White haulage Ltd is a franchise haulier for tarmac operating 2x 8 wheel tippers, we are based out of hayes, middlesex. Danny white, managing director, explains how white haulage Ltd has improved driver training, day to day operations as well as fuel economy through FORS. .
We first heard about FORS through our work with tarmac many years ago and as part of our work with them 1st became a member at bronze level around 10 years ago.
We passed our bronze audit 1st time round and this encouraged us to keep all of our records up to date and organised and also keep up to date with the latest training courses and industry news.
After getting our bronze accreditation we made the most of the courses on offer in particular the e-learning facilities, all drivers now must complete the safe urban driving course and lo city as part of their employment. Danny white has also become a FORS practitioner in the last year, furthering our involvement in the FORS standard.
Once we achieved bronze we decided to progress to silver and gold because we could see the benefits it would have on the business, not only in getting more work but with improving fuel economy, driver awareness and making us a more efficient operator all round. Now as a regular gold operator of many years we feel a lot more confident going into our audits as all of our files are in place and our safe systems of work are tried and tested.
We have found over the years that the ever increasing number of courses, literature & support from the FORS website is particularly helpful in us and our drivers progressing their careers. The safe urban driving course in particular has been useful in showing the road from the cyclists point of view and understanding the dangers they face. We have also seen an improvement in fuel economy and the lo city driving course and e-learning module were particularly useful in helping to achieve this.
‘Fors e-learning & classroom courses have been an excellent way of helping us ensure our drivers have the knowledge they need to do their job safely and efficiently’- Danny white MD
‘The safe urban driving course has been a real eye opener in terms of seeing it from the cyclists point of view, and has changed my perception of cyclists and the danger they face for good’ sutinderjit bharrich – driver
Section 6 – What improvements have you made?
We are proud to maintain zero pcns and zero incidents for the 6th year in a row.
| MPG | INCIDENTS | PCNS | |
| 2018 | 8.50 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 9.35 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 8.02 | 0 | 0 |
*figures for 2020 show a decrease in mpg but this is down to vehicle parkups during covid 19.*
Driver health and fitness is taken seriously and any driver working for us is required to fill out a yearly health declaration, notifying us of any underlying health conditions as well as complete a 6 monthly eyesight check.
Recruitment of drivers is something that during the last few months, has been a real challenge to the haulage industry as a whole, due to the shortage. Luckily we haven’t had any drivers leave us in the last 12 months but when we do require new staff, training is essential and as such a 2 week buddying program is used. As a company we fund any progressive training to encourage them to stay long term.
Going forward we are hoping to engage with some local driving schools to help train the next generation of drivers!
As a company we take our obligations on noise pollution seriously and actively engage with drivers to try and minimise the noise we produce. We have carried out assessments to monitor the noise we produce and have bought in various different initiatives to try and help reduce it including – new vehicles now have anti idling technology to cut down on vehicles left running, a signed risk assessment by drivers advising them not to bang tail boards, not to have loud music playing, not to use horns unnecessarily- to name but a few.
For the type of work we carry out there are currently no alternative vehicles available to us due to the use of PTO systems, insulated bodies and high load capacity. We monitor industry news regularly to see the latest developments and I’m sure in the future alternative fuel vehicles will become available.
There is also no scope to move any of our deliveries onto alternative transport as our main sector is resurfacing the roads by road.
Going forward we aim to continually make improvements tothe business and fleet. Our latest vehicle has an n3 chassis which gives a much better view from the cab and lower entry point. The aim is to move the whole fleet to this setup and utilise the ever advancing safety features available these days. We will continue to monitor all of our safe working systems and procedures and update them when needed. Driver training will be improved further with the hope that ultimately this will make us a better and more efficient company all round.
We are always promoting the FORS standard with all our vehicles proudly displaying the logo as well the FORS logo now a permanent fixture on our letterheads, invoices and quotes.
As a company maintaining our gold accreditation means that we are continuing to achieve best possible practice. The training courses and toolkits on offer from FORS ensure that we can stay up to date with all the latest news and changes to the industry. We want to continue to reduce harmful emissions and the impact that we have on the environment.