Designed to ensure the highest standards of safety are implemented when working with electrified vehicles and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) will use its platform at Automotive Management Live to highlight its new TechSafe campaign.
The aim is to provide the industry with the appropriate skills for new technology including electrification, ADAS, connectivity and autonomous vehicles. The IMI continues to work with the sector, the Department for Transport, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and other key stakeholders to develop TechSafe.
That includes working with Thatcham on the introduction of a new code of practice for ADAS and working with a broad-based Sector Advisory Group to establish agreed standards which will ensure the industry meets its obligations under the Electricity at Work Regulations.
Joining CEO Steve Nash on stage at the IMI People Theatre will be:-
Employers have to comply with Electricity at Work Regulations when staff are working with electrified vehicles (hybrids, plug-in hybrids and EVs). The IMI has developed qualifications and accreditations, supported by e-learning resources and deliverable through more than 600 IMI Approved Centres, which will provide individuals with the means to achieve TechSafe registration on the IMI’s Professional Register.
IMI CEO Steve Nash said: “We are working hard to provide the appropriate information to everyone in the sector of their obligations under the Electricity at Work regulations to keep employees and customers safe and to ensure employers stay on the right side of the Health and Safety Executive.”
Nash has found varying levels of knowledge and standards across the sector with brands like Toyota, where hybrid vehicles have been a feature of its model line-up for around two decades with high standards of safety and training in its network. However, elsewhere in the sector, particularly, multi-vehicle workshops, understanding of the rules and subsequently, the standards of practice in place is patchy with most unaware that the regulations even apply.
Whilst a legislative framework already exists for working with electrified vehicles, there is none for ADAS. Calibrating ADAS features on vehicles, particularly following accidents, has been identified as a major issue by the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre (MIRRC) at Thatcham, who are working with the IMI to establish an industry Code of Practice which will establish minimum repair standards, undertaken by appropriately trained and qualified individuals.
Nash said: “Nearly every new car has some level of driver assistance on it yet the level of knowledge out there to set those systems up after repairs, even after a windscreen replacement, is really poor. Many don’t have the knowledge or the equipment to do that work.”
By 2020 it is estimated that 40% of new vehicles will have at least two ADAS features fuelling the demand for calibration services. The Code of Practice will establish minimum requirements for ADAS repairs.
