by Penny Ouellette
During an Auto Glass Safety Council™ (AGSC) validation, a location is allowed to have people observe the validation. The observers may be anyone a location selects, and the observers may watch part or all of the validation process. The process includes an opening meeting, the validation of each technician installing a windshield, interviews of these same technicians, interviews of management and other administrative staff, and validation of product storage and records. The process ends with a closing meeting. The length of the process depends on a number of variables, but primarily on the number of windshield installations being validated.
Locations choosing to have observers at the validation should exercise some caution, however. Once observers are added to the validation, the dynamic changes, and it may become nerve-wracking for some technicians. This is something locations must consider before they invite observers. Both the number of observers, as well as the intimidation factor of the observer (i.e. the boss’s boss is probably pretty high on this scale), can negatively impact a technician’s performance. For this reason, some observers watch only part of the process, or from a distance, stepping away if their presence appears to be having a negative effect on the technician. Other locations decide that observers are not a good idea for their location. That being said, there are also some technicians who shine before an audience. If you have one, you likely already know who they are.
The AGSC’s experience with validations has also shown them that most technicians are more comfortable doing their job than describing it. For this reason, the validations have a rule that if a technician describes one thing, but does a different thing, the technician is judged by what he does, not by what he says. This is because the actual consequences are based on the technician’s actions. Since AGSC officials realize that most technicians are a little nervous during a validation and that this can affect their responses, the validation program has been developed to rely as much as possible on observations rather than interviews. This is one part of the AGSC’s efforts to make the validation process as comfortable as possible.