Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/699972
commercial carrier journal | july 2016 29 Erasing the pencil-whipping Technology, education keys to consistent quality checks BY JASON CANNON P re-trip inspections are one of the first things listed in the Commercial Driver License manual, hammering home the importance of the process. However, with fleet managers outnumbered by tractors and drivers tens or even hundreds to one, the inspection process can be one of the most challenging to organize. "Pre-trip inspections are really a people process," says Joe Puff, NationaLease's vice president of technology and maintenance. "We can have all of the electronics and all of the behind-the-scenes telematics at our fingertips, but at the end of the day, if the driver wants to bypass the process and pencil-whip it, he or she can make it look pretty good." Fred Fakkema, Zonar's vice president of compliance, estimates that about 85 percent of all pre-trip inspections are done incorrectly – if at all. E-confirmation Electronic systems such as Zonar's Electronic Vehicle In- spection Report have taken the pencil out of the pencil-whip by forcing drivers to scan a radio-frequency identification barcode at each inspection point. "It's time-stamped, so you know how long that driver is in that specific zone and, over the totality of it, how long it took for them to do the entire inspection," says Fakkema, a 25-year veteran of the enforcement field. Once the scanning tablet is returned to its cradle, a custom- izable inspection report is synched automatically to a fleet's Zonar platform for back-office and maintenance personnel, streamlining and documenting the process from inspection to repair and the truck being placed back in service. Backup checks For fleets that still rely on pencil and paper, one way to mea- sure the quality of a driver's pre-trip inspection is to re-inspect behind them periodically. "A re-inspection makes sure that everybody is doing things by the book, and it sends a clear safety commitment message," Puff says. "It's a no-excuse great coaching opportunity." Problems rarely stem from a driver's unwillingness to per- form a proper pre-trip, Puff says. Many times, it comes down to training and education. "They really need to understand what they're looking at," he says. "One of the things I often see is drivers looking at brakes and tires, but they really don't know what they need to look for. They don't know at what point it's a pass or fail." Fakkema agrees. "Number one, do [drivers] know what they are looking at when they are doing the pre- and post-trip?" he asks. "Then, number two, are they actually doing it?" "The more training we can give drivers to teach them the pro- cess correctly, the better," Puff adds. "If you notice in re-inspec- tions that pre-trips are not being done as they should, you need to retrain on specific areas, like recurring issues with brakes." Education, incentives Bob Waller, chief executive officer of Excelsior Springs, Mo.- based Waller Truck Co., says driver education will be a big part of his company's focus as it rounds the corner on the second half of 2016. "As part of our third-quarter safety efforts, we will be focusing on a driver education program encouraging pre-trip inspections," Waller says. "There will be social media, in-cab messaging and an incentive-based program that catches our drivers in the act of doing a pre-trip inspection." The top violations during Compliance Safety Accountability roadside inspections generally relate to lights, tires and brakes, all of which Fakkema says can be spotted during a quality pre- trip inspection before they drag down CSA scores. "Enforcement [officers are] like everybody else," he says. "You're always looking for that low-hanging fruit. If they see a couple of marker lights out or a headlight out, that's the easy stuff, and then you see where you inspection can go from there." in focus: PRE-TRIP INSPECTIONS Dave Swenson, a lease driver for Excelsior Springs, Mo.-based Waller Truck Co., conducts a pre-trip inspection.