FORS reveals top five reasons why fleet operators fail bronze audit

FORS, the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, has revealed the five principle reasons why operators do not pass the bronze audit first time.

In the first six months of 2018, 632 operators took their intitial FORS bronze audit, with 210 failing. The number of existing FORS members with bronze, silver or gold accreditation who underwent re-approval audits was 1,218, producing 461 failures.

In all cases of failure, a procedural follow-up audit is conducted and follow-up audits for initial FORS bronze and re-approval existing members saw 597 passes.

Graham Holder, FORS head of quality assurance and compliance, said: "These figures demonstrate the stringent nature of a FORS Bronze audit and, indeed, the robust content of the scheme in general.

“It also provides evidence that FORS goes above and beyond minimum legal requirements, but that doesn’t necessarily mean automatic acceptance into FORS – especially at FORS silver and gold status.”

The five principle reasons why operators fail their initial bronze audits are:

• D4: professional development. Failure to provide the required mandatory training courses, or to produce a professional development plan for all transport-related staff.
• V9: vehicle manoeuvring. Failure to have policy and appropriate risk assessments in place. Failure to communicate these to relevant staff. Failure to get the transport related workforce to acknowledge receipt of these.
• M6: document review. Failure to conduct annual (or sooner if circumstances dictate) review of company policies and procedures and failure to ensure  senior management has acknowledged the review and that reviews are cascaded to transport related workforce
• M11: tyre and fuel management. Failure to have a fuel and tyre management policy in place to manage tyre wear, condition and disposal. Failure to be demonstrate monitoring and fuel consumption management.
• V8 : personal safety in or around vehicles. Failure to have policy and appropriate risk assessments in place. Failure to communicate these to relevant staff. Failure to get the transport related workforce to acknowledge receipt of these.