The Learning Curve

by Penny Ouellette

The Auto Glass Safety Council™ (AGSC) periodically publishes the list of errors seen during its validations. The purpose of this is to assist all member companies in avoiding these errors and to improve their own compliance and effectiveness.

In 2016, the following errors were documented. They are listed in order of frequency. Those with the same frequency are grouped together. Some locations had more than one error; other locations had no documented errors.

Errors Found During 2016 Validations

• Did not have training records on AGRSS™ Standard for all applicable staff;
• No windshield installation(s) available for validation;
• Missing DOT number records;
• Technician(s) not available for validation;
• Missing lot number records;
• Missing technician training records;
• Activator dry time too short per ASM requirement;
• Primer dry time too short per ASM requirement;
• Did not have latest revision of ASM instructions;
• Did not use primer correctly for corrosion treatment per ASM requirement;
• Used a product on cut urethane that is not allowed by ASM;
• Contrary to ASM requirements, installed a used windshield; and
• Too short safe drive-away time was documented.

Any location that is validated and found to be out of compliance is allowed approximately six weeks to correct the errors, and to undergo revalidation on the applicable topics to prove that the errors have been corrected. In this way, every location can bring itself into compliance with the AGRSS™ Standard. This dedicated effort by our members continually strengthens our industry.

Locations need not wait for validation by one of our third-party validators. For companies who wish to do their own practice validations, the documents used by the validators are available in the AGSC Document Library, under the Member Resources page of the AGSC website at www.agsc.org:

• AGRSS Compliance Checklist – labeled on the website as the ANSI/AGSC/AGRSS™ Standard Validation Checklist; and
• Retention System Provider Training Instructions and Documentation Worksheet (also known as the Worksheet or ASM Matrix).  Each ASM has filled out its own version of this Worksheet. This is labeled on the website as the Adhesive Manufactures and Private Labelers’ Instruction Guides;

Thank you to all the locations who participated in our 2016 validations. Each year the AGSC membership drives the continual improvement of our industry and the increased safety of our customers.