If you follow the news, a topical story in the last days of December 2022 is the police raid and arrest of leaders of 9 Motor Vehicle Registration Centers in Ho Chi Minh City. 

During the initial investigation, authorities accused the centers of intentionally ignoring violations of quality inspection and emission standards and other errors for more than 70,000 motor vehicles. This is a particularly serious behavior, disregarding the lives of traffic participants because no one knows how those vehicles can cause unpredictable consequences. 

The schemer directed employees to falsify lists of inspectors and forged inspectors’ signatures in satisfactory licensing documents for motorized equipment. Even put “fake” inspectors into the center to deal with control devices, to cover the eyes of the authorities!? 

Let’s go back in time a little to find out the problem. Before 2019, most of the motor vehicle registration centers were government work unit, only a few units were piloted to invest and operate under the socialization model. During this period, not to mention new cars, but vehicles that have been operating for more than 5 years, when being tested again, we often discover a lot of errors, especially non-standard emissions. If drivers don’t tactfully leave 200,000 bills in the cupholder (for passenger cars), 500,000 VND (for trucks, passenger cars), etc., they will be driven up and down by the inspectors. Forced to take the car to repair, the car could not be registered. Taking bribes to bypass quality control errors has been around for a long time and it’s not surprising. The work of the inspectors at that time was not simply an individual job but a systematic violation of the registration centers, from top to bottom. 

After 2019, when the regulations on developing registration centers according to regional and local plannings were removed, the number of registration centers invested by private enterprises increased rapidly. The competition is so great that it is almost no longer unreasonable that each registered vehicle must pay the same “no receipt” fee of VND 200,000 or 500,000 as before. However, the quality of inspectors is bad when the Inspector of the Ministry of Transport discovered that 30/34 registration centers had errors and had to suspend dozens of inspectors at the same time. 

Even then, efforts to improve technology by increasing automation in the registration process, remote online monitoring, etc. have had certain effects. However, the elephant still went through the eye of a needle. Thousands of cars that are not eligible for safe operation are still allowed to meet the registration requirements! Obviously, it all depends on the human factor. People in government management positions and people directly at the registration center. With their qualifications and ethics, how do they monitor or evaluate? That is still a question that I struggle to find an answer to. 

The elevator industry has similar stories. In January 2022, the case of the cage hoist falling in Nghe An was brought to trial. The tragic accident left 3 people dead, and 8 others injured. The cause was determined to come from a non-technical person, who is not an inspector, but checked the cage hoist device and allowed it to operate as usual. 

3 individuals, including the director and staff of the accrediting agency, were sentenced to prison for violating the regulations on inspection, causing particularly serious consequences. 

This incident shows that the responsibility to control personnel performing equipment inspection has been completely loosened. The simplest things like the Auditor Certificate check, which affirms part of the competence of the person who directly performs the inspection, has been overlooked. And one could not have imagined that death awaits in such devices. The pain cannot be compensated, overcome. 

Elevators are classified in group 2 (group of products and goods that may cause unsafety) according to the management list of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. We have no shortage of regulations, standards, inspection, and sanctioning processes, etc. to create a legal corridor to prevent violations and protect the safety of consumers. However, the situation of violations in the elevator inspection stage is still very difficult to control. One of the basic mistakes is to ignore errors to legalize and let the elevator operate normally. By the beginning of 2022, country had 169 enterprises and organizations doing the inspection. This not-so-small number has made me ask more questions, is it easy to ignore elevator errors to retain customers and compete with elevator inspection businesses? If so, it’s dangerous for the user. And this is most likely their customers do not know because no one wants to use devices that can cause any harm right in their home! 

These problems pose to the authorities how to manage and supervise, but can’t just trust easily in the registration centers? Otherwise, if there is still lie, the pain of insecurity will still recur, and the consequences will have a heavy impact on the development not only of the elevator industry but also of the whole society. That’s what we need to think about!./.