Turned away at the gate
An operator arrives at a main contractor's site for an operated hire with a 360 excavator. The gate checks his card. It expired last month, or it covers a different category from the machine he's been sent to operate. The site won't let him on. The customer is without an operator for the day, and you are sending a replacement from another job.
The expiry date was on the card all along, and in a spreadsheet the office manager last updated before the summer.
Why card dates get missed
Keeping track of cards is simple for a handful of operators and surprisingly hard for a larger team working on different sites every week.
- Card details are kept in a spreadsheet updated by hand.
- Operators hold several cards for different categories, each with its own date.
- Renewals need tests or training booked well in advance, and the reminder comes too late.
- Bookings are made without checking that the operator's card covers the machine.
- Customers ask for card copies before the hire, and finding them takes time.
Which cards and categories an operator needs, and what your customers require, are for your own procedures and your customers' site rules. The register records what each operator holds and makes it visible.
What an expired card costs
An operator turned away is a lost day of operated hire and an unhappy customer. Rushing a replacement disrupts another job. Operators whose cards lapse can't work until renewed. And main contractors who find expired cards start checking all your operators more carefully, which slows every start.
There is a longer-term cost as well. When renewals are left to the last moment, operators end up waiting for a test or course date with a card that has already lapsed. An experienced operator sitting at home because of a missed date is a loss to your operated hire business that planning would have avoided.
A card register that checks bookings
- Each operator's cards are recorded with the scheme, categories, card number, expiry date and a photo of both sides.
- Operators can photograph a new card on their phone when it arrives, and the details are read and confirmed by the office.
- Warnings go to the operator and the office well before expiry, at intervals you set, so renewals can be arranged in time.
- When an operated hire is booked, the system checks the operator's cards cover the machine category and will be valid for the whole hire, and warns if not.
- Card copies can be sent to the customer from the booking in one step.
- A monthly list shows cards expiring in the coming months and operators with gaps in the categories you are asked for most.
| Check | When it happens |
|---|---|
| Card expiring soon | Warnings at set intervals |
| Card covers the machine | At booking |
| Card valid for whole hire | At booking |
| Customer wants a copy | Sent from the booking |
What the office has now
Operators turn up with cards that cover the job. Renewals are planned rather than rushed. Customers get card copies before the start date without anyone searching. And the office can see which categories they are short of operators for, which helps plan training.
Is this your operator team?
- Card expiry dates are kept in a spreadsheet.
- Operators have been turned away from sites for card problems.
- Bookings don't check the operator's categories.
- Renewals are arranged at the last minute.
- Finding card copies for a customer takes a while.