LBS takes on Truckfile electronic system

Welsh builders merchant LBS has been trialling a new electronic check system for vehicles.

The electronic daily walk-around check system is an extension of the Truckfile management system from Magic Internet and means that truck drivers need no longer use paper.

Instead, they use a handheld reader to do mandatory checks. That unit automatically recognises small, weather-resistant RFID tags permanently attached to the vehicle exterior in the inspection zones, as per VOSA guidelines.

In addition, it automatically identifies the vehicle, the driver and the components to be checked – and won’t allow the driver to proceed until he or she signs off each location as inspected.

If problems are found the system automatically notifies the transport manager concerned that the vehicle is off the road, and links the information into the Truckfile workshop management system database.

Neil Fearn, transport and health and safety manager at LBS says: “With this system, we’re going as far as we possibly can to force drivers to walk around their vehicles. That’s any transport manager’s biggest headache: anything becomes just a tick box exercise. With 10 branches, I can’t physically get all of them to look at their vehicles properly and report defects. But at least, with this system we’ve gone as far as we can to police it.

“The next stage is just to get a printout working in the cab so that if our driver is stopped by VOSA, they can see that the walk-around has been done electronically.”

He is confident that this system will replace the existing paper-based defect system.