P.P. O’Connor celebrates over half a century as a leading force in the construction industry. Specialising in civil engineering, bulk earthworks, remediation, complex demolition and deconstruction, sustainable disposal and aggregate supply and a new minor construction works division. P.P. O’Connor delivers a full construction service from conception to completion. With an extensive in-house fleet of modern, fully maintained high-tech plant and machinery and a directly employed trusted team of industry experts, P.P. O’Connor can readily provide every level of service required, regardless of project size. Portia Reece, Environmental Officer explains how P.P. O’Connor have achieved huge reductions in PCN’s, Fault accidents, percentage of time speeding when on the road and C02.
We first became aware of FORS when one of our clients introduced the bronze standard as a contractual requirement. We began the process by reviewing our transport policies and procedures and introduced some changes in line with the FORS standard. It soon became clear how important implementing the FORS requirements would be to the company and how fundamental the standard would become in our sector.
We were successful when completing our first bronze, silver and gold audit. Since then we have seen a number of benefits since joining the FORS scheme. P.P. O’Connor are keen to seek continuous improvement and becoming FORS accredited has allowed us to strengthen our transport systems and procedures.
In 2018, P. P. O’Connor have introduced weekly information sheets to provide the drivers with information on a range of different topics. These information sheets include topics such as: idling, fuel consumption and vulnerable road user safety, information taken from the FORS toolkits and workshops. This year we are going to focus on using the anti-idling toolkit to reduce vehicle idling. In the past few months, we have already seen a 4% improvements in idling time.
“Becoming FORS Gold accredited for the second year running will demonstrate our dedication to improving road safety, and environmental issues. Portia Reece, Environmental Officer”
The FORS practitioner workshops have been a practical way of improving our knowledge and learning from others. Looking to the future, we will continue monitoring and improving our Fleet Management data and training our drivers. By raising awareness and educating staff we have seen improvements in % time speeding, PCNS and fault accidents in 2017.
“We were successful when completing our first bronze, silver and gold audit. Since then we have seen a number of benefits since joining the FORS scheme.”
Once we realised the benefits of becoming FORS bronze accredited we decided that we should continue our efforts and gain silver certification. In 2015 we successfully achieved Silver certification due to our high standards surrounding operational efficiency and vulnerable road user safety. Gaining the FORS gold standard last year was a great achievement for P.P. O’Connor. This year, keeping hold of the standard is our main aim.
Since 2016 we have seen the total accident rate has remained the same however the fault accident rate has decreased by 60%, the MPG has improved by 0.41% and the number of PCN’s has improved by 13%.
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MPG | Total Accidents per 100,000 km | Fault Accident per 100,00km | PCN |
| Jan-Dec 2016 | 7.30 | 0.28 | 0.12 | 9 |
| Jan-Dec 2017 | 7.33 | 0.28 | 0.05 | 4 |
| Percentage improvement | 0.41% | 0% | 60% | 13% |
*Annual improvement in MPG and Incidents per 100,000 Kms
- Driver health and fitness review – All drivers complete a health questionnaire declaring that they are fit to work during their company induction and on an annual basis thereafter. The health questionnaire outlinines any health issues that may affect their driving ability. If any issues are identified that may affect the drivers ability to drive, the driver will be referred to a GP for consultation.
- Strategy for recruiting drivers – Drivers may be recruited in house via the P.P. O’Connor website, application forms, or externally using a recruitment company.
- Noise assessment – P.P. O’Connor have issued all drivers with a P.P. O’Connor noise assessment which gives the driver helpful tips to reduce noise levels such as checking tyre pressure, not revving the engine and switching off the engine when waiting for loads.
- Modal shift and alternative vehicles – As our mode of work requires us to transport aggregate materials, our vehicles must have a PTO system and an insulated body. Currently there is no other more environmentally friendly vehicle suited for our mode of work and all of our vehicles currently use the Euro six engine. We plan to keep up to date with any environmental improvements made in the tipper vehicle industry.
In 2017, P.P. O’Connor educated a senior HGV driver to be a Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving (SAFED) Driver Trainer. The purpose of this was to improve the safe and fuel efficient driving techniques of Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers within the business. Hoping to enable drivers to drive more fuel efficiently and reduce emissions and fuel costs in the future. The SAFED training programme has been developed specifically to enable both vehicle operators and training providers to implement driver training within the road freight industry. It provides training and development for existing HGV drivers through instruction relating to vehicle craft and road craft.
Becoming FORS Gold accredited for the second year running will demonstrate our dedication to improving road safety, and environmental issues. We aim to continuously use the FORS materials to assist us in lowering out carbon footprint and making the roads safer for all road users.
Website: www.ppoconnor.co.uk
Please note: All published FORS Gold case studies have been submitted by the accredited company named above and transcribed verbatim.