Maintenance & inspection
What is a nil defect report?
A nil defect report records that a driver carried out a walkaround check and found nothing wrong. It matters as much as a defect report, because a gap in the record looks the same as a check never done.
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<img src="https://fleetoptix.co.uk/glossary/nil-defect/diagram.svg" alt="nil defect report — diagram from FleetOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://fleetoptix.co.uk/glossary/nil-defect">What is a nil defect report?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://fleetoptix.co.uk">FleetOptix</a>
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</figure>The purpose of recording a nil result is to demonstrate the chain is unbroken. An examiner reading a month of records is looking for continuity, and an absent day is a day nobody can show anything happened.
It is also the record most often falsified, because it takes seconds and nobody is inconvenienced by it. A week of identical sheets completed in one sitting is obvious from the handwriting or the timestamps.
A driver who never reports a defect is a flag rather than a model employee. Vehicles develop faults, and a perfect record across months usually means the check is not happening.
What goes wrong in practice
- Sheets completed in advance or in batches, which is falsification.
- Missing days over weekends, holidays and changeovers with no explanation.
- A driver with no defect reports at all, never questioned.