Taqeem setting the Saudi standards

Road safety in the Middle East is an ongoing concern for the industry, but in Saudi Arabia an organisation has been set up to try to improve standards among repairs to ensure cars are returned to the driver in their pre-accident condition.

Set up in 2015 as a regulatory body, Taqeem is now well down the road to introducing an official standard of repair.

Hani Dahhan said Taqeem’s programme is focusing on the assessor, looking at the skills of the technician and level of training, technical standards, supporting tooling, and accreditation. A second focus will be on the repair centre itself, with levels of tools and equipment, the qualifications of staff, digital solutions available within the business and licensing.

Training within the industry will be implemented in stages, providing advice for all types of repairs. Initially, training will include the 4 Ms – machine, man, method and materials – before broadening out to ensure modern vehicles can be repaired safely.

Taqeem hopes to publish its initial standards document for consultation in the first quarter of this year. Following that, and depending on feedback, a review will take place in the third quarter before an updated document released. It has sets itself a target of achieving approval for its standards in the fourth quarter of the year.

Taqeem has now attended IBIS ME three times to update delegates and the wider industry on its progress.

IBIS ME 2018 is supported by lead partners AkzoNobel and Audatex, and partners 3M AutoMillennium Group, Spanesi and Symach.

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