Tach charts as efficiency and safety aids
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• Striking confirmation of the way in which tachographs can be used to analyse and improve operating efficiency and driving safety, and remarkable revelations about the minute detail which recorded charts can provide, were given last Friday by a former transport operator in South Africa. The occasion was a presentation to represents fives of industry, transport and the technical Press organized by Smiths Industries Ltd., at Cricklewood.
The economic, operational and political implications of tachographs were discussed, and union speakers stated the conditions under which they would be willing to see these devices introduced.
The principal speakers were Mr. S. T. Smith, formerly transport manager of Cape Town City corporation, Mr. A. H. Kitson, general secretary and treasurer of the Scottish Commercial Motormen's Union, and Mr. Leslie Huckfield, Labour MP, for Nuneaton, who has been employed as a lorry driver.
Mr. Smith pointed out that while there was no legal requirement for tachographs in South Africa, Cape Town corporation had made extensive use of the instruments in its fleet, which included all vehicles from the mayoral car to refuse collection vehicles. When Mr. Smith took over the transport department the average accident rate was in excess of 10 accidents per 100,000 miles; this he measured against the accident rate of the Caltex Oil Company whose vehicles were all fitted with tachographs and whose accident rate was 1.36 per 100,000 miles. These facts were presented to the city council and thereafter all new vehicles were fitted with tachographs where he considered it appropriate.
Ten years' life As a result, the refuse collection vehicles were re-routed and greater productivity took place. The Cape Town fleet exceeds 900 vehicles, of which 777 are suitable for tachographs and of this number 570 have them.
The cost of fitting new tachographs in South Africa today is between £41 and £48 per unit. When vehicles are replaced the tachograph is disconnected, overhauled and fitted to a new vehicle at an average cost of £27, including the overhaul. Instruments have an estimated life of 10 years. Mr. Smith pointed out that fitting tachographs was only the first step and that office staff had to be trained to make the best possible use of the information provided. This information not only showed how vehicles could here-routed but whether there was inefficiency in driving techniques. Drivers were fully aware of the fact that the charts could indicate inefficiency. In fact, the drivers were encouraged to take a personal interest in the readings while they were under training. At the end of a training period the instructor produced the chart and went over it with the driver.
The Cape Town corporation found it was able to negotiate considerably improved terms with its insurance companies with whom were specified how many vehicles would be fitted with tachographs. On a number of occasions tachographs and a micro-analysis of the chart were produced for the insurance companies' perusal. "We had several court cases at which decisions were based on the findings of the microanalysis", said Mr. Smith. The micro-analysis was provided free by the agents who distributed tachographs.
Micro-analysis was not work for the untrained, Mr. Smith pointed out; he claimed that an analysis would be able to pin-point the progress of a vehicle immediately prior to an accident, to the accuracy of one second, one mile per hour and one yard distance.
The cost of fitting the instruments and daily charts, he estimated, was recouped in the reduction in insurance premiums and reduced maintenance costs. One criticism he did have to offer was that the engine revs were reproduced on the reverse side of the chart, making it difficult to link speed to revs per minute. Both sides of the chart had to be examined and to obtain any degree of accuracy this needed to be done simultaneously. Mr. Smith suggested that manufacturers should produce a series of reflecting mirrors to bring the reverse side image up alongside the one which was being read. Later in the conference a representative of Smiths told CM that this was a proposal which would receive serious consideration.
Mr. Kitson told the conference that tachographs were not new and that he had experienced their use some 32 years ago when he was employed as a heavy lorry driver. His main concern was that the tachographs would be used by employers to increase productivity without any consequentincrease in wages. He said: "I have made it quite clear that I am not against tachographs. I think in many ways they will assist us, but let me give fair warning to the employers who think they are going to use them merely to increase productivity that they will have trouble, and serious trouble, so far as I am concerned if they attempt to use them to lower the standards that the men already have, to get more production for no more money."
Mr Kitson also expressed the fear that there there would be insufficient follow-up due to lack of enforcement officers. He said that this was a point which he had taken up with the Minister of Transport.
The unions, he believed, could assist by appointing safety officers or regulation officers who could assist the Ministry's enforcement officers in the examination of charts held at employers' premises. "This is an argument which Mr. Marsh has not yet accepted."
Regarding the use of charts by the law to assist in prosecuting men, Mr. Kitson said "we must have concrete assurances that the tachograph will not be used in this way."
Union reservation There was still some doubt how the introduction of tachographs should be linked to the reduction in drivers' hours. Mr. Kitson said that he and other union officers told Mrs. Castle, when she was Minister of Transport, that they were prepared to accept tachographs provided drivers' hours were reduced from 11 to 9, but that they still had some reservations on how the tachograph would operate. This matter had now been reviewed, he said, and drivers' hours had only been reduced to 10. "Nevertheless," he said, "I think that we should keep our end of the bargain but re-issue the w arning that increased productivity should be accompanied by increased wages." On the safety aspect, he felt that tachographs would help in eliminating much unsafe operation and would improve driving standards generally.
Mr. Huckfield said that the introduction of tachographs must come gradually. "To introduce tachographs throughout the road transport industry in a short space of time would mean nothing less than a revolution— not in physical violence—but in customs, practices and in the way that everything is done." He pointed out that the Minister's powers under the 1968 Transport Act are permissive and he hoped that they would be exercised with discretion "I am convinced that there are long-term benefits for both unions and managements in this, and this is why I say that the 'clock' must be presented to industry as a whole". He thought that at the moment it was a very much one-sided effort, with the Road Haulage Association all for, and the unions all against.
"If improvements can be brought about by the introduction of the tachograph we must expect other industries to improve their attitudes too. Much of the congestion, delays and inefficiency in road haulage stems from queues at the docks and in warehouses and because everybody wants to send their freight at the same time." He suggested that to tell the road haulier to sort himself out without telling the same to other sections of the industry would be foolish. "The tachograph could mean a unit of measurement, a yardstick for efficiency, a means of improving productivity and a device for improving the image and professionalism of all concerned", said Mr. Huckfield.