers, trained 4,607 managers, and
delivered 130,104 eLearning courses and 265 FORS Practitioner courses. To date, 3,277 individuals have ‘graduated’ from the FORS Practitioner programme.
MANAGEMENT COURSES REDESIGN
Courses for managers have been fully redesigned for 2023, delivering bang-up-to-date content in line with the latest industry legislation. The FORS Practitioner programme – a distinct set of ten courses aimed specifically at fleet management – has received a full technical and creative makeover, and the addition of new courses and requirements will see the programme become more flexible and accessible later this year.
RECOGNISING ALTERNATIVE SCHEMES
FORS has recently responded to the emergence of alternative accreditation schemes. The response follows Transport for London’s (TfL) disclosure that it will recognise alternative schemes as ‘equivalent’ to FORS for transport operators pursuing compliance with TfL’s Work-Related Road Risk requirement. FORS is keen to point out that any move to raise safety, efficiency and environmental standards on our roads is supported. However, analysis of the relative size and scope of currently available schemes reveals that FORS offers a more substantial offering; the first choice for operators looking to boost efficiency, and, crucially, to nurture a safety mindset.
ACCREDITING 94,000 VEHICLES
With over 15 years of experience as the UK’s most recognised accreditation scheme, FORS today serves circa 4,700 accredited operators (representing 94,000 vehicles) each benefitting from the FORS best practice mandate to improve safety, increase efficiency and foster an environmentally conscious mindset.
STEERED BY INDUSTRY EXPERTS
FORS also draws upon the knowledge and experience of an alliance of influential and independent industry stakeholders who administer the scheme through the FORS Governance and Standards Advisory Group (GSAG) – of which Logistics UK is a valuable member. And, unlike the vast majority of other schemes, FORS has national and international reach, which has built a dynamic FORS community comprising the full spectrum of the transport sector.
The result is FORS offering the most attractive proposition for operators looking to become accountable through best practice and to secure new business wins with contractors and other specifiers who demand excellence in fleet operations as a prerequisite.
FORS URGES OPERATORS TO SHOP AROUND
With respect to alternative schemes, FORS is keen for operators to look at the marketplace before ‘signing up’, confident that they will see that FORS offers a substantially greater benefits package and is a unique proposition for operators. Again, with 15 years of growth, FORS has established rock-solid foundations. Moreover, with its substantial range of training, guidance and support services at its disposal, FORS has a strong claim to the title of being the industry’s principal fleet accreditation scheme.
*Read more about the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme
FORS in numbers:
Established: 2008
FORS accredited operators as of 13 January 2023: 4,697
Vehicles accounted for: 93,854
FORS Champions: 81
FORS Affinity Partners: 12
FORS Professional driver training course available: 5
FORS Professional manager training course available: 16
FORS Professional eLearning training courses available: 12
FORS Practitioner ‘graduates’ to date: 3,227
Headline figures for 2022:
Drivers trained with funded courses: 1,637
Managers trained: 4,607
eLearning courses undertaken: 130,104
FORS Practitioner courses delivered: 265
Published On: 26/01/2023 16:00:42
Comments Section
If you are a Logistics UK member login to add comments.
