We recently heard from a shop owner who was worried that his business would lose a whole day’s work during its upcoming Auto Glass Safety Council™ (AGSC) validation. This is not the case. The validation process is designed to minimize business disruptions.
The first part of the validation is carried out off-site before the validator arrives. The shop sends its technician training records and a few other documents in to be reviewed by the validator. If there are any problems, these can be fixed even before the validation begins. This step reduces the time the validator must be on-site.
When the validator arrives on-site, a five-minute meeting is held to explain the validation process, to determine the order of the technician observations, and to answer any questions shop personnel may have. This meeting can just be the validator and one other person, or the shop can decide to include other people. A similar five-minute meeting is held at the end of the validation.
The rest of the validation involves the validator interviewing people one at a time. Other personnel can continue with their work until it is their turn to be interviewed. The AGSC validation process requires the validator to validate one windshield installation by each technician not certified by AGSC and a scientifically valid sampling of the AGSC certified technicians, to ask the manager a few questions and to review records and material storage.
The length of the validation depends on the number of people who install auto glass at the shop, travel time between installations and whether or not delays are encountered during the installations. In general, a validation takes about one hour plus the time it takes to interview and observe each technician install a windshield.
For a one-technician location with no travel time or other delays, the entire validation may be completed in two hours. For a four-technician location, with a 15-minute travel time between each windshield installation, the validation will normally take more than six hours. If there are delays due to customers or rust, the validation will take longer. However, since the validator is only observing and interviewing one person at a time, the rest of the shop can function normally.
The validator will work with the location to make sure that the validation is quick, efficient and causes the shop as little disruption as possible.