Induct DVSA assessors working at your vehicle testing site
When to carry out health and safety inductions for Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) assessors working at your site, and what to include and record.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Authorised testing facilities (ATF) must carry out health and safety inductions for DVSA assessors working at your site.
When to carry out a site induction
You must give the DVSA assessor a site induction if it’s the first time they’ve worked at your site.
You must also give the DVSA assessor a refresher site induction if you have:
- changed your equipment
- changed your site layout
- updated your local health and safety risk assessment
The induction must be done before the DVSA assessor starts to test vehicles.
What the induction must include
Your induction must cover:
- site layout and security
- emergency procedures
- accidents, incidents and first aid
- equipment
- welfare and breaks
- policies and processes
Make sure you give the right level of information on:
- hazards (things that could cause them harm)
- risks (the chances of that harm occurring)
- measures in place to deal with those hazards and risks
- how to follow any emergency procedures
The information should be easy to understand. Everyone working at your site should know what they’re expected to do.
Carry out the induction
A competent person must carry out the induction with the DVSA assessor.
DVSA will allocate 30 minutes for the induction when they schedule the assessor to come to your site.
Contact DVSA as soon as this is scheduled if it will either:
- take longer than 30 minutes to do
- affect the working day
DVSA customer service centre
Telephone: 0300 123 9000
Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 6pm
Find out about call charges
You must carry out an induction for any DVSA assessor that meets the criteria for needing one - even if DVSA did not schedule it for you.
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Print the and give it to the competent person who will be carrying out the induction. You can use your own checklist if you want - but they must contain at least the same information that’s in this template.
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The person carrying out the induction should review the checklists so they’re prepared to give the DVSA assessor the induction.
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Carry out the induction with the DVSA assessor.
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Scan and email copies of the checklists to the DVSA assessor when you’ve filled them in. Keep copies at your site.
You can ask the DVSA assessor to sign any of your health and safety documents if needed, but your site must follow health and safety rules set out in law and your contract with DVSA.
The DVSA assessor is allowed to see any of your health and safety documents if they need them.
If the DVSA assessor thinks there’s a problem
The DVSA assessor can refuse to start testing if the induction was not satisfactory.
By law, you’re responsible for protecting the DVSA assessor from risk to their health, safety and welfare.
Deal with health and safety problems
Contact your DVSA technical team leader if you have any issues with:
- completing inductions
- health and safety compliance by DVSA assessors
You can contact your DVSA network business manager if you’re not able to sort the problem with the technical team leader.
The Health and Safety Executive publishes basic health and safety guidance for your business and detailed guidance about motor vehicle repair and testing.
You can be given a prison sentence of up to 2 years and an unlimited fine for serious health and safety offences.
Updates to this page
Published 12 August 2019Last updated 18 April 2022 + show all updates
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Removed the ATF coronavirus induction checklist, as this no longer needs to be used.
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First published.