Willow Transport Solutions Ltd – Maintaining Gold

Willow Transport Solutions Ltd are based in Brentwood, Essex and have been operating for the past 6 years. We specialise in general haulage for the construction industry. Lee Nix, Company Director, has seen huge benefits from being FORS accredited for the past 5 years. All our vehicles have 4 X way cameras fitted now and this has helped reduce our accidents from false claims.

We came across FORS when we were tendering for work and our clients also started asking us to join the scheme. When we looked at the requirements and benefits of joining the scheme we saw that they fitted in perfectly with our ethos of improving safety whilst complementing our drive to improve fuel efficiency and reduce our environmental impact.

We passed our Bronze assessment first time on all 3 occasions we have had Bronze audits. We have been Gold accredited for 4 years now and will hopefully continue well into the future.

We used the FORS accreditation as a spring board to promote our newly formed company to a whole host of clients. We found that we were already doing everything that was required for Silver and that we could achieve Gold if we wanted too. We knew that being FORS Gold accredited would shows companies how determined we are in improving the transport industry as a whole and looking out for Vulnerable Road Users at the same time.

FORS has helped Willow Transport Solutions Ltd in many ways, a key area we have identified improvement is staff training and refreshers. The FORS system encourages our staff to be proactive with their training, allowing them to identity their own areas for improvement. We have regular one to one training days with outsourced FORS practitioners to ensure all staff meet out stringent driving standards. We immediately placed our foreman driver on a FORS Practitioner workshop programme and began upgrading the vehicle camera systems to a higher specification. All our drivers have also completed FORS E-Learning modules as well

‘FORS has helped us achieve Compliance and Best Practise.’– Lee Nix Director.

‘FORS has helped us promote our company and our services.’ – Lee Nix Director.

• In the past 12 months we have increased our MPG by 2.64% compared to the previous years. We have also reduced our parking fines and charges by 44.44% compared to the previous 12 months.

• All our Drivers complete an Occupational Health Report every month and we complete a Occupational Health Fitness review annually even though the FORS Standard states once every 5 years. It’s also mentioned in the drivers handbook that if they at any point in time start suffering from a medical condition they need to notify the company ASAP as well as if they need to start taking medication prescribed by their GP or over the counter drugs. We will then investigate it to see if it’s still safe for the driver to be driving for the company and we may even ask the driver to get a letter from his doctor informing the company if he is still able to drive for the company. We will then start doing more driver assessments on the driver to make sure he isn’t a risk to the company or anyone on the road.
• We have partners with Mainstream Group of companies who help us locate and train new drivers to the haulage industry. We have recently adopted a recruitment policy to try and help us recruit young drivers into the Transport industry. We encourage drivers who start with us to go through their HGV Licences. We have put 1 driver who we have employed in the past 18 months and put him through his Class 2 and is planned to complete his class 1 Drivers Licence. We have also put an additional 2 drivers through their Class1. Once they passed their Class 1 Licence they spent 12 weeks as a passenger only, learning loading/ unloading, Strapping, routes and customer service. They then spent 12 weeks as a driver with a Head Driver as a passenger.
• We only have 1 Operating centre and we use it for parking our lorries. We don’t do any loading/ unloading on site and all our servicing is done by main dealers at their sites not ours. The only noise generated is when my lorries are idling so we can carry out our defect checks. All my lorries have white noise reversing alarms fitted to them.
• We currently have 3 Euro 6 lorries on our fleet and we have now also ordered another 10 Euro 6 Low Entry cabs to be delivered soon. All our vehicles all have 4 ways cameras fitted, side scan sensors, revering alarms and left turn Audible alarm. All our vehicles also have wind deflectors on to reduce any lag and improve our MPG. We have implemented an Anti-Idling Policy and a Fuel, Emissions and Air Quality Policy to make sure we monitor and improve on any wasted idling and improve our MPG in the process.

We are aiming to have all our vehicles Euro 6 compliant by 2021. All new lorries are going to have low enters cabs fitted. All our vehicles will have 4 ways cameras fitted, side scan sensors, revering alarms and left turn Audible alarm.

As a company we really proactively promote FORS to all companys that we come across, we believe in the scheme and know that it will save lives of all vulnerable road users across the country if all companys and individuals follow the scheme. We promote FORS on our website, Email Signatures and vehicles.

We will continue using what FORS has taught us to help improve our MPG and reduce any wasted idling we might have and keep our Parking fines and Charges to as low as possible. Gaining FORS Gold Accreditation shows how dedicated we are as a company to improving road safety and the safety of all vulnerable road users in London as well as nationally. We will continuously use what FORS has taught us to help reduce our carbon footprint and make the roads safer for everyone that uses them.

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