I doubt that any mainstream journalist has ever visited a modern heavy vehicle workshop, where highly qualified staff use the latest technology to carry out maintenance in an impressively efficient way. Quite often it’s the workshops that drive the industry’s safety quest, as operators take pride in a well-maintained fleet and place high value on both visual and technical excellence.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a large fleet or a small one, the truth of the matter is that safety and reliability are actually in the industry’s best interest, so why cutting corners? Every breakdown is money lost – and who can afford a loss in customer satisfaction in the current economic climate? Thinking that bad maintenance would increase margins is a naïve fallacy.
In reality, operators make a huge investment in maintenance facilities and spare parts inventory, and many of them take advantage of the latest technology to keep their trucks running as they should. In line with that, workshop equipment has undergone incredible advancement in recent years, and so too have oils and lubricants designed to extend reliability and on-road service. Most major lubricant suppliers now even have products on offer that were specially designed for the tough local conditions here in Australia.
Maintenance has become key to running a successful trucking operation in Australia, and almost every organisation out there has made it an essential part of their business plan because they know it’s a strategic investment in the future. The workshop is where success begins, and this industry is acutely aware of it.
As a result, the days of taking a cursory look over heavy vehicles and sending them on their way have long gone. In fact, one would hope motorists would take a similar approach to their cars on a regular basis to make Australian roads a safer place.
Walk into any modern trucking workshop and you find the environment is usually one of order and cleanliness. It is rare these days to find oil and grease stains on the floor, as operators have a high regard for the environment as well as Occupational Health & Safety.
In the latest National Truck Accident Research Centre report (featured in last month’s Prime Mover Magazine) mechanical failure contributed to just five per cent of truck crashes, a fact that is yet to be reported, if it will be, in mainstream media. It proves just how high the standard of vehicle safety in Australia already is, with maintenance regimes being continuously improved based on such data.
The workshop is at the safety front line in our business, and those wishing to paint a different picture need to look closely at what is going on behind the scenes. Unfortunately, what happens in the workshop to keep Australia safe is rarely recognised by the public, but it doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate it here!
