Originally Posted by
soundman
Gasa and karl....this is not a bridge and neither the user nor the inspecting mechanic are the manufacturer and neither are responsible for the manufacture and record keeping required.
That whole line that what complies today may not comply tomorrow...never cut any ice....it certainly does not cut any ice in the current regulatory environment....everything is focused on who is responsible, liable and at fault.
Belive me the regulators and the insurers ( dont forget the insurers) are red hot on this now and they are far from stupid.....they can and will draw a distinction between the fault being due to original manufacture, subsiquent modification and ongoing care & maintenance.
When you build a trailer you sign your name to it and your respionsibility for that trailer remains for the life of the trailer.
In QLD at least you fill in a self assessment for light trailers form, where you have to declare a number of critical things concering the trailer....this remains on record..for ever.
If there is an accident, you may have to stand up in court and give account for your choice of components, engineering choices and manufacturing methods.
NOW
I can testify to two particular casses...both lessons to me.
At one time I maintained a sound system for an auctioneer who sold wrecks and damaged vehicles on behalf of a major insurance company....his equipment was located in the insurance company impound.
I got fairly friendly with the retired mechanic who used to manage the impound and heard lots of background on various wrecks.
One in particular, just hung arround for years.
This was a horse float, that was subject to a disputed insurance claim.
There was some question over the hitch and how it was attached...because hitch failure was identified as a contributing factor.
The manufacturer came out smelling like a rose and scott free as they should have, because they could produce records showing the type, brand and model of the hitch, how it was attached and critically the length of the drawbar.
Their records showed that the trailer had been without question modified.
Now this trailer sat arround in this impound, kept as evidence for over 5 years as the case went thru the courts.
The insurance company did not pay a cent to the owner and recoveerd costs.
Now..remember the owner would have been out of pocket to the tune of the trailer, the tow vehicle, things pertaining to horses it carried, any damage to road infrastructure, any other vehicles involved, costs of recovery, storage of the wreck and the massive court costs..how do ya recon his is doing now.
A second and more disturbing case.
The case of Billy the Boily, I worked arround a major institutional venue for a couple of years.
There where a pair of blokes near retirement that where top shelf boiler makers....very good at their jobs, carefull and top tradesman.
There was a situation where a horse got thru a gate and onto the road, things got damaged people got hurt and so did the horse...a pretty expensive claim
Well all this went to court....Billy the Boily was never going to bear any cost, because he worked on wages and the employer was well insured and also had good lawyers on retainer.
But Billy had to go to court and testify in the matter.
It all swung on the catch on this gate.....now Billy was in the process of going over every gate on the place and replacing the latches on every one...hundreds of them..well maybe 50 to 100.
He had to stand up and explain, all about these latches, what was wrong with the old, one why the new one was better, how old the old ones where, who made em, whay that had not all been replaced and on and on.
Grilled and cross examined for hours about this simple pissy gate latch.
We saw Billy after he came back to the shop, still dressed in his suit..the poor fellow was shaking and could hardly hold his soothing cup of tea straight enough to drink it.
The sent Billy off an a couple of weeks stress leave.
All this over a pissy little gate latch.
When the $!#t hits the fan and something goes wrong.....if you think you can bluff your way thru and say its not your fault......you are kidding yourself.
The rules specifically state you have to keep recods.
cheers