Vehicle Safety Check
In the M-41 which is the letter carriers handbook called City Delivery Carriers Duty & Responsibility section 832 talks about vehicle inspections. I will go into the expanded vehicle safety check later on in this article. These safety checks were put into this manual to protect you against faulty vehicle equipment. Everyone wants you to be safe while driving a postal vehicle and we all want you to return home to your family safe and sound at the end of the day.
Yet when I go to offices and visit the carriers I find few offices that are doing this vehicle safety checks on a daily basis. When I ask carriers why they are not doing them I get an assortment of reason why not to do them. I feel these reason are made up or excuses because the carriers are preoccupied and don’t want to take the time to do the vehicle safety inspection check – they would rather case mail and make management look good.
Why would you give management back office time that you get to do this vehicle inspection? This vehicle inspection protects you from driving a faulty or damaged vehicle. Are you too busy sorting mail to protect yourself by doing a vehicle inspection? Isn’t your safety more important than casing your mail? These vehicle inspections take between 5 and up to 10 minutes to conduct depending on where your vehicles are parked in the lot. Why would you give management this time back? Imagine if you are in a 20 route office and every letter carrier did not do their vehicle inspection, if you add up just 5 minutes per vehicle multiplied by 20 vehicles that is 100 minutes or 1 hour and 40 minutes of office time that YOU the letter carriers are giving back to management without management even trying to recoup it. If it takes the letter carriers in that office 10 minutes to do that vehicle inspection that would be 200 minutes or 3 hours and 20 minutes of office time that YOU the letter carriers are giving back to management without management even trying to recoup it. You can see where I am going with this, this is our time not management’s so use it or lose it!
This vehicle inspection is the letter carriers responsibility not management’s. Management is not going to tell you or make an announcement to do your vehicle inspection, they know if you don’t do it they are getting that time back in the office, because that time will be spent sorting mail and making them look good for their numbers. And we all know this job turned into a numbers game with management. So why would you give them this time back? Isn’t your safety worth between 5 to 10 minutes of postal service time to check your vehicle? Why would you jeopardize your safety for management to look good?
All you need is a coworker to do this vehicle safety check – you check your vehicle they check their vehicle. Then with your coworker, you have to check all the lights, mirrors etc. on the vehicle. So find yourself a coworker to do this with, management won‘t assist you in this but they won’t stop you either!
Now for the 27 step expanded vehicle safety check:
1. Look under body for oil and water leaks
2. Inspect two front tires for inflation and wear
3. Check hood latches
4. Check front for body damage
5. Check left side for body damage
6. Check left door lock
7. Check for rear end leaks
8. Check all rear tires for inflation and wear
9. Check rear for body damage
10. Check rear door lock
11. Check right side for body damage
12. Check right door lock
13. Open door and move into driving position
14. Start engine (If in enclosed area, wait until after step 21)
15. With assistance – adjust pot-lid and left front mirror
16. With assistance – check headlights, tail lights, brake lights, 4-way flashers, and directional signals, front and rear
17. Adjust right side rear view mirror
18. Adjust center rear view mirror
19. Check steering wheel play
20. Check accident report kit
21. Check window locks
22. Check windshield wipers and washers
23. Check horn
24. Check gauges (gas gauge requires 30 seconds for “warm-up”)
25. Check foot brake (no more than 2 inches free play)
26. Check hand brake
27. Check seat belt and fasten
This check list has been programmed to take the driver in a logical sequence around the RHD vehicle with a minimum of lost motion. For LHD vehicles – work from right side to rear to left side beginning at Item 5. Items 15 & 16 – if no assistance readily available, handle personally. With route inspections coming in the fall to approximately 18 post offices and this new “test” program starting also in the fall in a few offices called consolidated casing, it will be very important for you to get credit (office time) for doing a vehicle inspection and to protect your safety!
