Core Units: Working Safely and Competently on Heavy Commercial Vehicles
What the core units cover
The 22 core units build the foundation every heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) technician must hold before specialising. They cluster into five areas: workplace safety (hazard identification, risk control, personal protective equipment, isolation and lock-out, working at heights and under raised vehicles); environmental and sustainability practice (waste segregation, spill containment, refrigerant and oil recovery, correct disposal of batteries and filters); tools and equipment (hand tools, torque wrenches, lifting and jacking equipment, measuring instruments, pre-start checks on workshop plant); technical fundamentals (fasteners and torque, bearings and seals, lubrication, cooling, electrical basics, hydraulic and air systems, wheels and tyres); and communication and documentation (job cards, parts interpretation, service records, customer handover, teamwork).
Concepts you must understand
Know the hierarchy of control and be able to place a control in the right level - elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative, PPE last. Understand duty of care, hazard versus risk, and the difference between a hazard report and an incident report. Know safe lifting limits and team-lift rules, wheel chocking, and the requirement to support a vehicle on stands rather than rely on a jack. Understand contamination control: clean before opening, cap ports, and never mix waste streams.
Traps in questions
Questions often swap hazard for risk, or offer PPE as the first control when it should be last. Another trap is confusing a hazardous manual task with an injury, or treating a near miss as not reportable. Watch for items that sound safe but breach isolation procedure, such as working under a vehicle held only by a hydraulic jack.
Rule of thumb
If a control depends on the worker remembering to do it, it is the weakest kind - look for an engineering or isolation control first. For lifting, if it feels like more than you can comfortably handle alone, it is a team lift or a mechanical aid.
Worked example
A question asks the best first action on finding oil on the workshop floor near a bay. The answer is not "mop it later" or "put up a sign and continue" - it is to stop the task, contain and clean the spill, and eliminate the ignition/slip source before work resumes.