Ok, we all know I’m a licensed auto tech. I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished in my trade. I’m also a stickler about the intricacies of my profession.
I have never and will never be one of the mechanics who sign the ‘hundred dollar safety’. I find the concept repulsive. I have been asked to turn a blind eye towards defects which customers found objectionable and have been both insulted and disgusted.
I read in a trade journal this past week, a mechanic has been charged with criminal negligence causing death related to a safety inspection he performed a month prior to a fatal accident. Ministry of Transport Safety Standards Inspections are governed by the province. A vehicle must meet, and I quote, ‘minimum standards at the time of inspection’. These standards are set forth in a nice brown binder referred to as ‘the Act’.
The people I’ve worked with have always erred on the side of caution when it comes to interpretation of ‘the Act’. I’ve always thought this prudent. There is no way I want to be responsible for an injury due to my oversight.
What I find most distasteful, to say the least, are the people who ask for us to turn a blind eye. It’s a ‘Safety’ inspection, for Heaven’s sake. The very name of the inspection should conjure profound images. Yet, people ask us to bend the rules. To do only ‘what’s necessary’. It seems people are more comfortable thinking of honest techs as crooks.
Would these people ask their surgeon to take short cuts? Ask their electrician to work outside the code? Ask the plumber to look at only the least that’ll get them by?
No, of course not. But, people are more than willing to ask mechanics to overlook the laws of the trade. The laws of the Province of Ontario. We don’t have the choice about the defects we condemn as a result of a safety check. Reputable and ethical techs stick to the rules.
This issue also touches on the professional image of our trade. If we as mechanics wish to be treated as professionals, we need to act as professionals. We need to demand more rigid enforcement of the Safety Standards Act. We need to drum out the ‘hundred dollar safety’ guys.
If we want to be taken seriously, we need to deserve it.