Sohal Haulage Ltd is a Franchised Haulier with Aggregate Industries. Based in Hayes we deliver Asphalt, stone and recycled material for construction, building and large-scale civil projects across the UK. Specialising in delivering asphalt services for Aggregate Industries. Charandeep Singh, our Managing Director is our elected Fuel and Emissions Champion, Fors Practioner and he explains how important FORS is to our company. We have kept our accidents and parking fines to zero and there is an approximately 4.7% increase in mileage per gallon, which is a 100% improvement.
Our business came across FORS during our search in ways to improve our trucks fuel efficiency and how to increase the safety of our drivers and the public whilst on the road. Looking into their wide range of case studies and seeing how they have benefitted many other businesses, we knew they would be the best choice to help improve our business and help imply the best practice with our vehicles and employees.
We passed our initial bronze audit the first time around with the help of the variety of driver training courses provided by FORS. Due to the success of these training courses and how they benefitted our company drivers and improved their skill set, we are now encouraged to keep up to date with any new available courses for our drivers.
Once we were bronze accredited, we really made use of what else FORS has to offer such as their wide range of toolkits. In particular, the FORS congestion toolkit which aids in reducing the amount of time in traffic which therefore saves the company time and money. Furthermore, the Cycle Safety e-Learning course was especially useful in reminding drivers of the importance of being aware of vulnerable road users. We take compliance and safety very seriously, so we achieved our Bronze and Silver Accreditation first time. Fors did help us by providing training and tools that improved our policies and procedures. The performance management toolkit really helped us set our targets for reducing our carbon footprints and accidents.
‘Having access to training courses in an e-learning environment makes professional development for employees easier due to accessibility.’ – Charandeep Singh
As our main focus on improving our business was our drivers’ road safety skills, we were particularly impressed by the Safe Urban Driving course which provided our drivers with the opportunity to experience a cyclist’s view of the road and the dangers a vulnerable road user must face day to day. I have completed Fors Practioner course, it really helped in all the fields required in the haulage industry. I tapped into the Fors network of training providers and safety equipment providers to save money.
‘We have kept our accidents to zero in the last 12 months and also parking and other penalty charges to zero which is a 100% improvement compared to our baseline year’ – Charandeep Singh.
Once we were bronze accredited we decided that we should progress to Silver and Gold accreditation as we now know that the FORS toolkits and the recommended practices they use to improve businesses such as ours are successful and beneficial overall. We decided to show the best practice and make ourselves standout from our competitors and go for the Gold accreditation.
- The benefits of the FORS scheme has been clearly evident and introducing measures such as the Anti-Idling Policy, independent driver assessments combined with on-going driver awareness training through e-learning courses and FORS Toolbox Talks which has resulted in a reduction in Fleet related incidents, PCN’s, MPG and Co2 emissions.
- All our drivers complete an annual company driver’s medical questionnaire. Drivers receive free annual eye tests and an online number plate eye test is carried out every 6 months. Drug and alcohol testing is carried out randomly. Our company takes the health and well-being of our staff very seriously as they are the heart of the company. This is done by gathering all relevant health data and information from employees.
- Being a small company, we do not recruit often but when we do we advertise our company online in order to recruit new drivers. As you know Charandeep Singh is the only driver for Sohal Haulage Ltd.
- With the help of FORS training and toolkit we were able to implement new techniques in order to reduce noise pollution which includes turning off your engine whilst being idle for long periods of time. Our drivers don’t do any unnecessary idling.
- Due to the nature of our business, vehicles require us to use a PTO system and insulated bodies to store and transport material at high temperatures so we are unable to use any other options for the time being. Keeping in mind with the new Ultra low emission zone to be introduced in April 2019, we will order a new Euro 6 engine truck and that will have a huge impact in reducing carbon footprints and economically viable. We will continue to evaluate alternatively fuelled vehicles
Being 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. We have also reduced the amount of Parking Fines and Charges in the past 12 months.
Please note: All published FORS Gold case studies have been submitted by the accredited company named above and transcribed verbatim