Based in the south- west of England, Barrie Seviour Transport Ltd started as a business in September 2014. I, Barrie Seviour, director and employee of the company, decided to make a go of turning something I love doing into a business. I haul tarmac and stone out of a local quarry in Somerset as a sub- contractor for Tarmac Trading Ltd and we supply to the south- west region. Within a year of trading I had achieved FORS Bronze and progressed quickly to be the first haulier in the Mendips to achieve FORS Silver. The company has moved from running a 61 plate Volvo tipper to buying a brand new Scania tipper in July 2017 which has had a significant impact in reducing fuel use, lowering NOx and emissions. FORS has helped me to understand the importance of this, not only for the environment but also for the well- being of the employees.
I had heard about FORS through visiting various lorry show stands throughout the UK in 2014 and had spent time listening to people promote the FORS ethos to others before researching it for myself online. Once I had read about the principles of FORS I realised how beneficial this would be for my company. I realised that is would help us to achieve best practice and benefit us by focusing on having a positive impact on the environment. Tarmac Trading Ltd encouraged us all to go for Bronze accreditation so I did.
The first Bronze audit helped me to look closely at the company and encouraged me to think clearly about how to run a company effectively. The audit process was quite intense and very thorough. I focused on the day- to-day running of the company as well as how the lorry was operating. This inspired me to look at what I needed to do to achieve Silver FORS before going for it myself in June 2016. It was interesting working out fuel use and emissions and this encouraged me to look for solutions to reduce these figures and that is when I started to think about moving forward and purchasing a newer lorry. The second Bronze audit I had in July 2017 was with Tarmac Trading Ltd and we spent a lot of time focusing on the company, its structure and how to operate it most effectively.
Barrie Seviour said “when I was gathering evidence for the Silver FORS accreditation I was able to understand more about the impact of transport on the environment and how to reduce this.”
As an accredited FORS company I, and my new employee, have enjoyed the benefits on offer including the online courses, and this inspired me to enrol on a refresher CPC course to keep my knowledge current. As an employer of a new employee this year I have really benefitted from all the information available to me on the FORS website to ensure my new driver is supported with training, courses and online CPD. The website has a wealth of information to support companies and this has been a great resource to use. We particularly felt that seeing the roads through the eyes of cyclists on the Safe Urban driving course that FORS ran benefitted both of us.
Dave Page (employee of Barrie Seviour Transport Ltd) said “I really enjoyed learning about the relationship between HGVs and cyclists and how we can work together to make the roads safer.”
We have been working on maintaining our 100% record of no incidents or PCNs in the company during 2016 and 2017. Our MPG has also been reduced significantly during 2017 with the introduction of a newer lorry with a Euro 6 engine.
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MPG | Incidents per 100,000 Kms | Number of PCNs |
| Jan-Dec 2016 | 7.2 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan-Dec 2017 | 8.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Improvement | +1.1 * | 0 * | 0 * |
*Annual improvement in MPG and Incidents per 100,000 Kms
When we started working towards our Silver FORS we created lots of new policies, which will ensure the safety of the public and the employees, these included safety in quarries, loading and unloading safely and Reducing Terror Risk. All the drivers have been briefed on all our policies and risk assessments and have signed to state they will put them into practice. Every time we receive a safety briefing notice from Tarmac Trading Ltd this is also shared with my employee and then signed to say it has been read and shared. When we employ a driver we ensure that a full health and fitness review is conducted so that we can be sure that the driver is supported with any underlying medical conditions and that they fit to do the job that is required of them.
In conclusion, I was really proud to be the first tipper company in the Mendips to achieve the Silver FORS accreditation in June 2016 and with the help of FORS have become a more safer and efficiently run company. To continue my journey, it is my ambition to achieve the Gold FORS accreditation in 2018 and show that my company takes other road users and environmental impact seriously. Our focus in 2018 is to reduce idling time, to become even more fuel efficient and to promote FORS to other road users so they can have the benefits I have.
Barrie Seviour Transport Ltd: Facebook
Please note: All published FORS Gold case studies have been submitted by the accredited company named above and transcribed verbatim.