A
UK dealership imported European-manufactured construction equipment that was CE
compliant upon import, but lost its CE compliance when the dealer-installed
UK-sourced construction equipment options and attachments, allowing unsafe and
potentially lethal construction equipment to be marketed and sold within the
UK. The UK dealer failed to:
- Specify
and implement the internal legislative, safety and qualitative standards
and operating procedures required to adapt construction equipment for sale
in the UK market.
- Inform
its suppliers of UK-sourced construction equipment options and attachments
of the legislative, safety and qualitative standards that the UK options
and attachments had to be manufactured and supplied to comply with.
- Install
a quality management system (QMS) to maintain and ensure supplier and
internal adherence to the legislative, safety and qualitative standards
required for construction equipment adapted for the UK market.
The
imported and adapted construction equipment suffered from several failures of
UK-sourced options and attachments, where legislative, safety and qualitative
standards needed to be specified or where UK-sourced options and attachments
had been fitted incorrectly. The issues resulted in operator safety systems
being compromised and the premature failure of safety equipment, examples of
which include:
- Fire
safety systems fitted that corrupted the integrity of rollover protection
systems (ROPS).
- Safety
barriers that fractured and broke during the use of construction equipment.
- Camera
and safety equipment systems that failed prematurely in operation.
- Security
equipment that fell from the construction equipment whilst in transit.
A
QMS ensures that directors, managers, and staff operate according to common
legislative, quality, and safety standards to protect the public and guide
staff in fulfilling the organisation's purpose to ensure and maximise its
profitability, efficiency, and effectiveness.
The
lack of a QMS resulted in the UK dealer not being able to protect its customers
when using the construction equipment, as the problems encountered by the
organisation resulted in the following safety concerns for UK-sourced options
and attachments:
- The
construction equipment lost its CE compliance when options and attachments
were fitted.
- Legislative
standards were not specified for any option or attachment system.
- Quality
was not monitored to ensure construction equipment operator and staff
safety.
- The options
and attachments were not subjected to independent UK safety testing.
- The
equipment manufacturer did not endorse fitting UK-sourced options and
attachments.
- Installation
procedures were not specified or provided for UK-sourced options and
attachments.
- Customers
were not provided with UK-sourced options or attachment operating
instructions.
- Customer
maintenance manuals were not provided for UK-sourced options and
attachments.
A
QMS ensures that legislative, quality, and safety standards and criteria are
adhered to and upheld internally within the organisation and by suppliers. The
UK dealer failed to install a QMS or specify any internal standard operating
procedures to ensure compliance with legislative, quality and safety standards.
These failures resulted in:
- A
commercial risk analysis not being carried out for the supply of UK
options or attachments.
- Construction
equipment safety requirements, obligations, and standards not being
specified.
- The
legal risks of supplying options and attachments not being considered.
- UK
option and attachment supply contracts not being specified and signed off
by Suppliers.
- A
product catalogue not operating to track and trace UK option and
attachment failures.
- Suppliers
not being held accountable for UK option or attachment safety failure
risks.
- A
category management policy not being enacted for the supply of UK options
or attachments.
- Formal
negotiations not being regularly carried out for the supply of options or
attachments.
- A
lack of quality assurance or legislative standards to ensure CE/ISO
compliance.
A
QMS consists of organisational-wide procedures and processes to ensure the
quality and safety of services or products to meet and exceed customers’
expectations. Where an organisation imports and distributes construction
equipment, it must do so to ensure that the highest levels of operator, staff
and public safety standards are achieved and adhered to.
QMS
systems are typically measurable and repeatable but rely on continuous
improvement methods in a feedback loop to review and improve quality and safety
standards. Organisational safety objectives relating to the safety of
construction equipment operators, staff and the public are critically important
as they govern the values and strategic direction of organisational health and
safety policies.
Many
corporate leadership teams make the mistake of oversimplifying or ignoring
their health and safety obligations through ignorance and focusing solely on
revenue or profitability objectives. A QMS requires Directors, Managers, and
staff to ensure an array of safety objectives is considered that balances and
meets all stakeholders' needs, especially regarding legislative, qualitative,
and health and safety concerns.
A
quality approach to legislative, qualitative and health and safety matters
ensures that an organisation sets goals for monitoring and evaluating internal
operating and supplier performance criteria to ensure that the highest levels
of safety are achieved and that the integrity of health and safety procedures
is maintained, which reduces the risk of death and serious injury of
construction equipment operators, staff, and the public, to a minimum.
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