Garic Ltd are based in Bury, Greater Manchester and supply welfare and environmental accommodation and equipment to the construction industry. Our products are regarded as some of the most innovative and eco efficient on the market.
Mark Booth, Transport Manager and Emissions Champion, explains how Garic Ltd have achieved reduced fuel emissions, improved their road safety record and decreased transport related fines and charges through FORS.
We came across FORS whilst working on the Crossrail project. We realised it would help us to achieve best practice and benefit us by complementing our drive to improve fuel efficiency whist improving safety.
Garic passed their initial Bronze audit first time round, this showed us that we were already operating to a high standard as a company and encouraged us to go on to achieve our Silver accreditation.
Once we were Bronze accredited we really made the most of the benefits on offer, in particular the practitioner workshops and the driver training and eLearning modules.
‘I became a FORS practitioner by attending the 9 workshops, this was a great benefit as it helped me to apply my knowledge and enable Garic to identify gaps within our current training programme’ – Trainer/Assessor
The Safe Urban Driving, Cycle Safety Smart Driving and Parking and Unloading training have been a practical way of both improving our drivers knowledge and learning from others, since attending these training courses we have seen improvements in the number of driver incidents.
‘Attending the Safe Urban Driving really helped me to understand a cyclists perspective of the road and how dangerous it can be’ – Hiab driver
Once we were Bronze accredited we decided that we should progress to Silver to demonstrate Garic’s commitment to operate at the highest level. Progressing from Silver to Gold not only demonstrates Garic’s commitment to road safety and the environment but it also shows our customers and the public that we are committed to continually operating at the highest level.
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MPG | Incidents per 100,000 Kms | Number of PCNs |
| Jan-Dec 2015 | 7.6 | 3.1 | 10 |
| Jan-Dec 2016 | 11.4 | 1.1 | 11 |
| Percentage improvement | 50% | 65% |
*Annual improvement in MPG and Incidents per 100,000 Kms
We take the health of our employees seriously, our drivers complete an Occupational Health Questionnaire and have a medical as part of their induction. Then every 3 years a full health screening is carried out to ensure they are fit and healthy to drive.
Due to the complex nature of our business we like to encourage employees to develop their skills as drivers, one employee joined the company as a van driver, but expressed an interest in becoming an HGV Service driver, we helped him get his Cat C licence and put him through his ADR training. Another driver originally joined the company working in the stores department, he also obtained his Cat C licence and is now an HGV Service driver.
One of the areas we are keen to continue to improve on, is noise impact on the environment. With the help of FORS we have been able to put together a training aid, ‘Quiet Deliveries’ to help drivers reduce noise impact whilst working on customer sites.
We are in the process of replacing the older Euro IV vehicles on our fleet with Euro VI vehicles which will have an impact on our fuel consumption. The way our drivers behave when driving has an impact on fuel consumption so with the help of FORS we were able to provide training in all aspects of driving behaviour, including speed limit awareness and the correct use of gears whilst driving. We have also implemented a new scheduling tool to help us to monitor engine idling and fuel consumption.
We carried out a cost benefit analysis on alternative fuels for use in the Garic fleet of vehicles which included HVO, Biodiesel, Biogas, Natural Gas, Biotheanol and Hybrid. In our opinion we found biodiesel to be the most cost effective alternative fuel to diesel but conversion costs increase dramatically.
Our plans for the future include purchasing 2 new vehicles to Euro VI specification, with noise reduction and high visibility doors and to continue to carry out a yearly review of biodiesel conversion costs. We will also continue to look at our noise impact on the environment.
By gaining the FORS Gold accreditation, it will demonstrate Garic’s commitment to continue to operate at the highest level. It will also promote to customers and the public that we are dedicated to road safety and the environment.
The strict requirements of FORS Gold make us constantly re-evaluate how we are performing and easily identify the areas where we can improve. The values set by FORS are something we promote enthusiastically to all our suppliers as we believe all companies should continually strive for the best.
Please note: All published FORS Gold case studies have been submitted by the accredited company named above and transcribed verbatim.