Firm applies site safety regime to transport
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POOR MAINTENANCE systems and a prohibition led to a Cheshire engineering firm receiving a warning at a Kendal disciplinary inquiry.
However, North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner Patrick Mulvenna was told that the company. Widnes-based SMK Engineering, had now introduced the same kind of written risk assessment and procedures it used for building sites.The company operates two vehicles and two trailers.
Vehicle examiner Lee Gauckwin said that during a maintenance investigation last November he had issued a delayed prohibition for anABS fault.Inspection periods varied between four and 14.5 weeks.
He was told that the written driver defect reporting system had not been used for some time:The systems were there, but had not been operated as tightly as they should have been. He was, however, satisfied with the records that had been produced at the hearing. Managing director and transport manager Stephen Durbin said he had set up a new system to ensure the vehicles went into the maintenance contractor on time. The trailers were now brake tested at every inspection. They had purchased a torque wrench to check the tightness of the wheel nuts.
The ABS defect was an intermittent fault caused by a broken wire. An inspection had been missed on a new trailer that had not been initially included on the forward planner.
Inspections now took priority over operation. while in the past it had perhaps been the other way round. There were no financial constraints on maintenance.
For the company, Graham Quigley said that it worked in a heavily regulated field in relation to health and safety. The transport side had now been put on to the same kind of written risk assessment and procedure.