SOCOTEC Renews Silver FORS Accreditation
SOCOTEC’s Wokingham office has successfully passed its Silver accreditation for the second year running as part of the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS).
Having first attained a Silver FORS accreditation in March 2019, SOCOTEC’s Wokingham office was one of the very first in the ground investigation sector to receive the nationally recognised qualification. This year, SOCOTEC has successfully passed its renewal audit, which requires businesses to provide evidence of systems, procedures and documentation to demonstrate its ongoing compliance with FORS Silver requirements.
Due to the in-depth nature of this audit, the designated FORS administrators from various sites across the business – including Southam, Uckfield and Uxbridge – have worked together to ensure full compliance across all FORS standard requirements. This was achieved by members of staff volunteering as business ‘champions’ for different topics and regularly participating in health and safety online training courses, both of which are mandatory requirements to ensure that businesses remain fully compliant with such factors as vehicle safety, fuel efficiency and environmental protection.
Since first becoming Silver accredited, SOCOTEC’s Wokingham office has made a series of digital developments to ensure full compliance with FORS requirements. For example, a newly installed tracker has been designed to monitor and adjust driving behaviour, while an app to record information on vehicle maintenance and a FORS mileage form to capture daily vehicle checks are also in the pipeline.
By working together across the business to maintain Wokingham’s Silver certification, other SOCOTEC offices have gone on to achieve their own individual FORS accreditation – Uxbridge have maintained Silver, Uckfield have maintained their Bronze while Southam have recently passed the Bronze scheme. Meanwhile, the Maidstone and Carcroft offices are currently working towards their Bronze accreditation.
“We are delighted to have successfully renewed the FORS Silver accreditation for another year,”
“Throughout the wider business, we are moving towards complying with all FORS requirements as standard, and the way in which employees from various offices have come together to help us meet the required criteria to pass has been outstanding.
“With this level of support in place, other SOCOTEC offices have been able to follow suit and become FORS-certified, not only improving our fleet performance but also helping us to provide safe, eco-friendly and compliant services for our clients.”
