Section 1 – Introduction
Chris Bennet Heavy Haulage has been hauling the heavy stuff since 1976 with Chris Bennett Senior starting the journey to what has become a very successful haulage operation. With blue chip clients and assisting numerous people with their special type haulage, Chris Bennett has become one of the leading suppliers of heavy Haulage in the country. Ron Leach, Business development manager explains – “By putting our customers at the heart of everything we do, they know whatever they need moving, wherever it needs to go, we have the solution for them.”
Section 2 – How did you hear about FORS, what prompted the company to join and how long have you been a member?
We have been members of FORS since the early days and we have maintained the accreditation to show our dedication to fleet efficiency and protecting the environment. Over the years, FORS has become an increasing customer requirement and we have benefited from our maintenance and development with the standard.
Section 3 – What was your experience of the initial FORS Bronze audit?
We found the bronze audit very beneficial as a compliance review exercise, ensuring that we are on top of the best practice which the industry expects and as always, we gain something from every audit we have, even if it is a minor thing, we know we can learn from every experience so do not let this pass us by.
Section 4 – What was your main reason(s) for you progressing (either from Bronze to Silver and then Silver to Gold or straight from Bronze to Gold)?
We got to the point where we realised that without the FORS gold we are going to lose out on working opportunities. For this reason we have decided to proceed to the gold standard to so we can continue to be the best in class and keep all possible working opportunities open to us.
We have benefited the most from the free FORS training materials including the toolbox talks and FORS eLearning modules. These small learning aids help our drivers to stay on top of their job and ensures that they have the refreshers that they require to continue to be safe and efficient drivers.
Ron Leach, Business Development manager – We first became involved with FORS in 2013 when we were approached by one of our major customers who are involved in the construction industry and are committed to ensure that site safety is paramount in ensuring that all employees work in a safe environment. The Directors of the Chris Bennett (Heavy Haulage) Ltd. decided that as a company that the FORS identity was a system that would benefit the company in maintaining an up to date fleet management system to ensure a safe working environment for all our drivers which coupled with the training provided would provide solutions to the demanding challenge of driving safely in major towns and cities.
Lorraine Dewe – managing Director – . We had been aware that we required a management system which provided assurance that our business could provide a top class service coupled with meeting the standards required for delivering goods in the modern day city environment. When we were introduced to FORS it fitted the bill perfectly. The FORS accreditation provides the reassurance to both ourselves and our customers that our vehicles and drivers are operating to the highest standards and this has provided numerous benefits to the company.
Section 6 – What improvements have you made?
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MPG | Incidents per 100,000 Kms | CO2 | NOx | PM10 | Number of PCNs | Proportion of fleet that uses alternative fuels |
| June 2018 – June 2019 | 7.58 | 0.95 | 1125.50 | 2372.2 | 43.29 | 11 | 0% |
| June 2019 – June 2020 | 9.15 | 1.27 | 569.25 | 1199.81 | 21.89 | 7 | 0% |
| June 2020 – June 2021 | 9.56 | 1.04 | 666.90 | 1404.99 | 25.64 | 5 | 0% |
| Percentage improvement | 26.12% | -9.5% | 26.12% | 26.12% | 26.12% | 45% | 0% |
- Driver health and fitness review – We now actively ensure that all drivers are fit to work through medical declarations, eyesight checks and occupational health assessments to ensure our drivers are fit for the road.
- Recruitment of drivers – By focusing on army leavers, this has assisted us in gaining valuable expertise from drivers who are used to driving oversized loads.
- Noise assessment – By working with our customers, we have increased their satisfaction with reducing complaints from construction site neighbours through retiming of deliveries to meet customer requirements
- Modal shift and alternative vehicles – Unfortunately we are unable to benefit from modal shift just at the moment, but we remain optimistic for the future that we can get alternatively fuelled vehicles as and when they become available for our operations.
Section 7 – What are your plans for the future?
We are progressing to gold to ensure that we are able to tender for all possible work. We will use our internal FORS process to monitor and improve our operations to help with becoming cleaner and greener.
Section 8 – What evidence do you have of positively promoting FORS at requirement G7?
We have always promoted FORS through our website, emails and social media platforms. We continue to do so to ensure people are aware that we maintain our certification and we continue to comply with our customers requirments.
Section 9 –What FORS Gold accredition means for your organisation/to you?
In conclusion, FORS continues to be a benefit to the company ensuring we are continually improving and working towards safer and environmentally compliant operations. FORS will assist us in our path to grow and flourish as a heavy haulage operator of the future!