RV builders comply with tougher audits

More than half Australia’s RV manufacturers will have successfully completed a tough new product compliance process by early next month, says the peak body for the RV manufacturing industry.

RVM Australia CEO David Duncan says the ‘first round’ of on-site audits for the new RV Manufacturing Accreditation Program (RVMAP) is on track to be completed for all 76 RV manufacturers currently members of RVM Australia, by mid-September.

New accreditation certificates, like that given to Jurgens (pictured), will be issued to members who comply with all safety rules and standards, allowing them to display the RVM Australia ‘seal of approval’ on their vehicles.

RVM members will then be subject to follow-up audits within six months, scheduled to be completed by June 2014.

Under its previous incarnation, the RVMAA, the peak national body completed around 80 audits annually, or around one for every 100 units produced. RVM Australia hopes in around two year’s time that every vehicle built by its members will be ‘checked off’ in paper or electronic form, by inspection and compliance officers appointed by each manufacturer.

The national body is currently looking into ways of automating RVMAP to help manufacturers reduce the time spent achieving compliance.

Claimed to be more “robust and comprehensive” than the accreditation program it replaced, RVMAP includes 146 ‘yes/no’ checklist items that require manufacturers to not only comply with relevant Australian Design Rules and Australian Standards, but all the different state registration requirements regardless of where the RV is sold.

“Working with different state bodies… we’ve gathered all the regulations together in a nutshell, and standardized it as best we could to make it as easy for manufacturers as possible,” explained RVM Australia technical adviser Daniel Sahlberg.

“What RVM Australia has done is we’ve gone to the extra level… making sure people are meeting the most up-to-date regulations (according to) what each of these states ask for.

“For example, WA and Queensland ask for VIN stamping on the drawbar, so we make sure that all our members do that as a governing thing.”

Sahlberg said RVMAP also incorporates ‘best practice’ from other related industries, such as bus industry regulations for safe entry and exit from vehicles.

“There are legal requirements for buses to have a non-slip material, a certain height, a certain clearance off the ground (for entry/exit doors),” he said.  “That’s not a regulation for caravans but we make it a regulation through our codes of practice.”

“It’s also a safety thing, imagine if there’s a fire and you have to jump out of the caravan, that’s just silly.”

While also not a legal requirement for caravans, RVM Australia has also developed a ‘generic’ guide for its members, so each caravan can be supplied with a user manual, similar to the car industry.

“The most beneficial thing about the new program is it’s now clearly elaborated to the manufacturer what the requirements are, and it’s also an education and a training thing for them, so the next vehicle they design and produce is actually meeting the requirements,” he said.

To help boost buyer confidence at shows and reduce the incidence of non-compliant models, Sahlberg said a version of RVMAP has also been used by show organizers in South Australia and Perth this year, to “make sure that vehicles that come to shows are checked and accredited and signed off”.