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Onus on industry to get better treatment from truck inspectors

John L Pierce’s Lance Fisher says preventative maintenance is a win-win all round.

 

One of the nation’s leading workshop managers says it’s “up to us” to get better treatment from roadside heavy vehicle inspectors.

Lance Fisher is fleet maintenance manager with Sydney-based bulk fuel and general freight operator John L Pierce, and a former winner of the Australian Trucking Association’s (ATA) Craig Roseneder Award for Technical and Maintenance Excellence in the Workshop.

He was speaking during the recent ATA/Paccar Technical and Maintenance Conference in Melbourne.

Fisher says preventative maintenance is “the cheapest form of maintenance you will ever do” and a win-win for all concerned, including when dealing with the authorities.

“If your truck does get pulled over by the boys at Marulan (checking station) or whatever, nine times out of 10 it’s easy. They’ll recognise what you do, they’ll look at it and say ‘We’ve pulled over 14 of someone’s transport and have a guess what, they’re all in good nick’,” he says.

“Straight away that means every time you go through a place (checking station) and the regulatory authorities know you’re doing the job, or attempting to do the job to the best of your ability, over a period of time it gets better for you guys (operators).

“It gets better for your driver, he doesn’t get brain damage, the ‘us versus them’ doesn’t come into it, straight away he gets free passage. So make no mistake guys, it’s up to us. That’s where it starts.

“Nine times out of 10 people play the game and wait to get caught, wait until the inspector finds something so that they fix only what the inspector has found, as opposed to fixing all the things within your workshops with your boys or with your third party providers.”

Lance Fisher says the truck driver is “paramount” in good vehicle maintenance.

“It’s his workplace every day, so you have got to have a very robust pre-trip inspection … If they are trained correctly they have got a fair idea as to what’s safe enough to drive,” he says.

“The driver can find things before they leave the depot … If he finds a cold water leak, he actually solves the problem there theoretically before it gets out on the road, because somewhere along the line it may manifest itself into some major thing that will cost you $1,000, miles from home, with a load on.” 

Check out much more from the Technical and Maintenance Conference in the December issue of ATN. Click here to secure your copy now.

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