The CLOCS Standard is a national industry standard that defines the primary requirements placed upon the key stakeholders associated with a construction project and places responsibilities and duties on the regulator, the client, the principal contractor controlling the construction site and the supply chain including the operator of any road-going vehicles servicing that project.
The CLOCS Standard is the result of collaboration between the construction and fleet sectors to address shared issues. It draws together evolving and applied best practice to provide one industry standard that can be adopted and implemented by regulators, clients, principal contractors and fleet operators.
Clients shall specify whether the CLOCS Standard applies within contracts based on their assessment of risk and in accordance with local authority requirements. Queries regarding applicability at specific sites should be directed to, and dealt with, by the client or principal contractor.
Executive summary
A construction project has four key stakeholders, deliberately creating a two-way flow of positive influence and critical information.
The main CLOCS requirements for each of these stakeholder groups are outlined below.
Regulators, particularly planning and highways authorities, shall:
- embed the requirement to operate to the CLOCS Standard into policy and guidance documents
- ensure the planning process requires submission and approval of an outline and/or detailed Construction Logistics Plan (CLP) that addresses the main transport impact/risks in delivering the project safely before consent is granted
- require a project to have effective CLOCS implementation monitoring mechanisms and to provide to the authority (if requested) CLOCS compliance performance data
- have in place effective enforcement mechanisms to secure prompt action by the project team should a breach occur
Clients shall:
- specify in tender and contract documents for all stakeholders to comply to the CLOCS Standard
- ensure the project team develops and implements a suitable and sufficient CLP (Construction Logistics Plan)
- ensure effective monitoring of compliance to the CLOCS Standard
- obtain and monitor the contractor’s action plan to address all identified issues and non-compliances
- obtain annual collisions and emissions performance information, and where appropriate, obtain a credible improvement plan
Principal contractors shall:
- ensure the project’s potential impact on the community has been properly risk-assessed
- develop and/or implement the agreed CLP and ensure it remains suitable and sufficient
- procure site and fleet operations that comply to the requirements of the CLOCS Standard
- ensure site arrangements enable the safest fleet operations including, but not limited to, ‘last mile’ routing, level access/egress, stable loading/unloading areas, effective delivery management systems and competent site access traffic marshals
- ensure effective and efficient site access gate checks of construction logistics vehicles and their drivers to ensure they always comply to the CLOCS Standard. Non-compliances must be immediately risk-assessed, appropriately mitigated and addressed through procurement processes
- ensure effective independent monitoring of the project’s compliance with the CLOCS Standard is undertaken approximately every 6 months and appropriate action taken to address non-compliance
- obtain annual collisions and emissions performance information, and where appropriate, obtain a credible improvement plan
Fleet operators shall:
- ensure they are part of a recognised independent fleet accreditation scheme or have a suitable management system in place that addresses the issues of management, vehicles, drivers and operations
- in selecting their fleet accreditation, ensure all construction logistics vehicle operations meet the standards and requirements as described as Silver in the FORS Standard
- provide acceptable evidence (as defined by each procurer) to demonstrate that requirements have been met
Note: CLOCS Standard Version 4 was introduced to CLOCS Champions in August 2022. A copy of the CLOCS Standard Version 3 can be accessed here.
A summary of the changes introduced in Version 4 is detailed here.
