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We conduct inspections at commercial vehicle owners’, operators and users premises. Find out more about what happens at a premises inspection.
There are two kinds of inspections that take place at operator premises.
Transport officers are concerned with driver hours and tachograph and licensing requirements.
A Transport Officer Inspection will review compliance with EU tachograph and drivers’ hours rules and the Mobile Workers Working Time Directive as well as arrangements that you have put in place to manage and monitor compliance by you and your drivers with:
Vehicle and Technical Inspectors are concerned with your vehicle inspection, repair and maintenance regime.
The inspection will review compliance with vehicle maintenance and repair regulations (PDF) and the arrangements you have in place. In particular the inspection will review your:
If there are vehicle(s) present at the premises during the inspection, the Inspector may carry out a check of the vehicle(s) to review their roadworthiness condition at the time. Where these vehicle(s) are found to be dangerously defective they will be marked as “off the road dangerous”.
You will normally receive a phone call/letter from a Transport Officer or Vehicle/Technical Inspector to make a premises inspection appointment – you can generally arrange an inspection date that works for you, within certain time limits by contacting the officer / inspector arranging the appointment. However, our officers and inspectors do have the power to ‘cold-call’ to an operators premises without giving notice.
Transport Officer Inspection
You should prepare for the inspection and make sure that the documentation listed below are available in the required format. This will contribute significantly to a swift conclusion of the inspection. You should have a person(s) available to assist, clarify issues and answer any questions arising during the inspection. You should have a space available for the officer to review your records and conduct the inspection.
Documentation to have ready
You should prepare for the inspection and make sure that the documents listed below are available. Some preparatory planning by you before the inspection will contribute to a swift conclusion of the inspection. You should have a person(s) available to assist, clarify issues and answer any questions arising during the inspection. You should have a space available for the inspector to review your records and conduct the inspection.
Documentation to have ready
1. A list of all the vehicles and trailers used in the business including vehicle registration numbers and copies of certificates of roadworthiness
2. Records of inspection, maintenance and repair for each vehicle
3. Records of defect reports received from drivers and evidence of follow up actions to address these defects
4. Scheduling plan for inspections, maintenance / safety checks of vehicles
5. Details of training provided to drivers for carryout out walk-around checks and for reporting of vehicle defects
6. The qualifications and/or experience of the personnel responsible for carrying out maintenance of vehicles. In the event that vehicle maintenance is carried out for you by a third part or parties:
View our short video which will show you what to expect at a Vehicle/Technical Inspector premises inspection
Transport Officers and Vehicle/Technical Inspectors will record all of the results of the inspection and you will be given a report. This report will also be available to you via your CVRT Online Account. To create your CVRT online account you need to register with us. If you have already registered you can log in to view your inspection reports. Currently, only Transport Officer premises inspections are available via your online account. However, it is expected that Vehicle/Technical premises inspections will be available before the end of 2015.
We will retain a record of the inspection on our system for at most 10 years. The findings of the inspection will feed into our Commercial Vehicle Operator Risk Indicator (CVORI) for a maximum of 3 years after the inspection has taken place.
You should immediately make any adjustments required in order rectify any shortcomings detected during the inspection to ensure you are fully compliant. These will be highlighted to you on the day both verbally and set out in the inspection report and/or a Direction Notice / Letter.
A number of outcomes are possible from a premises inspection.
Where compliance is evident, the inspection will conclude and you will receive a report. While you may still be randomly selected for a future visit at your premises, you can expect the number of inspections to be lower the more compliant you are as inspections are increasingly targeted at operators who are less compliant and higher risk.
Where breaches are detected and / or systems are found to be inadequate you will be informed of this and one or more of the following may happen:
Transport Officers and Vehicle / Technical Inspectors will give you education and advice, on the rules in place and how you can comply, over the course of an inspection.
Premises are selected for a follow-up inspection based on a number of criteria. These criteria include where:
You should prepare for a follow-up inspection in the same way as an ordinary inspection above. The officer / inspector may focus in on certain aspects of your operation or they may conduct a full inspection of all records, depending on the reason for the follow-up.
Transport Officers are employed directly by the Road Safety Authority. They carry out inspections both at the roadside and at operator premises to check compliance with EU tachograph and drivers’ hours rules and the mobile workers Working Time Directive as well as elements of operator licensing and drivers CPC. Transport Officers are authorised enforcement officers appointed under Section 15 of the Road Transport Act 1986 (as amended) and Section 16 of the Road Transport Act 2011. The powers of Transport Officers are set out in Part 5 of European Communities (Road Transport) (Working Conditions and Road Safety) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 62 of 2008) (as amended).
Vehicle Inspectors are employed directly by the Road Safety Authority. They carry out roadworthiness inspections at the roadside. In addition they conduct comprehensive technical inspections at Commercial Vehicle Testing Centres and at operators’ premises in Ireland as part of the statutory commercial vehicle roadworthiness inspection programme. Vehicle Inspectors have been appointed as Authorised Officers and CVR Inspectors under Sections 24 & 33 of the Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012 (PDF). The powers of authorised officers are prescribed in section 25 & 31 of the Act. The powers of CVR Inspectors are prescribed in section 34 of the Act.
The enforcement unit of the Road Safety Authority are located in Co. Galway at the following address:
Standards & Enforcement Directorate,
Road Safety Authority,
1st Floor, Clonfert House,
Bride street,
Loughrea,
Co. Galway
H62 ET93
Phone: 091 872600
Email: enforcement@rsa.ie
Following a competitive tender process, A.A. Ireland Ltd commenced carrying out technical inspections at commercial vehicle testing centres and at operator premises in Ireland as part of the statutory commercial vehicle roadworthiness inspection programme from January 2019.
A.A. Ireland makes direct contact with operators with regard to premises inspections.
Contact details for A.A. Ireland should you need them are:
AA Ireland,
Unit D, Merrywell Business Park,
Ballymount Road Lower,
Dublin,
D12 F1H2
Phone: 01 9618939
Email: CVR.RSA@theaa.ie
Technical Inspectors have been appointed as authorised officers under Section 24 of the Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012 (PDF). The powers of authorised officers are prescribed in sections 25 & 31 of the Act.
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