We are pleased to end another successful year by once again; achieving the FORS silver accreditation. Our work levels increased in 2018 and as we approach the end of the year, we will have made 35,000 deliveries! Paul Brough, General Manager at MIDFIX reflects on the FORS journey since its introduction to the business back in 2015.
MIDFIX were introduced to the FORS standard when it was adopted by the construction industry in London, where many of our major clients required delivery to sites. We quickly saw the advantages that FORS offered in making our business safer, smarter and greener. As a leading supplier to the building services sector, we needed to demonstrate our commitment to constant improvement and the journey to the FORS Silver was a natural progression.
Paul Brough comments; “As we run our own fleet of vehicles offering same day and next day deliveries across the UK, we needed to be conscious about the safety of vulnerable road users and our employees, whilst minimising our carbon footprint. Our FORS journey has been a great learning curve and it gave us the guidance to move the business forward. FORS enabled us to focus on improving safety standard and increasing employee engagement. We found the training very valuable and the eLearning made regular training simple to manage while the classroom SUD course highlighted the dangers for HGVs driving in an urban environment."
This year, the business invested further into its fleet and took delivery of three new bespoke delivery vehicles. These new vehicles are Euro VI emissions rated which helps to make us more efficient. All are fitted with audible left turn and reversing alerts with 4 ways cameras for good measure.
For us, FORS helped us to improve our logistical systems and processes, for example, the introduction of a new driver assessment and induction process helped us secure the correctly skilled drivers for our business. Our strategy moving forward will include a focus on a driver's attitude to safety, understanding the complexities of a driving role in this era and how they can impact their environment.
“Since the FORS accreditation, we have seen traffic collisions reduce by 66.66% year-on-year and it has eliminated penalty charge notices completely.”