Page 44 - Australasian Paint & Panel Jan-Feb 2020

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HEAVY VEHICLE REPAIR
44 AHVRA Focus • 45 Commercial vehicle paint products
T
PAINT&PANEL JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2020
AHVRA FOCUS
HE AUSTRALIAN
Heavy Vehicle Re- pairers Association (AHVRA) was formed in 2010 to repre- sent the sector The Australi- an Heavy Vehicle Repairers Association (AHVRA) was formed in 2010 to represent the sector to government, in- surers and various trade as- sociations and to maintain, raise and improve standards.
The association has been a great suc- cesses since inception and has profes- sionally represented the industry devel- oping good working relationships with government departments, insurers and trade associations. A very important is- sue AHVRA completed saw the reduc- tion of unsafe heavy vehicles from our roads in NSW. Other states will follow and AHVRA is working to achieve a na- tional written off heavy vehicle register.
Repairing heavy commercial vehicles is extremely specialised and offers very different challenges, equipment require- ments and skill sets to those of the light vehicle repair industry.
One of the associations biggest con- cerns is the practice of some insurers issu- ing work to repairers who do not meet heavy vehicle industry repair standards, equipment and WHS requirements. There are many sub standard and dangerous re- pair outcomes that can occur, of particu- lar note is failure to apply the correct diag- nosis, intensive and necessary dismantling, inspection and crack testing.
Steering boxes, front axles, steering arms turntables etc. might appear undam- aged but there may be stress cracks and twisting and runnelling that cannot be seen with the naked eye. This could result in catastrophic failure of critical compo- nents resulting in injury and death. The Chain of Responsibility Laws 2018 have been expanded to set an overarching re-
ABOVE: AHVRA is campaigning for a national written off vehicle register for heavy vehicles.
sponsibility to ensure the safety of heavy vehicles, ensuring a heavy vehicle repairer has the capability, training and equipment to carry out repairs to industry standards.
Spray painting in uncontrolled condi- tions (where spraybooths aren’t large enough) can lead to severe penalties for non-compliance ranging up to $3 mil- lion and/or 5 years imprisonment.
UNACCEPTABLE DELAYS
AHVRA campaigns on a variety of issues on behalf of its members. It is currently concerned by the practice by some insurers in delaying assessments and the approval of supplements. Repairers report that this is an increasing problem greatly affecting ef- ficient business operation and service.
This could be considered a breach of the Industry Code of Conduct. The code states under 4.2 insurers will:
(c) in the – event periods, consider es- timates and commence assessor com- munication with the repairer
Within: for the period commencing 1 July 2017, an average of five working days per repairer from the system receipt of the repairers estimate subject to 4.2 (d) and the reasonable availability of the ve- hicle and / or the customers availability.
If the time period in clause 45.2 can- not be achieved for an estimate/s due to
vehicle location, repair complexity, pe- riods of high volume or staffing short- ages, the repairer must be notified of the delay and the reason for the delay, and a new assessing time frame agreed.
AHVRA reports that some insurers have responded postively to solving these issues and have asked for specific instances of heavy vehicles being put into non-licences repairers and unaccep- table approval delays be referred to them, they can then facilitate solutions. In the first instance send the informa- tion to: ahvra@mtansw.com.au and this will be treated confidentially.
CASH SETTLEMENTS
AHVRA also reports that there has been a growing incidence of cash settle- ments which creates a loophole in the WOHVR legislation where heavy vehi- cles could be put back on the road in a poorly repaired and dangerous state.
While some insurers argue that cash settlements are rare and so are not really an issue, AHVRA strongly believes that a low incidence of trucks being cash set- tled to back yarders does not solve the se- rious threat to road safety.
All repairers have been requested to ad- vise AHVRA of heavy vehicles which have been cash settled in the last six months.