SIIIIIP TALK
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• This month's Workshop highlights how protecting the environment is putting legislative and technological pressures on workshop and paintshop managers.
On the direct side workshops and paintshops are preparing to meet the new laws on waste disposal and VOC emissions. Indirectly we see increased technology on trucks and buses reducing vehicle emissions to meet impending limits,
No one can argue against the principle of protecting the environment, but the legislators ignore the proNems they cause by enforcing the laws. For example, MC emissions legislation appears draconian, but the equipment needed to meet it will be available to all paintshops whether they need it ornot.
However, the vehicle emissions limits will apply to all new vehicles, and yet there is some doubt whether the equipment needed to maintain these new systems will be available to all. Vehicle manufacturers will no doubt look to the latest hi-tech trucks and the specialised diagnostic equipment as a means to drive operators back into franchised workshops. But if independent workshops cannot get the equipment and 80% of vehicles on the mad produce more pollution than they otherwise would, that defeats the object of the act.
Environmental protection is for all, it is not just a marketing ploy for manufacturers' franchised dealers. By the lime the emission limits come into force diagnostic equipment must be available to all those who want to buy it.