S A Grice Haulage Ltd is owned and operated by Stewart Grice, an owner operator based in Radlett. They are currently sub-contracted to work exclusively for Tarmac for the past 2 years, transport aggregate materials around the south of England from their base depot at Harper lane. The company operates one 32 tonne Volvo FM rigid.
Along with Transport Manager Sarah Carr, they both lookto continuously adopt the FORS standard for the day to day running of the business. Since joining the scheme, their business has noticed considerable improvements with fuel efficiency, safety record and driver training.
The company first heard of FORS when they initially became a sub-contractor for Tarmac, where they were required to meet become FORS Bronze accredited. They have been Bronze for 15 months and Silver for 12 months. S A Grice Haulage Ltd passed their FORS Bronze audit
first time. This was challenging to Stewart and Sarah, but they both quickly saw the benefits it brought to the company.
After gaining Bronze, the company confirmed that FORS was an invaluable resource and helping them move forward as a business with noticeable improvements. Silver accreditation was gained first time, with now Gold being the next goal.
“The FORS E-Learning resources have been a great help, with identifying the safe standard we need to operate to, especially with training new drivers fresh into the industry” – Stewart Grice (Owner of S A Grice Haulage Ltd)
S A Grice Haulage Ltd found the online tools especially useful. Utilising the driver training programme, classroom based and E-Learning, they found it reduced accident rates by 100% over the past 12 months by increasing the awareness of road safety.
“We were successful with passing our Bronze and Silver audits first time, with the gained benefit of seeing improvements to our business within the first few months ” –Stewart Grice (Owner of S A Grice Haulage Ltd)
Since becoming Bronze and then Silver accredited, S A Grice Haulage Ltd have made many
improvements to the business:
| MPG | Incidents per 100,000 Kms |
CO2 | NOx | PM10 | Number of PCNs |
Proportion of fleet that uses alternative fuels |
|
| Year 2018 | 8.37 | 0 | 52.20 | 108.40 | 1.98 | 0 | 0% |
| Year 2019 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Year 2020 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Percentage improvement | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC |
Performance data – Significant improvements to the company’s fuel and emissions, as well as continuing to keep PCNs and Incidents down to zero.
• Driver health and fitness review – All staff drivers are now required to complete an annual health declaration as well as report any health complications that may affect their driving. The company now has a fitness and wellbeing policy, which highlights the importance of staying active and promoting a healthy lifestyle with exercise tips.
• Recruitment of drivers – When recruitment is required, the company has a robust policy and procedure in place that demonstrates equal opportunities, a thorough induction process and right to work checks.
• Noise assessment – The company carries out their own in house noise assessment using FORS recommended applications, of which the results reviewed and acted on where needed.
• Modal shift and alternative vehicles – The company attends all the major commercial motor vehicle shows to ensure they keep up to date with the latest technology, as well sign up for demonstrator vehicles where they can and provide constructive feedback. S A Grice Haulage Ltd will always consider alternative fuels and ULEZ type vehicles, with annual reviews carried out by the owner and transport manager.
• Routing and scheduling – The company has introduced new routing and scheduling polies and procedures, to enable safer roads around high risk areas as well as complaints. This has contributed to the number of complaints and incidents being recorded to zero.
S A Grice Haulage Ltd intends to continue in investing in the latest technology and safety equipment. Replacing older vehicles when the time comes to the newest Euro standard as well keeping up to date with industry initiatives to help drive down fuel consumption and emissions.
The company actively promotes FORS through the use of their logos on official letterheads as well as emails. They have also a very active social media account, which is updated periodically with pictures of the fleet at high profile locations and mentioning the FORS brand.
Going for Gold and becoming accredited to the highest FORS standard will show that the company is dedicated to continual improvements, across the environment, road safety and driver training as supporting change in the haulage community.
S A Grice Haulage Ltd can be followed on Instagram with the following details: @sagricehaulageltd.
*Please note: All published FORS Gold case studies have been submitted by the accredited company named above and transcribed verbatim