IRHA in quest for
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• The future of road transport training received a massive boost this week with the launch of two major initiatives.
The Road Haulage Association's Young Executive Section unveiled its "master haulier concept" — a quality stamp for companies meeting specified standards of operation.
The industry's trade associations and the Road Transport Industry Training Board are also collaborating to develop a series of vocational qualifications for transport staff (CM 25-31 January).
Plans for the 'master-haulier' concept are about to be studied by the RHA board, which commissioned YES to look into the idea. YES stresses that this is not an alternative to BS5750, but "an achievable standard which deals with the practical side of transport operations".
YES national secretary Val Entwistle says: "We are concerned with image, and
BS5750 has nothing to do with image. We believe operators will also see our master-haulier qualification as a step towards BS5750 — like a confidence booster."
The master-haulier stamp of approval would be open to RHA members in five areas: education, training, road safety, the environment and image.
Once an operator gained the standard, he would still be subject to regular RHA checks to ensure that his operation was maintaining its original standards. YES says that if a company's standards were found to have lapsed in any area it would immediately lose its master-haulier approval.
YES hopes to have the system approved by the RHA board and in action within 12