Fleet Vehicle Inspection - Planned Maintenance Systems for Safety and Regulatory Compliance
UK Operator licensing law promotes SAFETY as a core focus of Planned fleet vehicle maintenance systems.
Frequency of scheduled vehicle inspections vary depending on many factors particularly type of use, road going or off highway, and mileage.
The focus of this webpage is on road going vehicles and preventative maintenance inspection.
All vehicle fleet operators require In Service reliability, reduced downtime and increased vehicle availability.
All flow naturally from scheduled maintenance inspection promoting safe systems of work.
Commercial Vehicle Operator Legal Compliance
UK Parliament generates much Statutory legislation encouraging vehicle operators to run safe vehicle fleets meeting regulatory standards of roadworthiness and licensing.
Key legislation for road going vehicles is derived from the Road Traffic Act 1988 and amendments.<
Many contractual obligations and duty of care standards introduce further requirements.
Safe Daily Vehicle Operations
Safe systems of work ensure immediate action is taken to prevent operation of unsafe vehicles and to reduce risk of vehicle components becoming defective.
Safe working practices include vehicle defect categorisation, reporting, monitoring, and rectification.
Planned Maintenance - Scheduled vehicle safety inspection
Scheduled vehicle inspections create a preventative policy of ongoing vehicle condition monitoring.
Immediate rectification of dangerous defects is required before vehicles are allowed to re-enter use.
Condition monitoring allows pass and advise defect rectification repairs to be scheduled based on urgency often as spare time permits
Fleet breakdown repairs
Reactive policy to keep vehicles in operation
Scheduled vehicle servicing
Planned vehicle servicing is often based on either time interval or recorded vehicle usage eg Mileage / Hours.
Effective vehicle asset management and disposal
The DVSA guide to maintaining roadworthiness of Commercial vehicles can be downloaded from the business link website pdf download link
Driver's Daily Walkaround Check and Report System
Vehicle drivers and operators have legal responsibility for safety compliant vehicle operation.
Vehicle driver employment contracts include defect reporting as both implied and express conditions.
Vehicle drivers often notice vehicle performance faults, damage, and safety defects first.
Defect reporting systems enable initialisation of the repair process.
Driver's daily vehicle walk-around checks include basic inspections to check condition of
Completion of a drivers defect report itemising noted faults.
The driver daily defect reporting system may be paper based or a computer based digital application.
Copies of each driver's defect report should be provided to the transport office so repairs can be organised ,
Repair and maintenance (R&M) work is approved, and documented as part of a fleet safety compliance system.
Onboard diagnostics
Vehicle on-board diagnostic computer systems often monitor operation of performance and safety critical vehicle components including engine transmission steering and braking systems with capability to alert the vehicle driver of defect by illumination of a visual warning lamp or audible warning. Vehicle computer systems interfaced to global positioning system (gps) with cloud based fleet tracking can provide real time data of operating defects and traceability of events enhancing transport managers and service centre roles.
Vehicle computerised diagnosis systems will log faults and illuminate instrument cluster warnings however should not be totally relied upon.
Events which fall outside of computer programmed parameters may sometimes noted by the driver during operation.
Do your drivers carry out own repairs?
Some professional drivers may be competent to carry out vehicle repairs depending on background. Simple repairs such as changing a blown bulb can turn in to complex faults
On certain occasions we have had to carry out specialist autoelectrical repairs to vehicle equipment following when a driver has fitted an incorrect bulb to a tail light unit for example, single contact bulb where a twin contact bulb should have been fitted, a very easy mistake , which has then resulted in specialist body equipment electrical failure due to a simple short circuit resulting in wiring insulation meltdown and expensive component damage.
Modern vehicle computer systems may detect component failure and shut down operation of a circuit until logged faults are cleared using diagnostic equipment.
Vehicle Planned Maintenance Inspection (PMI)) by a Competent Person
Vehicle safety inspection frequency is defined by the operator licensing authority under contractual conditional terms of the vehicle operators licence.
Legislation sometimes uses the term 'competent person'. Legal definitions of 'competent person' and 'reasonable care' can be vague!
Commercial vehicle Safety inspection procedures are designed to provide professional condition monitoring of vehicle safety and roadworthiness and produce an audit trail of vehicle inspection reports itemising faults.
Professional condition monitoring assists reliability of the vehicle fleet by early identification of minor problems
before they develop to inevitably cause vehicle breakdown.
Regular condition monitoring may also influence vehicle asset management and fleet disposal policy.
MoT Test classes for Cars and Commercial Vehicles
Many requirements for testing of UK road going vehicles fall under the Road Traffic Act (RTA) 1988 s.45 and s.49.
The annual DVSA Vehicle MoT test is a scheduled safety inspection under defined conditions within approved facilities where a pass means basic roadworthiness criteria has been met.
Class 4 : Cars, Minibuses, Motor caravans up to 12 passenger seats
Class 5 :
Private Passenger Carrying vehicles with more than 13 seats and Ambulances.
Class 7 : Goods vehicles eg Transit Vans over 3000kg up to 3500kg
Many commercial vehicles fall under plating and testing regulations derived from RTA s.49.
LGV: Large Goods Vehicles
PCV: Buses and Coaches
Vehicle MoT History and Status can be checked online via the government website.
Inspection Method : How is a typical commercial vehicle inspection carried out?
Planned vehicle safety inspection produces a written report.
Vehicle inspection routine follows a logical pre-defined route around the vehicle designed to minimise labour time without compromising
the integrity of the inspection.
Vehicle safety inspection should not be confused with vehicle servicing.
A safety inspection provides condition monitoring of vehicle components to decide if a vehicle is roadworthy.
Pre Checks
Inspection pre-checks may include risk assessments on both vehicle, test equipment, and working environment
Vehicle Identification
A typical hgv safety inspection commences with visual inspection of manufacturers and Department of Transport (DTP) vehicle identification plates to confirm vehicle details. Relevant vehicle details may be noted on the vehicle maintenance inspection form together with date of inspection and recorded mileage. Vehicle defects are noted on the inspection form as the examination takes place .
Vehicle defect categorisation
Any defect present affecting vehicle operation may be graded by importance as:
Vehicle Repairs
Immediate or scheduled repair may be undertaken following the vehicle safety inspection.
Engineers carry out appropriate remedial repair work as necessary following inspection or defect reporting.
Vehicle maintenance sheets are updated following repair to maintain the audit trail of roadworthiness.
Vehicle Servicing
Servicing of a vehicle may follow a service menu which includes changing of service items such as engine oil and filters, fuel filters, air filters, and change or top up of fluids.
Operator Compliance Risk Scoring (OCRS) system
To learn more about the Operator Compliance Risk Scoring system Click here
OCRS is a traffic light type of system operated by DVSA to monitor operator safety compliance.
Transport Industry Customers
We have supplied various commercial vehicle fleet operators, vehicle leasing companies, local authority directly or indirectly with vehicle inspection and repair services ,parts, and vehicle conversion equipment including
Fleet Parts - Supply and Service of HGV Commercial Vehicle Components
Rotating Electrics |
>Lamps & Lighting Equipment |
Switches and Relays |
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Power Supply Equipment Plugs Sockets |
>Body & Warning Equipment | Workshop tools |
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Professional Trained Staff with Technical Competence
Our business aims for continuing professional development. Staff qualifications include
On Site Vehicle Servicing
Service requirements will vary with the type of vehicle operation and the operating environment.
Servicing refers to the checking or replacement of lubricants, fluids and filters, and other recommended service components.
Basic tests, settings and adjustments may also be carried out. Servicing may be scheduled by time or vehicle mileage / engine hours.
Service maintenance such as Oil and filter change, greasing etc may be carried out at similar times to safety inspection but should be viewed as a seperate operation.
Wheel Security
Checking Security of vehicle wheels is an important part of every CV inspection
Wheel loss can be caused by excessive vibrations, worn/ damaged wheel studs, elongation of wheel stud holes, incorrect tightening procedures.
A selection of indicators and retainers can be fitted to aid visual identification of wheel nut position during drivers walk round checks.