The Role of a Vehicle File in the Carrier Safety Management System

Introduction

Welcome to article seven of ten in this series on trucking safety systems!  After starting this series by looking at the roles systems play in organisations and dissecting parts of a carrier’s safety systems, I will now discuss ways in which mandatory vehicle files can be leveraged for greater control over the carrier’s preventative maintenance program.

Vehicle files, like driver files, are compliance requirements for carriers in Alberta [1].  Their purpose is to record important identifying information about the vehicles operated by the carrier and to serve as proof that the carrier has a functioning maintenance program.

Carriers concerned only with compliance will begrudgingly maintain vehicle files only out of an interest in performing well in a future audit.  And there is some value in going no further than basic compliance: for example, the requirement to respond to notices of defect (ie. recalls) from vehicle manufacturers can lead a carrier to reduce their risk considerably depending on the nature of the defect.

But, maintenance records provide immense opportunities to control costs and improve uptime, and in order to do so, a carrier needs records and the ability to analyse data.  The basic vehicle file lays a foundation of compliance on which more elaborate systems of maintenance management can be built.  In the following sections, I will provide a quick overview of the record requirements in an Alberta-based carrier’s vehicle file, and then describe ways in which these records can be used to improve the maintenance system.

Alberta Vehicle Files Basics

For Albertan carriers operating under the authority of a Safety Fitness Certificate, the following types of records must be kept for each commercial vehicle with a gross weight of over 4,500 kgs (or a bus):

1. Documentation that identifies the vehicle including at least an identifying number, the make of the vehicle, and the year it was manufactured;

2. Inspection, lubrication, repair, and maintenance records;

3. Manufacturer notices of defects and records of the applicable corrective action taken by the carrier, and;

4. Trip inspection reports.

I am paraphrasing significantly in the above list; readers who want to view the legislated wording can find this list under Section 37 of Alberta’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulation [1].

As you can see from the above list, compliance with this part of the law of fairly straightforward.  It is also rooted in common sense.  After all, what commercial vehicle operator would not want to have the above information on hand in a secure location?  Simply having copies of critical vehicle paperwork - such as vehicle registration - in case other copies get lost is a benefit of keeping good vehicle files.

Vehicle Files: Improving Preventative Maintenance

Having complete vehicle files represents the beginning of accumulating vehicle maintenance data.  Since repair, inspection, maintenance, and lubrication records have to be kept anyways [1], they might as well be used to the carrier’s advantage.

A carrier can establish an electronic system for recording information related to all work and inspections done to its vehicles.  Using an electronic system allows the carrier to quickly search for past records and sort by different criteria such as date/time, unit number, and perhaps even areas of operations.  If the carrier is using an electronic system to track driver vehicle inspections, these can be integrated together to create an all-encompassing maintenance and inspection tracking and analysis system.

Cost Control

The first and most obvious way to benefit from detailed maintenance records and an electronic tracking and analysis system is the immediate cost savings that come from double-checking shop invoices for accuracy.  An experienced maintenance manager can look at an invoice and see if the labour and parts charges are fair and detailed enough to justify the final bill.

A very simple way to track maintenance and repair costs is to use a spreadsheet for these records and compare dollars spent versus vehicle miles travelled - all data to which the carrier should have easy access.  Trucks and trailers will not always be consistent in their repair costs year-over-year since large expenses like in-frames and hub repairs may come up one year and not in another, but routine costs and simple repairs will, generally, increase with vehicle age due to normal wear and tear.  Detailed maintenance records versus distance travelled can help management plan equipment replacement cycles. 

Time spent in the shop can also be tracked to see how much productivity time is lost for repairs.  Since lost revenue from downtime can be tracked and estimated, this is another way costs can be monitored and controlled through maintenance record analysis.

Equipment and Parts Selection

As mentioned above, detailed records for cost versus usage can help carriers decide if, when, and how they should replace their equipment.

For fleets that have extensive experience with certain equipment, longstanding maintenance records allow carriers to experiment with different parts to see how costs compare.  For example, a carrier may be unhappy with a certain tire brand and be interested in switching.  Before committing their entire fleet to the new tires, just a sample of their equipment can be used to trial the new tires and compare their performance to the rest of the fleet.  Such an endeavour is only possible with accurate data and a system to collect and analyse it.

Improving Uptime

Perhaps the ultimate goal in preventative maintenance is to improve equipment uptime.  Equipment that is tied up in the shop can’t generate revenue, and sometimes the costs associated with downtime are far worse than the repair costs themselves.

Some vehicle components have recommended replacement intervals.  The reason why these intervals matter is that even though parts are replaced before they may fail, their failure is not far off and replacing them early prevents far more dramatic and damaging repair costs in unpredictable situations.

Other components may not have rigorous replacement intervals but instead should be regularly monitored for signs that indicate they are close to failure.  Engine overhauls in diesel trucks, for example, are very expensive and normally not done preventatively unless there is significant evidence they are about to fail.  Fortunately, through oil sampling, oil pressure and consumption monitoring, and other diagnostic tests, overhauls can frequently be done before the vehicle is left stranded but without losing out on more engine hours than reasonably necessary.

Fleets can use their own experience with their equipment to adjust their own maintenance and replacement intervals.  For example, a carrier that operates in the oilsands environment around Fort McMurray, AB has to contend with the sand and dust that characterises many of the non-paved roads in that region.  Manufacturer maintenance intervals may be inadequate; if the carrier has detailed maintenance records and tracks incidents related to on-road breakdown and failures, they can implement intelligent preventative maintenance service intervals that are tailored to their operations.

Summary

Vehicle files, like driver files, are cornerstones in a carrier’s National Safety Code (NSC) safety and compliance system.  However, the data collected in these files need not just be collected to satisfy auditors and inspectors.  The data in these files can be used to optimise operations, reduce maintenance costs, and tweak maintenance programs to address the needs of the carrier.

This series will close out with the next three articles describing other strategies to help carriers move beyond basic compliance, incorporate new technology into their systems, and look deeper into the role of auditors in NSC safety systems.  While legislation directs compliance, I believe that individuals in safety and compliance management will find their roles far more meaningful when they move from seeing the letter to seeing the spirit of the law.

References

1 - “Records”, Section 37, Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulation, AR 121/2009, Province of Alberta, accessed September 21st, 2021,https://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/2009_121.pdf