Are all your policies and procedures in order?

Well written, clear policies and procedures are an essential part of any organisation. They provide framework and structure to your operation and, under Bronze requirement M5, they must also be effectively communicated to your staff to ensure that staff either directly or indirectly involved in the fleet operation are aware and have knowledge of the policies and procedures relevant to the FORS Standard.

Under requirement ‘M1 FORS Documentation’ FORS operators must have 17 written policies and procedures. To help ensure you haven’t missed any, download our handy checklist here. If you are a small operator, you may be able to demonstrate verbally that you meet certain Bronze requirements. Check page 4 of the FORS Standard for the table showing examples of organisation sizes and policy demonstrations required.

• What is a policy? A document that determines the rules and strategic direction of the organisation
• What is a procedure? A document setting out the detailed steps required to meet the FORS requirement

What should a policy cover?

• The purpose and ultimate aim of the document
• Its scope and who in the organisation it is relevant to
• The actual policy statement – the published statement of intent preferably from the Chief Executive or Managing Director
• The different roles and their responsibilities – from top level through to drivers
• The different processes and procedures that support the policy
• References

Are all your risks assessments in place?

It is mandatory for FORS operators to assess operational and driving at work risks with control measures documented as a procedure, risk assessment or method statement.

Under requirement ‘M8 Health and Safety’, there are eight mandatory operational and driving at work risks listed at page 13 of FORS Standard that you will need to evidence at audit.

There are also eight health and safety risks assessments or method statements required where applicable – this means you only need to demonstrate this at audit IF it applies to your operation. These are listed at page 13 of the FORS Standard.

To help ensure you haven’t missed any, download our handy checklist here.

How can I meet the responsible person requirement under ‘M3 Responsible person’?

There are a number of options available to meet this requirement:

1. Transport Manager Certificate of Professional Competence or
2. FORS Professional Fleet Management Essentials (there are two courses; one for HGVs and PCVs and one for cars and vans) or
3. FORS Approved Training course on fleet management

The responsible person is required to be appointed through a job title and named on the organisation chart. The appointed responsible person is an individual with direct accountability for the fleet operation who has continuous and effective control of fleet activities, as detailed below depending on the type of organisation:

• If your organisation holds a standard national or international operator licence:
• The appointed responsible person shall be the named transport manager. If your organisation declares that there is shared responsibility with direct accountability for the fleet operation with a person not named on the operator licence (eg a director), then all persons with shared responsibility in addition to the named transport manager shall be the responsible persons and all shall undertake the relevant training
• If your organisation holds a restricted operator licence:
• The appointed responsible person may be an owner, director, manager, or supervisor depending on the business sector, fleet size and the vehicle type
• If your organisation runs a non-operator licensed fleet such as vans, minibuses, cars and motorcycles:
• The appointed responsible person may be an owner, director, manager, or supervisor depending on the business sector, fleet size and the vehicle type

Operator licence awareness courses delivered by professional bodies that are referenced in the Senior Traffic Commissioner Statutory Documents 1 and 3 are automatically FORS Approved: These professional bodies are:

• British Association of Removers
• Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport
• Confederation of Passenger Transport
• Logistics UK
• Institute of Road Transport Engineers
• Institute of Transport Administrators
• Road Haulage Association
• Society of Operations Engineers

Where indicated at Annex 2, it is also possible to meet the FORS manager requirements by undertaking FORS Approved training. If you are not undertaking training delivered by FORS (promoted through eNews and the main training pages of the website), please make sure that the training provider’s course has either been FORS Approved or that the provider is licensed to deliver FORS Professional training prior to booking your places. You can do so by checking the FORS website here.

‘M6 Vehicle fleet’ – How is your fleet controlled and distributed across the organisation?

Under ‘M6 Vehicle fleet’, FORS operators are now required to provide vehicle registration marks (VRMs) and vehicle identification numbers (VINs) for trailers. This information will be asked for when you request your audit and it must be provided via electronic document (doc, docx, xls, xslx, txt, csv, pdf, png, jpeg) that clearly presents the required information.

Remember that all vehicles at an operating centre used for servicing and delivery must be registered and will fall under the scope of FORS accreditation – this includes: HGVs, vans, passenger carrying vehicles, cars, powered  two-wheelers (motorcycles and mopeds)  and wheeled plant. You can also register vehicles not used for servicing and delivery but, if you do, these vehicles will be included in the audit and drivers will fall under all FORS requirements. Please check page 2 of the FORS Standard for all vehicle definitions.

An operating centre is the site or depot where vehicles operate from, where there is infrastructure that supports daily management, control and day-to-day operational deployment of a fleet. Please note that the definition of a FORS operating centre is not the same as defined for operator licensing.

Remember that changes relating to your operating centre(s) or vehicle fleet size must be notified to FORS. For a full list of the changes that you must tell us about, please check the FORS Rules and Procedures.

Below is some specific information about a number of requirements:

‘V5 Load safety’ – This requirement of the FORS Standard is divided into five sub-requirements applicable to different vehicle types. You only need to demonstrate how you meet the sub-requirement(s) that apply to your operation.

‘V6 Vehicle safety equipment’ – Note that the London specific requirement at Bronze V6 for vehicles over 12 tonnes gross vehicle weight is not effective until the implementation date of TfL’s HGV safety permit scheme. Please check the Tfl’s Direct Vision Standard website for information.

‘V7 Tyre management’ – This is now a stand-alone requirement on tyre management.

The FORS Standard is applicable to all types of drivers. Driver is defined as a person employed to drive or ride any vehicle that is in scope of FORS accreditation. Remember that temporary vehicles and drivers that are under the control of the FORS operator are subject to the same requirements of the FORS Standard as permanent owned vehicles and employed drivers. Temporary vehicles and drivers specifically include:

• Leased and hired vehicles
• Sub-contracted and agency drivers
• Any person that drives on the organisation’s business irrespective of vehicle ownership

Here are a number of ways to help you meet some specific requirements:

• ‘D1 Licensing’ – Make use of FORS Driving Licence Checking Service for ease and peace of mind. Alternatively licence checking can also be completed online using the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) database to facilitate free employee driving licence checks
• ‘D2 Driving standards’ – FORS members can benefit from a 20 per cent discount for The Highway Code – this is available through your dashboard
• ‘D6 Health and eyesight’ – Eyesight checks are required pre-employment (or the start of a specific contract), every six months, and after involvement in a blameworthy road traffic collision. This is an eyesight CHECK which requires drivers (with glasses or contact lenses, if required) to read a vehicle number plate made after 1 September 2001 from a distance of 20 metres, or a suitable alternative check. This is not a test by an optician. However, if the check is failed, then the driver must be referred to an optician for an eyesight test. Remember to record the eyesight check as indicated in the demonstration of the FORS Standard
• ‘D4/S5/G5 Professional development’
  •  The safety eLearning modules are: Cycle Safety, Van Smart, Smart Driving, Bridge Smart and Pedestrian Safe. These are valid for 12 months and must be renewed every year
  • The Security and Counter Terrorism eLearning module is mandatory for drivers and is valid for 24 months
  • FORS has produced training cards at Annex 1 for drivers and Annex 2 for managers to enable you to check at a glance what training is required at each level. There are important notes at the bottom of each training card to assist you with understanding and/or implementing the requirement. Note that FORS HGV driver mandatory training requirements apply to drivers of wheeled plant

In this section, you are required to nominate a champion responsible for each of the following:

• Fuel and Emissions Champion
• Road Risk Champion
• Counter Terrorism Champion

The champion can be the same person for all three areas of responsibilities. The champion(s) must be identified in the organisation chart in accordance with requirement ‘M4 Staff resources’.

Here are a number of ways to help you meet some specific requirements:

• ‘O7 Counter terrorism’ – FORS has produced a toolkit to help you write an effective counter terrorism policy. The toolkit provides you with all the elements you need to put together a policy and supporting procedures and what you need to do with these. It includes a checklist of the key actions you need to undertake to meet Bronze requirement O7. To access the free FORS Counter Terrorism toolkit, click here
• ‘O4 Passenger safety’ – FORS operators must possess a passenger safety policy for each vehicle type, supported by a risk assessment or method statement. This requirement applies to operators of passenger carrying vehicles (PCVs), of course, but also to operators of any vehicle that is fitted with at least one passenger seat such as HGVs, vans and cars
  • • For PCVs – The full list of the requirements at ‘O4 Demonstration’ must be met. This includes pre-employment and three-yearly vetting of drivers, escorts and conductors through the Disclosure and Barring Service; and additional instructions where vehicles are accessible to disabled people
    • For HGVs, vans and cars – As a minimum, your documentation must include specific information such as permitted number of passengers, wearing seatbelts and safety instructions for passengers

  FORS has developed ‘Ten steps to being a safe passenger’ presented as a series of simple dos and don’ts, and which can be incorporated into your policy and risk assessment. For example, your policy could state that all passengers will be briefed on being a safe passenger using the ‘Ten steps to being a safe passenger’, or they could be incorporated into a toolbox talk. To access the information, click here.