Qualified brake inspector

Section 396.25 puts the duty on the motor carrier: it must ensure that all brake work on its commercial vehicles is done "in accordance with the requirements of this section" (§ 396.25(a)). A brake inspector is the carrier's employee "responsible for ensuring" that brake inspection, maintenance, service or repair meets the standard (§ 396.25(b)).

The qualification has two routes. One is a credential: an apprenticeship sponsored by a state, a Canadian province, a federal agency or a labor union; a state- or federally approved training programme; or a state or provincial certificate. For brake inspections, passing the CDL air brake tests also qualifies. The other is experience: "at least one year" of brake training or work, which may be at "a commercial garage, fleet leasing company, or similar facility" or in a carrier's own maintenance programme (§ 396.25(d)). The rule counts a year's brake work at a commercial garage as a qualifying route, so an independent shop's technician can be the carrier's qualified inspector without any certificate at all, provided the carrier holds the evidence.

The evidence is kept at the carrier's principal place of business or where the inspector works, for as long as the inspector does that work and for one year after (§ 396.25(e)).

In Wrenchy a technician's declared certifications sit on their record, dispatch can require one for a job, and the job line names who did the work. The annual inspection has the matching § 396.19 rule for inspectors.