J. O’ Doherty Haulage Ltd Maintaining Gold

J O’ Doherty was formed in 1987 by James O’ Doherty who saw a gap in the market to provide a skilled service to the building and construction industry. Starting out as a single owner driver, his vision was to provide absolute reliability of quality and service. Two decades later, this ethos remains throughout J O’ Doherty, along with a commitment to developing and maintaining the highest standards of care to enhance the environment and prevent pollution.

In 2007, J O’ Doherty welcomed Embassy Demolition Contractors into the organisation, enabling us to offer a one-stop shop for demolition, haulage, waste transfer, recycling and skip hire. As we continue to expand and grow, we remain a family business with our clients’ needs and satisfaction at the heart of everything we do. Matt Tyler, is our Transport Manager and Fuel Champion as he knows very well how important it is to keep running costs down while running a very safe and efficient Fleet.

We decided to go for FORS as best practise.  When we looked at the requirements and benefits of joining the scheme we saw that they fitted in perfectly with our ethos of improving safety whilst complementing our drive to improve fuel efficiency and reduce our environmental impact’

We take compliance and safety very seriously so we achieved our Bronze and Silver Accreditation. FORS did help us by providing training and tools that improved the policies and procedures

Once we were bronze accredited, we really made the most of the benefits on offer, such as the discounts available to us and the performance management tool. We decided to proceed to silver as we already had everything in place that was needed’

All our drivers have completed their Safe Urban Driving course. We have also invested heavily in vehicle safety systems cameras, nearside proximity sensors and audible alarms for all our vehicles. All our drivers have also completed FORS E-Learning modules as well.

‘FORS has helped us achieve compliance and safety’ – Matt Tyler – Transport Manager

‘If only all operators adhered to the FORS Standards the industry would be in a much better position.’ – Matt Tyler – Transport Manager

• We have increased our MPG across the whole fleet by 0.38% compared to last year but we have increased our MPG by 24% since Apr 2016-March 2017. We have also increased our fleet by 4% compared to last year but we have increased our fleet by 8% since Apr 2016- March2017.

• We get all my drivers to complete a comprehensive Medical Declaration on an annually basis even though the FORS Standard states once every 5 years. It’s also mentioned in the drivers handbook that if they at any point in time start suffering from a medical condition they need to notify the company ASAP as well as if they need to start taking medication prescribed by their GP or over the counter drugs. We will then investigate it to see if it’s still safe for the driver to be driving for the company and we may even ask the driver to get a letter from his doctor informing the company if he is still able to drive for the company. We will then start doing more driver assessments on the driver to make sure he isn’t a risk to the company or anyone on the road.Recruitment of drivers – provide information about your strategy to engage in industry initiatives to encourage new drivers into the industry and how your strategy has helped
• We only have 1 Operating centre and we use it for parking our lorries. All our servicing is done by main dealers at their sites not ours. The only noise generated is when my lorries are idling so we can carry out our defect checks. All my lorries have white noise reversing alarms fitted to them
• We carry waste soil from construction sites across the whole country. As we rely on our customers asking us to collect from various construction sites across the whole country, we never know where we are going until they need us. Therefore we can’t afford to try and move anything via barge or train as we collect all the equipment from building sites and there is no other method than using a lorry and we then asked to deliver anywhere in the country. So using a Lorry is the most cost effective way of moving our clients goods. We are replacing all our lorries with Euro 6 engines as and when they are due for replacement, currently 94% of our fleet is euro 6 compliant. We have looked at electric vehicles and because of the weights we carry and the fact that our lorries have specialist equipment fitted no manufacture have produced an alternative fuelled vehicle that can carry the weight we do and go over the same terrain we do.

We will continue using what FORS has taught us to improve our MPG and reduce any wasted idling we might have and keep reducing all our Parking fines and Charges too’

We have positively promoted FORS by advertising it on our website, email signatures, vehicles and work wear. We also send out a letter to all our clients and suppliers telling them to join FORS if they haven’t already.

Gaining FORS Gold Accreditation shows how dedicated we are as a company to improving road safety and the safety of all vulnerable road users in London as well as nationally. We will continuously use what FORS has taught us to help reduce our carbon footprint and make the roads so safer for everyone that uses them. We have also managed to make a significant saving by reducing our fuel usage and improving our MPG.

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