Trucking lobby calls for trailer mechanics to be formally accredited to improve safety in the industry
By Samantha Freestone | May 11, 2010
The national trucking lobby is calling for trailer mechanics to be formally accredited, and its proposal may get off the ground.
The ATA has written to the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce (VACC) calling for trailer mechanics to be qualified.
ATA Chief Executive Stuart St Clair says an accreditation scheme will bring a “new level of professionalism to the job and enhance the safety of the industry.”
“In many workshops trailer repairs are commonly done by skilled but unqualified people,” St Clair says.
“The industry will benefit by having qualified trailer mechanics supplementing the more specialised engine and transmission staff in the workshop.”
He is urging all fleet managers to back an accreditation scheme, and the VACC says it is currently reviewing the qualification submission.
“The VACC understands and supports the principle behind the qualification and has started its own review and validation process by the industry of the units of competency that make up the qualification,” VACC General Manager Leyla Yilmaz says.
ATA member Val Gomez, from Silk Logistics, has spent more than 15 years working to get a scheme introduced, the ATA says.