As IRTE and FTA come together to implement a scheme that will assess and accredit commercial vehicle workshops, Brian Tinham talks to the instigators
 Within the next few months, IRTE (the Institute of Road Transport Engineers) intends to have the first independent workshop accreditation scheme in place for the UK. The aim, it says, is to give operators peace of mind that their vehicles are being professionally maintained, and to drive up standards, so also improving hauliers' OCRS (operator compliance risk score) standing.
Ian Chisholm, head of operations at SOE (Society of Operations Engineers, the umbrella organisation for IRTE), explains that the move follows approaches from senior managers representing about 10% of the road haulage industry – namely, Wincanton, C Butt, DHL and Sainsbury. "The operation of HGVs is highly regulated, robustly policed by VOSA [the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency] and overseen by the traffic commissioners," he points out. "That's fine, but while operators may be subject to severe penalties if found to be non-compliant in any area – and that includes maintenance – no form of regulation applies to third party maintenance providers who now carry out much of this work."
His point: it is a long established principle that hauliers are the O licence holders and, as such, cannot delegate responsibility for maintenance of their vehicles. Yet, in practice – commercial pressures notwithstanding – they increasingly have to rely on engineering competence that, in many cases, is not under their control and remains unaudited.
Keith Tress, head of engineering at DHL Supply Chain, Engineering and Fleet Services, cites problems with MOT figures. "A few years back, some dealers were quoting 85% first time pass rates and were happy with that. Well we weren't happy, and our team of field engineers – who cover the country doing investigations into MOT failures, prohibitions etc – have been challenging the thinking."
Other problems include dealers only sending pass certificates but no PRS notifications – meaning that operators' OCRS scores may be skewed without their knowledge – and unacceptable roadside prohibitions involving maintenance. "Our issue is that there are no penalties against the maintenance providers for this. We can, and do, monitor standards by policing our suppliers, but what about smaller independent operators? How are they supposed to ensure professional maintenance of their vehicles in the same way?"
This state of affairs has not gone unnoticed, and Chisholm speaks of "considerable apprehension" throughout the transport industry in relation to the "differing and unregulated standards of maintenance". He also confirms that, at a meeting with senior traffic commissioner Philip Brown, concerns were highlighted – and hence the representations to IRTE to establish its workshop accreditation scheme.
As Dave Rowlands, technical services director at Wincanton, puts it: "IRTE is a reputable name within the industry and already has experience of operating a register, through the irtec technician licensing scheme. Also, its maintenance supplier assessment document provides a good basis for the standards, with its existing guidance for operators choosing maintenance facilities."
As for the benefits, Rowlands concedes that, like DHL and many of the big boys, Wincanton audits its suppliers, so already has that advantage. But he insists that the new scheme won't just help smaller operators. "Our engineers already check suppliers, in terms of numbers of fitters, workshop facilities, first time MOT pass rates, ADR coverage, accident rates, financial standing, safe systems of work, risk assessments etc, before we trust our vehicles to them. But that's all duplicated effort around the haulage companies, so a central accreditation register would work well for us, too."
And Tress agrees: "From DHL's point of view, this will help with contractor compliance. We will be able to build up our portfolio of suppliers accredited for everything, including tanker maintenance, hot works etc. We will then just need to get an SLA [service level agreement] in place and work with these workshops, knowing they're audited."
Additionally, both also believe that the IRTE scheme will raise standards, as workshops apply to get themselves registered. As Rowlands puts it: "When they're measured, standards always improve, so we can all expect a better quality of maintenance and repair work, as well more consistent management information."
Everyone accepts that the details are yet to be finalised, but, with news from April's CV Show that FTA (the Freight Transport Association) has signed a memorandum of understanding, under which its assessors will carry out the audits to IRTE standards and quality control, all now expect events to move relatively swiftly.
It can't come a moment too soon. As Gary King, logistics operations support manager with Sainsbury, says: "The transport industry needs a common means of assessment to ensure that everyone is getting the quality of maintenance we all want and need."
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