Applying for a job with a haulier can mean an interview, a driving assessment and a probationary period as well as providing references. For total transparency should prospective employers also provide you with its Operator Compliance Risk Score to show they are worth working for? Big Dave has been waved in so many times by Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) employees that he is on first name terms with most of them.
Many of his impromptu roadside checks came during an 18-month period of employment with a particular ‘haulier’. It got so bad that even Big Dave stopped seeing the funny side of it. Any self-respecting steering wheel attendant will know that when they see a DVSA liveried vehicle on the move there is a moment when the sphincter tightens just a tad pending the yellow lights. Every haulier is listed on the Governments’ Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) database that decides which vehicles DVSA should inspect. They tap in the registration and up comes…well I’m not exactly sure…thumbs? OCRS takes in the operator’s performance regarding the condition of its vehicles and known operational offences. If your employers’ OCRS is high it is more likely you, the employed lorry driver, will be flagged in and given the once over. The OCRS uses data collected over a rolling three-year period based on specific information. There is a distinctive set of criteria and a set-in-stone scoring system split into three; one for roadworthiness, one for traffic (this includes drivers’ hours and tachograph offences, and weighing checks), and these two are combined for an overall third score. This translates into a traffic light system; if green the operator is viewed as low risk, amber is medium risk, red is high risk and grey is ‘unknown operator’. Outside of green and the wagons are more likely to be pulled in. It works off the theory that if the operator isn’t on green then they should be striving for green, so trucks should be exemplary, hence they are pulled in to see if that is the case. If so, all good, if not… Operators know their own OCRS but not that of others and itinerate lorry drivers most certainly do not have access to it in any shape or form. Had Big Dave known that his employer was most likely in the red, I wonder if he would’ve joined the company. At his interview for the job of ‘lorry driver’ Big Dave provided references, had an extensive interview about driving hours and pre-shift checks, and was asked if he’d been stopped, had any prosecutions, fines, points or cautions. Big Dave met all the conditions for employment even if his appearance and personal hygiene doesn’t . He was also asked to put his details into the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) online ‘license holder check system’ to make sure he was ‘legit’. He did so without hesitation. Inside the first week Big Dave was pulled in at Carlisle. His considerably sized sphincter responded accordingly, no mean achievement, and he followed the DVSA highway patrol into the roadside facility. His mind raced back to his pre-vehicle shift and any over-speeds or other ‘offences’ that might have popped up after downloading his digital tachograph. His wagon was given the once over and was sent packing. Pulled over once maybe considered random, twice (this time at Stirling) smacks of intent. Big Dave does self-preservation better than Boris Johnson. He adhered to his pre-shift vehicle check religiously, reported anything that hinted of defect and even queried the brevity of the vehicle check sheet. He began adding his own notes to it to show its minimalism. When he got waved in at Beattock and then Warrington his sphincter barely registered a response knowing he’d done all he could to ensure his vehicle was roadworthy and that any driving offences were little more than misdemeanours or one-offs. During the 18 months he’d been pulled seven times across the country. A tyre on the verge of baldness was, according to Big Dave, the nearest they got to pinning anything on him. It was clear his employer wasn’t the best at maintaining their own rolling stock so rather than risk his livelihood, Big Dave walked. He was lucky. There are thousands of wagon drivers motoring across the country working for employers whose OCRS are less than stellar. Drivers often work in ignorant bliss, only to get wise when caught with a wagon not suitable for the open road. If employers can give you the once over, I think it’s only right drivers can do the same by having access to their employers (new or current) OCRS in the same way Big Dave had to go through the DVLA license check. Big Dave had nothing to hide, if an operator has nothing to hide, they should gladly boast a ‘green OCRS’. Lorry drivers will, to the best of their ability, make sure their wagon is roadworthy but if the operator is on red or amber surely this might make the lorry driver reconsider their options, after all, why play the game fairly if your employer cannot be bothered to do the same?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorAging proletariat with face, teeth and body to prove it. Archives
August 2021
|