Page 55 - Australasian Paint & Panel magazine May-June 2022

A colleague’s safe day could be determined by the action you take.
Speak up – safety is in your hands
MAINTENANCE IS KEY
GARY WILCOX FROM MONIT EXPLAINS HOW SKIPPING ON MAINTENANCE COULD RESULT IN A PRISON SENTENCE.
PANEL SHOPS HAVE A TWOFOLD RESPONSI-
bility in maintaining their realignment equipment, with the most obvious being to ensure repaired vehicles are within manu- facturers specifications.
Vehicles with Advanced Drive-Assistance Systems (ADAS) use technology such as la- sers, radar and cameras to help detect pedes- trians, other vehicles and road markings so it’s paramount the vehicle is a repaired to within the manufacturer’s finite tolerances. Regularly calibrating your realignment equipment will contribute to the proper op- eration of the vehicle’s automatic braking; lane keep assist; collision avoidance; adap- tive cruise control and so on.
The other reason for a panel shop to cali- brate their realignment equipment is to com- ply with the WHS Act and Regulations.
Calibrating equipment involves perform- ing the necessary adjustments, tests and in- spections to ensure the equipment is in full working order to specified requirements.
The person who calibrates plant should en- sure that:
• The calibrating sequence is in accordance
with the design specifications
• Tests, such as dummy runs, are carried out
to check that the plant will perform within the design specifications.
It could be reasonably argued in court that calibratingyourrealignmentequipmentisone way of maintaining the equipment in line with the manufacturer’s design specifications.
If a worker is severely injured whilst using a piece of equipment the WHS inspectors will spend time investigating the equipment’s maintenance records. It’s not unusual for the investigators to also request the maintenance records of all the business’s plant and equip- ment in order to establish if the business has a neglectfulattitudetowardsthemaintenance of their plant and equipment.
If a manufacturer recommends calibration as part of maintaining their equipment then it needs to be done, including the intervals between calibrations.
39% of fatalities in the workplace involve plant and equipment which is one of the reasons almost every state has industrial manslaughter laws in place, however, it would be highly unlikely the lack of calibra- tion on the realignment equipment contrib- uted directly to a death. In saying that, it could be easily argued the panel shop was neglectful in properly maintaining the equipment as per the manufacturer’s design specifications making them a contributor. A contribution to a workplace death still carries a gaol sentence.