NHVR project office hoping to trial new advanced fatigue management scheme that will replace the existing model
By Brad Gardner | July 5, 2012
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) will look to trial the new advanced fatigue management (AFM) scheme in a number of jurisdictions before it is introduced.
NHVR Project Director Richard Hancock is expecting the new template-based system to undergo a pilot scheme in at least Queensland once the state becomes the first jurisdiction to pass national heavy vehicle regulations later this year.
Many jurisdictions are not expecting to implement national regulations until July 2013, but Hancock hopes they may decide to be a part of any AFM trial before then.
He says many of the details surrounding the trial, such as the timeframe for it, need to be developed, but the NHVR project office is working with the likes of operators from the livestock, waste management and bus sectors to gauge interest.
“I think in Queensland we will definitely be offering the possibility of pilots. I think the possibility of doing that in other states that have not passed the Heavy Vehicle National Law at that stage is there but I would need to discuss that in more detail with the other states and territories,” Hancock says.
“I think we will get approached by a range of operators not just in Queensland but in other states. If the other states haven’t got the Heavy Vehicle National Law in place at that time we will talk to them about perhaps allowing a pilot until they do pass [it].
“I wouldn’t want to deny anyone access to it if they were really keen to trial it to see if it does provide additional benefits to them.”
Hancock says a trial will give the NHVR the opportunity to determine if any changes need to be made before the new scheme is fully implemented. He says any interest from operators in jurisdictions that have not yet introduced national regulations when the AFM pilot begins will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
Introduced in 2008, AFM allowed operators to develop their own fatigue management plans.
Drivers could work up to 16 hours in Queensland and South Australia and 15 hours in NSW and Victoria in extenuating circumstances, but companies had to provide counter-measures to offset the long work hours.
An expert panel last year called for the scheme to be overhauled on the basis it was too expensive and hard for operators to gain accreditation.
Under the new approach, templates will be freely available to operators online as opposed to the existing system which requires applicants to build an AFM plan from scratch.
According to the expert panel, businesses can spend up to $20,000 to gain AFM accreditation. They are required to seek advice from fatigue management experts at a cost of up to $12,000, but this will be done away with when national regulations begin.
“I think that this does definitely offer some benefit to industry. We’ve had a lot of work done already with a range of people,” Hancock says of the template model.
