DVSA issues plea about cab cleanliness23 December 2020
DVSA has published guidelines about vehicle cleanliness during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect its vehicle standards assessors (VSAs) carrying out annual tests.
It writes: “We’ve always had a standard for vehicle cleanliness at test. It’s a common sense approach which helps our VSAs to carry out their inspections without any restrictions. We do not expect your vehicle or trailer to have a full valet before its test. But our staff do have to get into the cab as part of the inspection. So wiping down the interior of the vehicle beforehand is really important.”
It says that VSAs need to be satisfied that the interior of the vehicle has recently been cleaned. This includes:
- wiping down areas that the VSA needs to touch (for example, the dashboard, doors and vehicle controls)
- clearing away any items like food wrappers, bottles and tissues from areas that need to be accessed (for example, seats and footwells)
- storing essential items in their correct positions (for example, fire extinguisher, hard hats)
- tidying away any other items that could get in the VSA's way.
The guidance is part of government guidance about how to keep transport clean (see link below) and prevent the transmission of coronavirus.
“This should also be part of your procedures,” it adds.
DVSA concludes: “There are a handful of occasions we refuse to test a vehicle because of issues with cleanliness. VSAs know our policy on vehicle cleanliness and if there’s time, they will give the operator/presenter a chance to clean the cab before refusing to test. If the standards cannot be met on the day, we’ll issue an official refusal. Refusing a test is something we do not want to do. But keeping DVSA staff and others safe remains our priority.”
Author
Transport Engineer
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