Introduction

WS Transportation Ltd, based in Runcorn Cheshire, owned by William Stobart and managed by Nigel McMullan as Managing Director along with Ed Stobart was set up in 2014. The company is a young company in relative terms within the Logistics industry. In the earlier years, the Group employed 90 staff and operated 70 vehicles just three years later employs over 200 staff and operates over 150 vehicles. The Group was separated into operational companies in 2019 creating WS Specialist Logistics and William Stobart and Son, amongst others, that provides specialist services to the Construction, Modular Buildings and Motor industries.

Our fleet is exclusively made of up of Scania vehicles, mainly articulated units supported by a specialised fleet of Hiab rigid vehicles. 95% of the operational fleet is less than 2 years old and all vehicles in the fleet are Euro 6 compliant. Our fleet replacement programme ensures we are always operating the newest, most efficient and environmentally friendly fleet within the industry. Our trailer fleet exceeds 320 assets and comprises of regular flat beds, step frames, low loader, extendable flat beds, lorry mounted cranes, bulk powder tanks and a fleet of curtain sided trailers.

Key products include Structural Steels, Pre-Cast Concrete, Plant and Machinery, Modular Buildings, Tower Cranes and Formwork. A substantial amount of the consignments moved by WS Specialist Services are of an abnormal length or width in nature and delivered into the centre of major urban centres including London which brings all the associated complications with movements of this type.

The company operates on a 24/7 footing across the United Kingdom and Ireland with occasional movements to continental Europe. ‘Driven by Perfection’ , the company motto, is a very real aim and we as a company strive to the highest standards in customer service and operational skills either within the driving fraternity or the support operational staff. Driver training plays a key role in achieving our stated aims and FORS has played a very essential part in allowing the company to improve our Road Safety and Economic Driving performance through the targeted training programmes provided within the FORS framework. These supported training programmes, delivered through our Driver Training team, have led a significant reduction in Road Related incidents and Fuel consumption which brings a reduction in emissions.

Why FORS?

As the main focus of our business is within the construction industry, particularly with the London area, being part of FORS is a vital part of our business. Whilst it has a become a fundamental requirement of operating in the urban centres of the country, the benefits of FORS has brought a continuous improvement in Safety performance through training and management training. The standards set out in the FORS has brought improvements in the Fleet compliance and the with the addition of driver aids such as side and side mounted rear-view cameras, left turning audible warning devices, proximity sensors along with class 4,5 and 6 mirrors and forward-facing cameras has brought additional safety focus. This focus has assisted in the continuous evolution of our driving training programmes with all drivers attending the Safe Urban Driving DCPC course along with the Cycle Safety E-Learning modules within the first 12 months of employment with the company. This along with Load Restraint and further Safety training plays and essential role in our initial driver training programmes, with a clear focus on full compliance with the Industry best practices. All our drivers are trained to the TATA C10 and relevant LRG’s as well as Aggregate Industries Passport to Safety scheme. Other industry specific training includes ALLMI, CPCS, Laing O’Rourke and Crossrail.

We have a strong pro-active policy of Intervention Training that concentrates on promoting good driving behaviours and awareness of vulnerable road users for example that contribute to Work Related Road Safety and Defensive Driving policies founded on the FORS SAFED style training which has seen ongoing continuous improvements in Incident rates, Fuel Consumption and Emissions leading to a reduction in operational and accidental costs to the business.

Our experience with FORS

WS Transportation attained Bronze status in 2014 after completing our first audit 3 months after the company’s incorporation. We have consistently maintained this status since. We applied and achieved Silver status in December 2014. We have successfully maintained this status until the present day albeit with a few setbacks enroute. We have in the past, up until recently held Gold Status but unfortunately let this slip. These fluctuations, whilst disappointing, are not seen as failures but more opportunities for improvements. The changing of the FORS standards and continuous auditing allow a business like ours to constantly evolve and improve our standards by encouraging the business to review what and how we do things and constantly improve our training, fleet compliance, management training and policies. FORS has greatly assisted our business move forward and become one of the industry leaders in our field of operations.

Moving Forward

On achieving our Bronze status in 2014 we quickly moved forward to gain Silver status the same year. We then attained Gold status for the first time in 2017 and are striving to move back to this status. The Gold Standard offers the business clear and obvious Business Development advantages by having the ability to display the FORS Gold Standard on our fleet and company corporate imagery. Maintaining FORS compliance affords our business the opportunity to improve ours standards by ensuring we constantly review our methods, policies and procedures in a structured framework that is then audited by an accredited external body that is FORS.

FORS Benefits

Being FORS complaint has delivered a financial benefit to our business. We have seen a drop in accident damage costs for a number of years as well a drop of non-productive working hours within the driving training department by utilising the FORS DCPC courses and not having to create course materials ourselves. Other efficiencies have been found in improved MPG and improved utilisation of the fleet by working within the ethos of the FORS Fleet management system. Improving driver behaviour has also delivered benefits through the improved safety culture within the business.

Currently our operations manager is working towards attaining FORS Practitioner status.

We currently have a number of FORS Practitioners within the ranks of our business and have a number of others beginning their journey to attain this position. As a business we actively promote the FORS training schemes.

Improvements Made

The implementation of FORS within the business gave the business focus and direction in the type of data gathering required by a professional operator in the Logistics Industry. Once the correct data was being gathered it allowed to the Management trend statistics and target areas that were below par. As can be seen from the table below we have shown strong improvement in areas year on year. As we operate a new fleet our MPG figures and environmental output remain somewhat static and we use these figures to ensure that this is maintained.

We do not currently operate any alternative fuel vehicles. The national network for refuelling alternative vehicles is not currently available to meet our operational needs. We are currently working with Scania looking at future developments that will meet our and the Industry needs. Other opportunities such as modal shift are not available to us as a business due to the nature of the consignments we carry.

Drivers health and wellbeing is a corner stone of our companies ethos. A fit and healthy driver is a safe driver. All major incident occurrences are investigated fully, and part of causal analysis is the health of operator. We have regular meetings with the driver fraternity and have a fully confidential open-door policy where we encourage drivers to raise any health issues with us. We, where appropriate, will assist the driver to manage any condition raised in a variety of manners such as changing working hours or type of work undertaken. We offer a range of incentives to all employees including such as cycle to work scheme. We also have implemented within the DCPC curriculum health awareness subjects paying particular attention to Sleep Apnoea, Diabetes, Diet and most recently Mental Health awareness.

We as a business have engaged with local schools, colleges and universities to raise awareness of the Logistics Industry and the opportunities it offers. We have recently had a number of apprentices start with the company through the Apprenticeship Scheme in our workshop and accounts departments, respectively. We continue to raise awareness of the business through a strong social media presence to appeal to the younger generation in a bid to attract new drivers to the industry.

Noise pollution within the Logistics industry has always been an issue and with the modern fleet we operate we have the one of the quietest fleets available. All of our vehicles have engine surround covers that provides extra noise suppression across the fleet. That said, we are conscious of the impacts some of our operations have when making deliveries in residential areas. We work closely with our customers to ensure we operate in hours that cause the least impact as possible to these areas. We monitor through our vehicle telematics vehicle unnecessary idling and have a policy of ‘Keys Out’ for all vehicles during livery wash, loading and loading ensuring engine shut off. All of or bases are located away from residential areas again to reduce the noise impacts to the environment.

Future Plans

Going forward we intend to continue with our vehicle replacement policy of not operating vehicles that are older that 18 months thus ensuring we are always operating the most modern and fuel-efficient fleet available. We are constantly monitoring the possibility of making use of alternative fuel vehicles although the availability of both a national refuelling network combined with the nature of the vehicle type we operate a suitable alternative fuelled vehicles are not available for the sector we are operating in. We are working closely with our vehicle manufacturer with a view to the future developments that will allow to operate competitively and safely moving forward.

Promotion of our FORS Membership

The FORS standard is a vital link for our business and the FORS logo is used extensively throughout the company. The logo is embedded in all of our email templates and prominent on our company website. We recently received 2 awards from SME news, Best Nationwide Haulier 2021 and Award for Excellence in Construction Transport Services 2021 which will result is a full cover story being conducted on the Group. Our FORS status will be mentioned in this story as it played a vital part on the Group being in a position to win these awards. We also use our FORS status as part of our social media presence and where appropriate use the FORS logo on some of our posts.

Unfortunately, due to present global pandemic we have been unable to attend any of the normal industry Trade shows where we would normally have a strong presence and would be displaying the FORS logo on our stands. This has also affected our ability to hold FORS Practitioner Workshops. Hopefully, in the near future we will be in a position to rectify these key areas when conditions allow.

Website: www.wstransportation.com

Gold Accreditation and WS Specialist Services

Having Gold Accreditation for our business is vital to our position within the market. It allows us further to grow and develop our business whilst being able to demonstrate we are a professional and safe operator.

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*Please note: All published FORS Gold case studies have been submitted by the accredited company named above and transcribed verbatim