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Changes to SLAC Vehicle Regulations

(Photo - Van damage)During the first quarter of FY08, SLAC's fleet of motor vehicles has experienced an inordinate number of vehicle incidents and accidents—39 of them in total. A good number of these accidents were unreported to Fleet Services at the time of their occurrence. According to Department of Energy (DOE) requirements, any accident involving vehicle damage must be reported to the DOE Site Office on the proper accident form within 24-hours of the accident. To best address these two issues the Fleet Services group has established the following procedures:

• Vehicle custodians are required to perform a vehicle walk-a-round inspection daily. Any body damage, broken lights or bumper damage is to be reported to the Fleet Services office immediately, along with the name of the operator at the time of the accident. Fleet services will take pictures of the damage and assist with filling out the accident report.

• If a vehicle is involved in an accident on the SLAC campus during normal business hours, the vehicle operator must immediately contact the Fleet Services office (x3185 or x8795). Fleet Services will dispatch the fleet manager to take pictures of the accident and assist the operator with filling out an accident report.

• If a vehicle is involved in an accident after normal business hours or over a weekend, the vehicle operator must contact Security at the main gate (x 2551). Security will dispatch an officer to take pictures and assist with the accident report. Security will retain the pictures and the reports and notify fleet services on the next business day. Fleet Services will review the pictures and report, and will forward a copy to DOE Site Office with in 24 hours of notification of accident.

Additional Custodian responsibilities and requirements can be found on the Facilities Department webpage under "Fleet Services."

In addition, due to tighter budget constraints and stricter vehicle usage requirements from the DOE, minimum utilization justifications have been established. For FY07, Fleet Services negotiated vehicle categories with the DOE—including a minimum utilization criteria for each category—that fall in line with the Federal guidelines. At the end of FY07, 25 of SLAC's 223 vehicles were underutilized. For FY08, Fleet Services negotiated new utilization minimums for the accelerator vehicles and the security fleet.

In the first quarter of FY08, 42 vehicles were found to be underutilized site-wide. Notification letters were sent out between February 8 and February 15 to the custodians and their supervisors of each of these vehicles. The custodians have been asked to work with fleet services on ways to increase their utilization.

Each user or custodian who is assigned a General Services Administration (GSA) or DOE-owned vehicle must:

• Report monthly mileage usage to Fleet Services by the 20th of each month. This includes all GSA/DOE vehicles, mopeds, electric/diesel carts, NEVs and gas carts.

• Make every effort to maintain the minimum use criteria on assigned vehicles.

The FY08 utilization goals, vehicle descriptions and fleet operations procedures can be found in their entirety on the Facilities Department webpage under "Fleet Services."

If you have any questions about an assigned vehicle or requirements, please contact Fleet Services at x3185 or x8795.

—Ken Rubino, SLAC Today, February 14, 2008

Above image: The results of the latest GSA vehicle accident on SLAC campus. The repair cost has been estimated at $3,700.