Hi
Just a very quick question
Can I carry out 6 weekly inspection on my truck myself ?
Do I have to do any course for that?
I can get the brakes checked from the proper Garage on rollers every 3 months.
Kindly advise , many thanks
banku:
Hi
Just a very quick question
Can I carry out 6 weekly inspection on my truck myself ? Yes you can, but when you write to the TC telling them you are changing your maintenance arrangements, ie bringing it in house, then you will need to provide evidence of the competency of the person who is going to do the inspections and the facilities you have. As I understand it you need to have either a lift or pit for the inspections, torque wrench for wheelnuts etc.
Do I have to do any course for that? If you have some form of mechhanic / hgv fitting qualification then I suspect not. It is possible to do an external course purely to carry out safety inspections, that is what we have done.
I can get the brakes checked from the proper Garage on rollers every 3 months. Yes, again that is what we do.
Kindly advise , many thanks
manski:
banku:
Hi
Just a very quick question
Can I carry out 6 weekly inspection on my truck myself ? Yes you can, but when you write to the TC telling them you are changing your maintenance arrangements, ie bringing it in house, then you will need to provide evidence of the competency of the person who is going to do the inspections and the facilities you have. As I understand it you need to have either a lift or pit for the inspections, torque wrench for wheelnuts etc.
Do I have to do any course for that? If you have some form of mechhanic / hgv fitting qualification then I suspect not. It is possible to do an external course purely to carry out safety inspections, that is what we have done.
I can get the brakes checked from the proper Garage on rollers every 3 months. Yes, again that is what we do.
Kindly advise , many thanks
Many thanks for your Kind advice.
I dont think you do need a pit or a lift for an inspection as Scanias used to come round to Asda on a weekend and inspect about 5 units one after the other and all he used to do was jack them up and put some sort of fancy blocks under the front or the back to get access
chaversdad:
I dont think you do need a pit or a lift for an inspection as Scanias used to come round to Asda on a weekend and inspect about 5 units one after the other and all he used to do was jack them up and put some sort of fancy blocks under the front or the back to get access
This is an extract from DVSA’s 2018 version, does not directly say lift or pit but does say you should have a building big enough for your largest vehicle as inspections should be done indoors (not sure how they square that with their roadside inspections 
but we built a building around the lift anyway).
Safety inspection facilities
Facilities should include:
undercover accommodation for the largest vehicle in the fleet. This is required to ensure that safety
checks can be conducted satisfactorily in all weathers (depending on fleet size the building may
need room for more than one vehicle at a time);
tools and equipment appropriate to the size and nature of the fleet;
an adequate under-vehicle inspection facility:
adequate lighting;
access to brake test equipment (e.g. a roller brake tester, decelerometer);
access to headlamp test equipment;
access to emissions testing equipment
access to steam or pressure under-vehicle washing facilities; and
a safe working environment.
Full document here :-
banku:
Many thanks for your Kind advice.
No problem. We are only a small (probably micro 
) operator but did this a couple of years ago. If you are happy doing that sort of thing, or have someone that is, then it’s a no brainer if you have the space /facilities.
manski:
This is an extract from DVSA’s 2018 version, does not directly say lift or pit but does say you should have a building big enough for your largest vehicle as inspections should be done indoors (not sure how they square that with their roadside inspectionsSafety inspection facilities
Facilities should include:
undercover accommodation for the largest vehicle in the fleet. This is required to ensure that safety
checks can be conducted satisfactorily in all weathers (depending on fleet size the building may
need room for more than one vehicle at a time);
Just as an aside (and probably irrelevant here I know), it was a condition attached to my O licence that all work on vehicles could only be carried out undercover.
So that goes totally against the grain with Imperial Commercials in Mackworth. They did 6 weekly checks in the depot even though it was open air. I had the lorry keys at home and on a wet Saturday they could inspect 4 or 5 units from their van [emoji23]
The list applies if the safety inspections are being carried out ‘in house’ ie by the operator or his employee. Unless the conditions of the actual licence stipulate any conditions then a contractor may visit the operator’s site, which does not have those listed items present, to carry out safety inspections.
An operator who drives as well will have to record the time spent carrying out safety inspections himself and any rectification as working time.
To be fair and IF you know what you are doing/looking for all you need to inspect a commercial vehicle is,
A flat floor
A jack
A small hammer
A torch
A cab bar/lever
The problem will come when/if one of your vehicles has an accident and the fancy lawyer asks the question, are YOU qualified to carry out vehcile inspections?
Plus of course as you own the vehicle and pay for the spare parts you may not want to find issues as issues cost money to fix!
Ive done many inspections outside in all weathers over the years and can tell you hand on heart you will always get a betetr job done in a workshop, especially when the weather is poor.
Wheel Nut:
So that goes totally against the grain with Imperial Commercials in Mackworth. They did 6 weekly checks in the depot even though it was open air. I had the lorry keys at home and on a wet Saturday they could inspect 4 or 5 units from their van [emoji23]
If you had the keys it would be onteresting to see how they checked the brakes/lights/steering, you know all the important stuff!
manski:
banku:
Hi
Just a very quick question
Can I carry out 6 weekly inspection on my truck myself ? Yes you can, but when you write to the TC telling them you are changing your maintenance arrangements, ie bringing it in house, then you will need to provide evidence of the competency of the person who is going to do the inspections and the facilities you have. As I understand it you need to have either a lift or pit for the inspections, torque wrench for wheelnuts etc.
Do I have to do any course for that? If you have some form of mechhanic / hgv fitting qualification then I suspect not. It is possible to do an external course purely to carry out safety inspections, that is what we have done.
I can get the brakes checked from the proper Garage on rollers every 3 months. Yes, again that is what we do.
Kindly advise , many thanks
Hi manski, how did you use for the external course for safety inspections and how much was it? Cheers
Trickydick:
Wheel Nut:
So that goes totally against the grain with Imperial Commercials in Mackworth. They did 6 weekly checks in the depot even though it was open air. I had the lorry keys at home and on a wet Saturday they could inspect 4 or 5 units from their van [emoji23]If you had the keys it would be onteresting to see how they checked the brakes/lights/steering, you know all the important stuff!
It seems the only big hammer you need is for toffee,
bulbs, tyres, mirrors were left to the driver to check, its a safety inspection, so no brakes needed to be adjusted.
I know of a very shady truck rental company who have had many a mention on here, that do 99,9% of the inspections on their fleet that they rent out, outside in the fresh air.
I can say no more.
Ken.
^^^
A truck rental company isn’t required to do any safety inspections at all, because they don’t need an operator’s licence. It is the responsibility of the hirer to carry out those inspections because the truck or trailer will be running on his O licence.
cav551:
^^^
A truck rental company isn’t required to do any safety inspections at all, because they don’t need an operator’s licence. It is the responsibility of the hirer to carry out those inspections because the truck or trailer will be running on his O licence.
Nothing to do with o-licencing but they will need some process to check roadworthiness as they would be contractually liable to supply a roadworthy vehicle so would be open to litigation otherwise.
No operator, no matter how conscientious is doing anything more than driver’s dailies on a spot hire vehicle they need to make timed deliveries with that day. Long term hire and the hire company can often be doing the PMIs ongoing too.
Quinny:
I know of a very shady truck rental company who have had many a mention on here, that do 99,9% of the inspections on their fleet that they rent out, outside in the fresh air.I can say no more.
Ken.
There’s nothing wrong with that per se they can be done outdoors perfectly legitimately.
The condition of having undercover facilities available to conduct PMIs typically arises when an operator wants to do their own maintenance in-house but these restrictions don’t apply to outside maintenance providers. The thinking is an operator might be more prone to skipping a PMI due to inclement weather if they don’t have indoor facilities.
A quick shout out to Manski…
Many thanks for your swift pm the other day. Most appreciated - a absolute gentleman.