As industry standards go, FORS Gold is one of the highest accolades available in the logistics and transport industry, literally setting the gold standard for best practice for businesses within the sector.
Why Was The FORS Scheme Set Up?
Previously, in the transport and logistics industry, there were very limited ways in which to benchmark and set standards within the sector. Each business would often have its own standards which they would follow, however without a centralised system these standards would vary greatly from one company to the next.
There are some very important elements which make up the transport and logistics sectors, from health and safety to environmental factors, and without a standardised approach it was difficult to assess how successfully a business would manage these.
Therefore almost 15 years ago, Transport for London launched their very own benchmarking system which shone a spotlight on organisations which were going the extra mile for their staff, clients and the industry as a whole. This scheme was called the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, or FORS for short and has since had a huge impact on the sector.
What Is FORS Gold?
The FORS scheme benchmarks companies against certain criteria, providing scores for each area which then provides different levels of accreditation. Those who receive the highest scores and meet additional criteria are in with a chance of receiving the Gold accreditation.
However, you cannot just be given a FORS Gold accreditation – only businesses which have been awarded the Bronze and Silver awards first can achieve the Gold score. This is because businesses need to highlight that they not only have maintained their standards, but are also actively improving on them year on year.
For businesses within the transport and logistics sector, obtaining recognition from FORS can be a powerful accreditation to achieve. This is because many contractors will only want to work with suppliers who have either the Bronze, Silver or Gold accreditation. Ultimately, this means that achieving a FORS accreditation, in particular the Gold standard, can help ensure that your business stands head and shoulders above its competitors when it comes to procurement.
How Can My Business Achieve FORS Gold?
As mentioned above, in order to achieve FORS Gold a business needs to prove that it can maintain and improve upon a Bronze or Silver accreditation.
Not only this, but a company has to meet additional criteria to achieve a Gold award, including ensuring that managers and drivers attend a professional training course.
The FORS accreditation process covers many different aspects of the transport and logistics sector. These include health & safety, environmental factors and overall general operations. FORS will even look into your fuel efficiency and emissions as a business in order to meet certain criteria. As a result, it’s important that you are monitoring these before you start the FORS accreditation process.
Hammond Transport is a leading transport specialist in London and the South East, working with clients across the country. We are proud to hold the FORS Gold accreditation.
