Experts are concerned that failure to do basic daily checks is common in the Australian trucking industry, to the detriment of truckies, companies and road users. It came to light at the Technical and Maintenance Conference (TMC) during a sessions on training staff to do daily checks and was reported on Fullyloaded.com.au. During the session which was chaired by Chris Blanchard from Herb Blanchard Haulage at Grafton in NSW, the benefits of conducting adequate daily checks was highlighted. The benefits include:

• Pinpointing small problems before they become big ones.
• reducing excess costs of after hours call outs and towing
• minimising unscheduled vehicle downtime
• providing customers with higher levels of service
• provides legal evidence of doing the right thing, in case something does go wrong
• safety

Bob Louf, former general manager of Toll linehaul and fleet services was one of the high profile speakers at the conference. He had some alarming information about the ability and responsibility of drivers these days. He stated:

“Each trip in the late ’60s and early ’70s was regarded as an adventure into the unknown, and you wanted to know things before you went,” Lovf recalled. “Today, the people we are attracting, they have licenses to drive. There are a lot of other things missing out there. “Is it completely their fault? No, because we have changed a lot of the structure of how we work.” With the advent of changeovers and shuttles, for example, “you just throw your bag in the truck and drive up the road.” Source: http://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1602/daily-vehicle-checks-found-wanting/

He went on to state that drivers needn’t check the pressures on each tyre or the tension on every nut but he explained that they should at least go around the vehicle and give the tyres a thump, check for balding and loose nuts. He went on to explain more about the different range of drivers out there,

“You have people who still do a great job because we have a lot of people who are older and they have done things for last 30 years that way, but the newer people coming in don’t have that level of bush mechanic expertise to understand the workings of a truck as well as they should. “And you have the other people that I call ‘deliberate ignorants’, where they don’t want to lose that trip. “If they find something, they go, and the next person can deal with it.” Source: http://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1602/daily-vehicle-checks-found-wanting/

Another problem highlighted during the session is the dillemma experienced by overnight drivers who “inherit” problems when mechanical workshops are closed and tyre shops are also closed.

“We are trying to push post-trip checks as a key, because then you have time to rectify the problem,” Lovf says. “Otherwise you’re swapping out … You’ve got to unload a trailer in some cases.” Source: http://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1602/daily-vehicle-checks-found-wanting/

Louf went on to explain that Toll is using electronic technology more to simplify things and improve on current methods. One example of this is drivers taking photos of the problems with their mobile phones.