COMBATING COMPLACENCY Cathy Erwin, transportation director of the Creighton School
District in central Phoenix, said her drivers, like those in many districts, may conduct as many as six total pre- and post-inspec- tions a day. Te element of surprise is also a potential tool to combat the complacency that every mundane routine can foster. Erwin, who began her career as a driver in 1979 and has been in her current role for 14 years, has taken special note of potential security threats as part of the district’s overall inspec- tion process. For a recent in-service training session on pre-trip inspections, which tested three teams of eight to nine drivers to find 30 defects, Erwin instructed her mechanics to also build a fake bomb and hide it on a bus. With team members focused on particular areas of the bus, only one individual found the faux bomb during the inspections. It was located on top of the rear leaf springs behind the driver’s side rear duals. “My staff was surprised, impressed and shocked to know
there was a bomb on board the bus. Te reaction ran the full gamut of emotions,” Erwin acknowledged. “I don’t think anyone felt like I was out to get them or make them feel like ‘I gotcha.’ Tat was never the intent. I was out to make aware that you always have to be extremely thorough in your checks. In this day and age of homeland security issues, you just never know what might happen.” While Erwin recommended other transportation directors hold similar exercises, she pointed out that some peers she
knows had already done the same training. “It’s not that I was reinventing the wheel; they just never
shared it with me,” she said. “Tinking outside of the box is important because you want to break up the routine and offer something different.” She noted the daily inspection process can be changed up to help
prevent the possibility of complacency, especially with the district’s use of the Zonar Systems electronic vehicle inspection package. “It is something we are going to do yearly to change the
routine in our pre-trip inspection but still cover the key points,” she suggested. Marshall Casey, former director of maintenance for the
South Carolina Department of Education and an organizer of America’s Best School Bus Technician and School Bus Inspec- tor Training and Skills Competition, said the entire approach to daily, periodic and annual inspections has evolved since he began his career in the mid-1970s. “It’s absolutely taken more seriously,” he insisted. He noted that today’s vehicles may have 10 times as many
electrical harnesses as vehicles from years past, and each poses the threat of a wiring short. And, of course, equipment is updat- ed virtually every year. Casey touted the value of consistency, including following
the exact same routine, to guarantee inspections uncover large and small defects. “Te key to being a good inspector is being detail oriented
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