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HOW TO MEET MAINTENANCE STANDARDS

2nd March 1973, Page 48
2nd March 1973
Page 48
Page 49
Page 48, 2nd March 1973 — HOW TO MEET MAINTENANCE STANDARDS
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

by W Balne QUALITY CONTROL, the essence of the commercial vehicle licensing system, consists not only of servicing at intervals of time or mileage recommended by manufacturers but also periodical inspection for imminent defects between these intervals. Thus faults can be rectified that much earlier. Once these facts are clearly understood the way is open for an operator to organize in order to allow for this, and keeping records to prove what has been done.

Such records must be available for inspection at any time and kept for 15 months.

Page-a-day diary Any system calling for activity at regular intervals necessarily demands a diary. Some operators favour wall charts with coloured pins and other spectacular eye-catching devices, which convey the impression of sophisticated management. Such systems are seldom accurate; they need a great deal of time spent on keeping them up-to-date and they are much less permanently useful than the old fashioned page-a-day diary.

Since no transport business can manage without a daily diary to show the vehicles available, the drivers work and the work allocated to them, it also very conveniently records every other vehicle event like inspection, maintenance, repairs and overhaul dates, accidents and days when vehicles were idle through lack of work.

The diary is the unending work record of a fleet, the memory for its effective withdrawal from service for all mechanical reasons and the source for all statistical information concerning operation, in terms of fleet use and non-use, and, no less important, driver availability and use.

There is no substitute to the page-a-day diary whatever the size of the business may be 'and it is cheap and comprehensive.

I emphasize this point even though it is so obvious that it should not need to be mentioned at all. On the other hand, many of the cases which result in operators being called to a public inquiry for consideration as to whether their licences should be curtailed, suspended or even revoked would probably never have happened if the diary had been properly used. This is particularly true of small operators who want to avoid unnecessary paperwork.

For example, if drivers report defects orally (they usually prefer this) the symptoms of the defect can be entered at the bottom of the diary page and should always be signed by the driver. Against this entry, the details of the rectification can be entered, signed and dated by whoever does the work. It is the simplest and most practical way of dealing with daily defect reporting.

Since one of the purposes of a diary is to record events that have yet to occur it is ideal for entering future inspections and the manufacturer's recommended services. For this purpose, time is more convenient than mileage, and usually but not always, it is as suitable for all vehicles.

Red entry At the beginning of each year, each vehicle should have its periodical inspection dates entered appropriately for the whole year. It is best to show it in red.

If when the date arrives, the vehicle is not withdrawn for the particular examination, it should be repeated each day in the same colour with each day being added to the last to show immediately how many days it is behind, eg. XYZ 777E (11) would tell anybody whose job it is to manage the diary, that XYZ 777E is 11 days overdue for the particular inspection or service.

The colour entry should also be used if a defect reported by a driver is not rectified the same day, because it may be of the nature of a GV9 (immediate) if the vehicle is caught in a roadside check.

This simple system will enable any vehicle examiner to see at a glance if inspections and services are normally carried out on their proper dates and that defects are rectified with appropriate expedition. It will save entries into individual vehicle files repeating the same information all over again.

All that the vehicle files themselves should contain is first, an envelope containing the vehicle registration book, and the test and plating certificates and perhaps the insurance certificate; secondly, an inspection sheet for each safety examination (if one a month, there would be 12 for a complete year and, in addition, probably four or more maintenance schedules for the manufacturer's recommended services).

If an inspection and a service is done at the same time it is best to have a form for each.

The rectification work done following an inspection and at the time of the service, should be set out in detail on the forms themselves. Attaching job sheets or any other pieces of paper adds bulk and confusion in the file and often because disarrangement from a strict chronological order is all too easy, their inclusion causes more queries than answers.

If the inspection and maintenance forms are properly kept, they are complete answers in themselves; if they are not, then there is something wrong with the forms themselves. It should be a rule always to make it easy for the examiners to scrutinize the planned maintenance and see its results. Blinding them with snowstorms of paper does not hasten their much wanted departure.

Getting the forms Inspection and maintenance forms can be obtained from the trade associations, the oil companies and others. Some manufacturers have designed their own which should be available from their dealers but there seems to be some disinclination among some dealer's to keep them. In any event, an operator can have his own printed simply by copying the inspection schedule, task by task, from the Vehicle Tester's Manual which every operator should have whether or not he undertakes his own inspections and maintenance. It really is essential for all operators to know what items are included in the regular periodical safety inspections. Designing the form for one's own use is quite simple. On one side of a foolscap sheet of paper all the tasks in the manual can be set down one after the other. Against each should appear a block for the tick if the item is in order or an R if it needs rectification.

On the reverse side all the items marked with an R will have to show the rectificition carried out. The document itself will be headed with space for the vehicle number and its mileage. At the foot o the reverse side, there will be a spate for the certification of check ant rectification by the signature of he person doing it and the date when i :Was done.

Obtain tite documents It is not, of course, necessary for the operator to provide the actual documents if any ins/Diction or repair work is done by an outs de garage. The point is that whoever does the work it is the operator himself will I must obtain the documents and keep th ern available for inspection at his own pr( mises. Only he is responsible and he annot avoid it by any arrangemen with the repairers.

Not onI3, however, is he responsible for keeping the records, but also for the work done by his chosen repairer if he entrusts it ill to him. Many operators have prefer ed to state in their forms of application hat they would be having all their inspee ions and maintenance done by professional repairers, thinking, perhaps, th at that would be to their advantage. Perhaps in obtaining their first operator's licence this answer was best, but th real test of the wisdom of that preference occurs when the repairer's w irk is put to the test of the fleet examir ation at the renewal of the licence or t n some other occasion, for example wl en additional vehicles are sought.

By and I irge, experience has shown that the pr ifessional repairer does not appear to t e able to provide a higher standard tiro tithe operator himself.

Who insp acts?

The cost of undertaking all that is necessary tc be done to commercial vehicles to k eep out of trouble with the Licensing A ithorities is very expensive for small fle ts but despite the certainty that it will b no less costly with outside repairers, thc temptation to put the work out to the j rofessionals will always be very strong. The measurement of the pros and co: is is a subject for decision that only th c operator can decide upon the circumsti nces that are peculiar to his knowledge al d inclinations.

If he d xides against his own establishrnen then ideally he should strive to ad ieve the position where he can either ca -ry out his own inspections (perhaps without any rectification) thus doing what h can to check the work of

his repairers and thereby keep them on their toes, or obtains the services of an impartial outsider to do it for him.

It will be noticed upon the forms of application that question 22 requires the applicant to say who will carry out his periodical inspections.

It is intended by the note that precedes all the answers to questions 17 to 26 that the information given will relate throughout the duration of the licence granted. It is not a very sensible question, particularly as it is intended to produce a formal declaration of intention, to ask an applicant to commit himself for a period which may be as long as five years. He would be very foolish to keep to his declaration if experience proved that his original choice was a bad one.

The same thing can be said of the next question which asks for the name and address of the garage or agent who is originally chosen to do the inspections.

Any change of mind on either of these matters after the licence has been granted should be the subject of a letter to the Licensing Authority. Very often, indeed in most cases, this will be forgotten. It may not matter very much perhaps, if the operator has only changed the name of the garage originally mentioned but it would matter if the operator decided to do the work himself instead of giving it to a garage. For example, if on the faith of such an undertaking, he had obtained a large grant of, say, 20 vehicles, a change to self-sufficiency in inspections and maintenance might cause the LA to wish to have the place and facilities where the work was to be done, to be seen by one of his vehicle examiners.

Tell the LA Questions 22, 23 and 24 are the only questions on the form where an applicant or licence holder can change his mind once a licence is granted but formal notice to the LA will always be desirable.

Question 23 also contains a note which has caused a great deal of trouble because it has needlessly discouraged some operators of average mechanical competence from saying that they would do their own inspections and maintenance. It has also encouraged a lot of letters from garages on the faith of which licences have been obtained. But all too often, afterwards, the arrangement is abandoned by the operator either because of dissatisfaction with the garage or simply because there was never a genuine intention in the first place to use a professional repairer.

If an applicant really intends to do the work himself, it is foolish to mislead the LA from the beginning.

However, if the intention to use a garage is genuine, the question arises as to whether a written contract should be made between the parties. The question

says that it must be enclosed with the application form if there is one. The real problem is whether the operator should seek a contract in any event.

The garages will no dotibt be enthusiastic to be party to a contract but no operator should be so because experience tells us that in matters of vehicle maintenance contracts do not necessarily produce a performance of excellence or even modest reliability.

Changing garages

If the performance of any garage is less than adequate, the operator does not want to be lumbered with any so-called contract which may or may not have legal force — he simply wants to change his garage as quickly as he can. Without any contracts his options are fully open and he should have no difficulty in satisfying his Licensing Authority that his intentions to use a garage are no less certain of fulfilment because of the absence of a formal contract.

However, whether he has a contract or not, an operator should satisfy himself before using any garage he has in mind that it will be carrying out inspection frequency that he wants and that each inspection will be accompanied by the provision of an acceptable detailed inspection sheet complying in detail with the task numbers set out in the Vehicle Tester's Manual.

When inspections are done at the same time as the manufacturer's recommended service and inspection sheet in addition to a maintenance form (both in complete detail) will be required by the operator and sent to him with the return of the vehicle.

Finally, any garage used should be asked before any inspection or servicing is given to it, whether it will provide any assistance that might be required by the operator, including attendance at a public inquiry, if following any garage work the operator is required to appear before his Licensing Authority. The answer to such a request is best sought in writing following discussion.

Repairer's evidence

In a recent case in the Eastern traffic area, an operator called to explain his failure to keep records had the benefit of the evidence of his repairer at the hearing. Fortunately, the vehicles were in excellent condition but he was still called to a public inquiry and the repairer's evidence no doubt saved him from any punishment.

The written records provided either by one's own staff or outside garages should never be filed Without examination. They frequently contain many omissions and sometimes astonishing inconsistencies. Carelessly filed records which are not scrutinized can all too easily leave a vehicle examiner with the impression that they are just window dressing!

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Organisations: Licensing Authority

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