FORS vs DVSA

FORS vs DVSA = healthy competition ? Those of us involved in transport compliance will be acutely aware of recent comments by Traffic Commisioner, Kevin Rooney regarding FORS, but what is more interesting is what lies behind those remarks and the general compliance ‘industry’ and FORS. The DVSA would probably say they are not in competition with FORS and in a whole number of areas this would be correct, however, Earned Recognition, the DVSA’s flagship benchmarking system for ‘Gold Standard’ Operators will bring both into direct competition in the largest infrastructure project in living memory, namely HS2. While HS2 currently stipulating FORS Silver or ISO39001 as the standards for Fleet Operators to meet to access the project there is an expectation that the DVSA’s Earned Recognition is to be accepted as an equivalence, and I’m sure there is plenty of lobbying going on in the background to make this happen Given the relationships within the Transport sector between the DVSA, FTA and RHA, and the latter two’s fraught relationship with FORS it should come as no surprize that the latter 2 are promoting earned recognition as the compliance model to follow. We tend to take a more pragmatic view and while earned recognition has got the obvious advantage of being designed by the regulatory body in the DVSA, FORS is the more mature and comprehensive compliance system in terms of health and safety. That Earned Recognition has developed a more comprehensive model is in no small part as a result of FORS – this should be obvious to anyone with transport compliance experience just looking at the scope of both standards, and although they would probably never admit it FORS has challenged the DVSA to ‘up their game’ with Earned Recognition. We want to see this competition continue for one reason above all, We believe any compliance standard needs to deliver real benefits for it’s members or adopters and having no dominant standard will deliver those benefits at the lowest possible cost for those Members So, FORS vs DVSA – long may it continue !!! If you want any help in preparing for either FORS Accreditation or Re-approval or applying for Earned Recognition please call 01245 847635 or Contact Us