In organizations where several people take turns using vehicles, or where staff go straight home after field work, breathalyzers tend to be left in the vehicle. They end up around the driver's seat or in a storage compartment because they will be used again the next day or because it is hard to get back to the office storage area. But a vehicle is only a space for carrying equipment to the field, and its role can differ from a place designated for long-term storage.
A breathalyzer is a device that measures alcohol concentration using a person's exhaled breath. After use, you need to collect not only the breathalyzer itself but also items needed for the next test, such as mouthpieces and cables. Simply telling people not to leave it in the vehicle is not enough to prevent things from being left behind. Deciding who receives the equipment where the work ends, where it is placed, and how the next user receives it reduces the chance that the vehicle effectively becomes a permanent storage box.
First find the moments it gets left in the vehicle
Before setting a return procedure, you need to look at when equipment is loaded into and taken out of vehicles in the actual order of work. For vehicles that return to the office, you can create a flow of returning the equipment to the designated storage location after work ends. On the other hand, for vehicles where workers change shifts in the field or that move to another branch, just requiring return to the office may not work in practice.
What needs managing here is not a complex report. It is enough to know who last received the equipment, where the equipment is now, and who will receive it next. If the equipment has a management number, recording the vehicle number used and the recipient together reduces confusion when several units are in use.
The fact that equipment was loaded into a vehicle does not mean its performance is normal. If you see anything that needs separate checking, such as external damage, missing accessories, or abnormalities during testing, do not store it with general equipment. Separate it into the maintenance procedure. The return list is a tool for confirming where the equipment and accessories are. It is not a procedure for users to judge the sensor's condition.
Set the return route to fit where work ends
The storage location should be a place where equipment can actually be received at the time work ends, rather than a place that looks ideal. Even if there is a storage cabinet at the office, if it cannot be accessed at night or is too far from the site, drivers become more likely to leave the equipment in the vehicle. In such cases, you can consider designating someone to receive the equipment at the arrival point, or setting up a separate storage location for operational purposes after reviewing the product's conditions and access control arrangements.
| Situation in which work ends | Action to hand over the equipment | What to decide in advance |
|---|---|---|
| Returning to the office | Return the unit and accessories to the designated place | The storage location and hours when returns are possible |
| Workers change at the site | Hand the equipment directly to the next person in charge | Equipment number, accessory count, recipient |
| Moving to another branch | Hand it to the recipient at the arrival point | Arrival location and who will take charge of storage |
| A gap before the next use | Take it out of the vehicle and put it in the designated place | When it will next be collected and how it will be handed over |
For example, this is a hypothetical case. Suppose a field team repeatedly leaves the breathalyzer in the passenger-side storage compartment after afternoon tests because they will use the same vehicle again the next morning. The fact to observe here is not "it will be used tomorrow," but that no place or person has been set to receive the equipment after work.
This situation can be interpreted not as driver carelessness but as a gap in the overnight return route. Possible actions include creating a route for returning the equipment to a storage location accessible before going home, or designating someone near the site who can receive and store the equipment. The completion criterion is not a state in which the driver remembers where the equipment is, but one in which the unit and the necessary accessories have actually been delivered to a designated place outside the vehicle or to the next recipient, and that fact can be confirmed.
Distinguish carrying cases from storage locations
Taking equipment to the field and leaving it somewhere for several days or more are different problems. While moving, a carrying setup that reduces impact and loss matters, but a long-term storage location requires looking at the product's storage and handling conditions together with the access control environment. Having a case does not make a vehicle interior suitable for long-term storage.
DATECH's official Downloads center posts Korean-language manuals for some products, such as The New AF-50 and AF-50AD. You need to check the storage and handling conditions in the user guidance for the model you currently use, and then review whether candidate locations meet those conditions. It is not appropriate to apply another model's conditions to your current equipment as they are, or to set unconfirmed temperature and humidity values as internal storage standards.
There may also be cases where only the unit goes into the carrying case and cables or designated consumables are left in the vehicle. Counting the unit, the accessories needed for use, and consumables separately at return reduces the chance of discovering something missing just before the next job. It is best to review the protective setup needed while moving and the conditions of a place for long-term storage separately.
Give temporary storage an end point too
Site conditions may require leaving equipment outside the office for a while. But if it is just called "temporary storage," it becomes unclear who will take it back, and the temporary place soon becomes the permanent one. If there is no choice but to leave it in a vehicle or at the site, a realistic approach is to decide the location, the next recipient, and the planned collection time together.
When a return is missed, do not assume the equipment is in the vehicle either. Check, in order, who last received the equipment, which vehicle was used, and where the work ended, to find its actual location. After finding it, looking at whether the storage access hours did not fit, whether there was no one to hand over to, or whether there was no way to move the accessories together reveals what to fix in the next procedure.
Update it when vehicles and work routes change
When a new vehicle is introduced or the site location and working hours change, the existing return procedure may no longer fit. In that case, do not just change vehicle assignments. Also settle the equipment's default storage location, the hours when returns are possible, and who will handle collection. If there is one unit, a simple return list may be enough, but for equipment shared by several vehicles, it is better to link vehicles, equipment, and recipients.
The key is not to stop equipment from being loaded into vehicles. Carry it as needed for moving to the field, but after work ends, make sure there is a connection to a person who receives the equipment outside the vehicle and to a storage location. Linking a place whose suitability has been checked against the product's storage conditions with a return route that can actually be carried out reduces situations in which a vehicle unintentionally becomes a long-term storage box.
