How to Cut Down on ‘Random’ Inspections

This is not an article on the evils or incompetence of government safety inspectors. It’s simply an argument for understanding how they typically operate, and how to avoid getting in their crosshairs. I do believe that the majority of these people understand very well how dangerous poorly maintained and operated equipment is. They often see the carnage of the scene of an accident and typically get reports on the causes and effects that bad vehicles cause.

Even if inspectors don’t have quotas, they don’t want to waste their time

Inspectors may or may not have quotas. In many jurisdictions, there’s basically no way of knowing. Here’s an alternative way of looking at it. If an inspector works 40 hours a week inspecting vehicles for 6 months and does not find a single defect, then there’s a problem. This is an exaggeration in a sense, but it’s still true that the scenario is unimaginable. That said, a brand-new trailer might not have anything wrong with it at all for a while. But a 3-year-old dump truck that spends its days driving around a mine or construction site probably has something broken or in need of adjustment every week.

What this means is that on average, if a competent and honest inspector spends hours every day inspecting trucks and trailers for defects, they will find things. I don’t mean to say that you’re guaranteed to get a ticket every time an inspector lays eyes on your vehicle. They probably could but they don’t. They usually understand that at one point it’s a question of fairness. No one can be expected to have a 100% top shape fleet at all times. It’s physically impossible even if you do nothing (things will seize).

There is a purpose for these inspections, don’t be the purpose

In my experience, and I believe most will agree, all these inspection agencies and programs are really there for 2-3% of the fleets and operators on the road. Most people do an honest job trying to run safe equipment. They may be more or less good at it, but most try their best. But then you have that 2-3% that just don’t care. They are paid to move trailers from point A to point B. Repairing things on trucks and trailers is expensive. Unless the wheels stop turning, don’t fix a thing, don’t spend a cent they say!

These are the people that inspectors are on the lookout for. Usually, there are telltale signs of who these people are. Papers aren’t well laid out in a binder; they’re crumbled in the glove box. And one glance at the vehicles and you know that the owner of the truck or the fleet is not working with the concept of pride. It shows when someone doesn’t care.

Why keep clean vehicles that look well operated

While someone could go through this sort of trouble to avoid more trouble, here are the sorts of things you can do to avoid trouble. This will sound silly, but it works. First and foremost, adjust your headlights and make sure what should be white is white, and what should be amber is amber. Who cares? The inspector who sees your lights before anything else on the vehicle. Does it look like the left-side headlamp is aimed at the heavens? The driver should know and care that their lights are poorly adjusted because visibility will be less on one side. What if they drive only during the day? Do you not get clouds and rain?

Next, repair any and all body damage. A cracked hood probably doesn’t matter to anyone for any reason, assuming there are no sharp edges. But it does show a certain lack of attention for the vehicle. The question that will be asked is “if they don’t care about the hood, do they care about the brakes?”.

Last, keep nice wheels. Not driving on chrome wheels? Paint your steels. It’s not cheap, but scraping your rims and painting them with a can of white is cheaper than attracting the unwanted attention of the inspector.

How to keep clean vehicles that look well operated

The irony of keeping vehicles that look well operated is that oftentimes they are well operated. The fleet manager or owner who doesn’t care about safety also doesn’t care about these details. But even that person if they start to pay attention to these little non-critical things will start to have a bit more pride in their equipment and their work, and maybe, hopefully, this will translate over to the finer point of equipment maintenance and safety like brakes, suspension and steering.

Nothing is perfect, they may choose you to raise the number of units inspected

Odds are, even if your fleet looks parade ready at all times, you will still get inspected fairly regularly for random inspections. Even if this is the case, most inspectors understand that your driver is in the middle of their day, and things happen. Couple that with the fact that you clearly make an effort to keep the appearances of your fleet and unless they find some sort of mechanical disaster, they’ll be a lot more likely to give you a warning.

At the end of the day, the best solution is to run a safe and efficient fleet. At least as much as possible. Things will happen, things will break and there may be the occasional fine in your future despite your best efforts. Ultimately, I hope you do the best you can to maintain your vehicles in safe operating condition. Transportation is very rarely done for pleasure; it’s done for profit. No profit in the world is worth getting hurt or hurting someone else. It’s one thing to say that a driver or fleet operator can do jail time for the death of an individual caused by unsafe equipment or driving, but the real catastrophe is the meaningless and often avoidable loss of life. And even if you are the one walking away physically healthy from this sort of accident, your life will still be forever changed and for the worse. Be careful, and drive safe.