Scheduling and Priorities
The Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor is responsible for all scheduling and assigning of work. If conflicts arise between regularly scheduled work, the Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor and/or the Transportation Manager will make decisions regarding priorities and will contact the affected user agencies about the status of vehicles/ equipment being safely placed back into service.
As discussed in Section 4, the Office of the Sheriff and Public Safety vehicles have been designated as a Priority Code A for replacement funding and maintenance. The Office of the Sheriff's fleet vehicles represent approximately 40% of all maintenance work orders with an additional 23% attributable to the STS Transit System.
The funding and number of new acquisitions for the balance of the fleet has not kept pace with the increasing number of vehicles requiring replacement which has been made more challenging by "zero" funding levels in FY 2010 and FY 2011. As such, the Transportation Division has not experienced the reduction in the number of work orders (See Chart below) and operating budget funding needs.
The Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor will monitor all maintenance activity and revise maintenance schedules and priorities based on:
- Vehicle Mission
- Facility capacity
- Arrival of vehicles on site
- Availability of contracted service
- Parts on-hand
- Mechanic workload
- Emergency maintenance
- Equipment availability, etc.
The Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor will contact the user agency regarding vehicles that are scheduled for service but not on site. Missing of appointments without prior notification may result in additional service charges.
Emergency Maintenance (EM)
Emergency maintenance is required when a vehicle or piece of equipment breaks down and cannot be driven or operated safely. When a vehicle or piece of equipment becomes inoperable, operators are to report the problem to the Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor during normal operating hours 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Any other emergency maintenance may be reported to the Transportation Manager.
If the vehicle becomes inoperable after normal operating hours, on weekends or holidays, the operator is required to contact the Emergency Communications Control Center at the 24 hour service number. Once reported, a service van or tow truck will be dispatched to pick up the inoperable vehicle if necessary. Transportation will make every effort to provide a replacement vehicle until the user vehicle is operational. Users are responsible for delivering the vehicles or equipment to the shop for non-emergency servicing or preventive maintenance service and for picking up the vehicle / equipment following servicing.
Non-Emergency Maintenance
Non-emergency maintenance occurs when the vehicle requires maintenance but can still be operated safely. Vehicle Maintenance Repair Checklist Forms (Appendix III) must be written and submitted to the Maintenance Supervisor for scheduling of servicing. The Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor will schedule the work based on the current workload. The requesting party will be notified within 24 hours as to when they can bring the vehicle into the garage for servicing. Users are responsible for delivering the vehicles or equipment to the shop for non-emergency servicing and for picking up the vehicle/equipment following servicing.
Unscheduled Maintenance
The Transportation Division will be responsible for responding to all requests for unscheduled maintenance. Unscheduled Maintenance, also known as Level or Type D maintenance, is a service extended to all County-maintained emergency service providers, as a part of the established 2010 "Quick Fix" / "Rapid Repair" program initiative. Although this service graphically represents a large part of the Division's job orders, this drive-up service is intended to address operational and safety issues raised by the drivers of emergency response vehicles. Additional procedures for dedicated and motor pool are outlined in Section 3 of this Manual.
Maintenance Ratio
There is a correlation between the number of preventive (Type A thru C) and unscheduled (Type D) maintenance Job Orders. The accepted industry practice of unscheduled to scheduled maintenance should be a maximum of 2.5:1. The Transportation Manager maintains approximately a ratio of 1.25:1, which is in the acceptable range.