S Mckenzie Haulage Ltd. Gold Progression

S Mckenzie Haulage Ltd is a small family run business established in 2009. We currently run one vehicle under contract to Tarmac, providing a readymix concrete delivery service. As Compliance Manager, Stuart Mckenzie, who has over 30 years experience in the haulage industry, was very keen to become involved in FORS when he first became aware of it, immediately seeing the benefits in all aspects of the day to day running of the business. 

As a company we were first made aware of FORS by Tarmac, and the benefits of joining the scheme were immediately apparent .We have been a member of FORS for over 5 years.  

Our initial Bronze audit, though initially daunting, proved to be a very satisfying experience, which was made a lot easier with the inhouse assistance of Tarmac. With their help we achieved our Bronze status at the first attempt.

As a company, we were initially encouraged to progress to Silver by Tarmac, as this was to be the minimum requirement for contractors moving forward. We were also keen to further improve our company safety and efficiency, and therefore progressing to Silver seemed the obvious move to make.  We have been Silver accredited for two years now, and further progressing to Gold, we feel, will further demonstrate our company commitment to maintain the highest standards of safety, efficiency and environmental awareness.   

“Achieving FORS accreditation, and adhering to the FORS Standard, has help improve every aspect of the running of our company, from driver awareness and training to the environmental impact our vehicles are making” Stuart Mckenzie, Managing Director.

“Progression to FORS Gold is a natural progression for our company, and will further demonstrate our commitment to the FORS Standard, raise our company profile and help us further promote FORS within the industry” Stuart Mckenzie, Managing Director

As a company we are always looking at ways reduce the environmental impact of our vehicles, through driver awareness and training, and through the monitoring of vehicles fuel and emissions, which may highlight any trends in driver behaviour. But with the nature of the vehicles we operate, with the engine potentially idling for long periods of time, to keep the load live, we are mindful that any fluctuations of these figures are not always related to driver habit. 

• Driver health and fitness review – All drivers are required to fill out an initial health declaration when they start with the company, and then every 12 months after that, and may well be asked to take a medical at any time , if required, at the expense of the company .All drivers are also required to carry out regular eyesight checks a minimum of every 6 months.
• Recruitment of drivers – As a small company, with no immediate plans to expand, we are not looking to recruit any new drivers, but if we were, we would possibly consider looking at the option of taking on young trainee drivers, putting them through an extensive training program, putting them through their HGV test and ensuring that were fully FORS compliant.
• Noise assessment – Our company has an appointed Noise Champion, and has a Noise Pollution and Management Policy that all members of staff must adhere to, any sites that drivers are unsure of , or unhappy with, will be visited by the Noise Champion, who will carry out a Noise Pollution Site Survey. All of the Tarmac plants that I operate out of have their own separate noise policies and are subject to regular noise surveys. The plants are also subject to time restrictions on vehicle movements to minimise the impact on local residents. All reversing alarms and left turn alarms fitted to our company vehicles can be temporarily disabled to minimise any potential noise pollution.
• Modal shift and alternative vehicles – As a company we would love to be able to use other modes of transport or electric or alternatively fuelled/powered vehicles within our fleet, but unfortunately, at this moment in time, such vehicles are not available for our particular sector. We continually monitor the market, in the hope that this may change.

Our plans for the future, as a company, will be to renew our existing vehicle within the next 6 to 12 months, to a newer, more environmentally friendly model, and to only operate vehicles that are a minimum Euro VI, possibly even consider an alternatively fuelled vehicle, should these become available in our sector. We will also be focusing on vehicles designed with increased visibility. We will continue to focus on driver training and awareness, and hopefully reduce our company fuel usage and emissions further, and sustain these figures going forward.

As our role as a contract haulier for Tarmac takes us to a variety of different locations, from large national company sites, to small family run businesses, and our vehicle has the FORS livery on it, we are in effect constantly promoting FORS within the construction industry. We are more than happy to answer any questions put to us by people on site regarding FORS, and what it is all about. Equally, all of our company correspondence and paperwork contains the FORS logo.

We at S Mckenzie Haulage consider our progression to FORS Gold will show our commitment as a company, to continue to operate to the highest standards of safety, efficiency and environmental awareness. It will raise our company profile, giving us further scope to promote FORS within our sector of industry.

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