The Technology & Maintenance Council’s S.16 Service Provider study group at TMC’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn., heard from a panel of task force members Monday about mobile maintenance safety issues.
Monday’s discussion on the topic seemed to split the mobile maintenance conversation into two categories: roadside repairs and on-site maintenance.
“We need to define what mobile maintenance is. The last time we met we found that there wasn’t a lot of difference between what people saw as roadside maintenance and safety maintenance,” said task force chairman Jerry Bodkins, of TravelCenters of America.
According to Bodkins, the need for such a discussion comes from the various issues that affect a technician’s ability to safely perform their job as well as the lack of a recognized procedure list to follow.
“Road side repairs are repairs that are unscheduled and often occur in high traffic areas,” Bodkins said. “Scheduled maintenance is preventive maintenance at a yard lot.
“There are several objectives that we need to look at it, but our first objective is to bring the technicians home safe every day.”
Bodkins said that communication with a technician is key and understanding the situation they are in before leaving the site.
“Look at whether the tech is trained for the work, are they trained for the truck and is the tech trained for the surroundings they are working in,” Bodkins said. “Our techs need to be trained all the way across the board.”
Bodkins also said that determining necessary safety equipment needs is important.
The panel said this particular task force is still new, and as such, they are looking for ideas to put into a recommended practice list.
Panelists said they saw a gap in what is available on maintenance safety through other recommended practices and are looking to put together a list of recommended practices that will be distributed to companies.
Bodkins said a group will be working in the coming weeks to determine the necessary steps to take next and hope to develop a list before the fall.
