9. Plant Resources and Servicing Practices
All winter maintenance plant will be serviced, overhauled and made ready for use, at least two weeks before the designated start of the winter period. All servicing and maintenance of specialist winter maintenance plant will be the responsibility of the Operations Manager. The Council’s Fleet Services section, maintain all plant and equipment for the user departments. The Fleet Manager will inform the Operations Manager of any deterioration in the effectiveness of any items of Winter Maintenance Plant.
Any short fall in resources caused by the removal of plant from service, during the winter period, should be reported to the Operations Manager by the Duty Supervisor. The Operations Manager will then seek ways to address the problem. Where additional fleet vehicles are available, these will be prepared as back-up units, either in advance of operations or as soon as practicable whenever a shortfall in vehicles arises.
The Operations Manager will ensure that all major items of plant are made operational by the start of the standby period. A programme of trial runs will be drawn up, to allow all items of plant to be tested and have all their accessories fitted to ensure readiness for the winter period. The trial runs will be carried out on a depot by depot basis during normal working hours.
