We all know by now that fatigue is feeling sleepy, feeling physically or mentally tired, weary or drowsy, feeling exhausted, lacking energy or behaving in a way consistent with any of those factors.
I am sure everyone reading this will also know, you do not have to be found guilty of a heavy vehicle fatigue driving hours rule breach to be guilty of a fatigue offence. Under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), there is no limitation to what a court may consider in determining when a driver may or may not be fatigued.
Fatigue time-based rules are very ‘black and white’. A driver is either compliant or in breach, there is not a lot of wiggle room or grey areas, ouch! The same goes for the employer, if the driver is in breach, the employer may also be in breach, ouch again!
At LogChecker, we review several million Heavy Vehicle Driver Work Diary pages and supplementary records each year, one of the now less surprising parts of those reviews is the need to educate clients, particularly new clients, on fatigue basics. How to read a Work Diary, how not to ‘interpret’ those black and white rules, but follow those black and white rules. We also try to champion the need to maintain records, ensuring clients can prove they have been taking reasonably practicable steps (as required under the HVNL) to ensure their drivers are remaining compliant and not making errors or, more to the point, errors based on what they thought the rules were. The same goes for back-office staff, schedulers and owners. It is a joint responsibility!
Remaining compliant with the time-based fatigue rules is complex. Fatigue compliance for a solo driver can be up to ten Rules, changing every 15 minutes, in a rolling 336-hour period, creating many thousands of scenarios for a breach in any 14-day period.
One of the features we have implemented in LogChecker is a “Warning”. If a BFM driver exceeds 14 hours in 24 or a Standard Hours driver exceeds 12 hours in 24, LogChecker will flag a warning. This feature was created after various state police and transport authorities confirmed that they would charge drivers for being fatigued regardless of whether the driver was in breach of the driver’s work and rest hours option. It is important to remember that this is not a breach of the driver’s work and rest hours option but a warning that if the driver were to have an event during the period of exceedance, the employer would struggle to prove that the driver was not fatigued. Think of it as a ‘near-miss’ in WHS parlance and a warning for schedulers to ensure they are helping the driver to remain compliant.
At LogChecker, that is what we do. We provide self-help tools that allow owners, compliance managers, schedulers, staff and drivers to analyse and reference the regulations before mistakes are made. If mistakes are made, LogChecker will identify a breach and supply a Corrective Action Report (CAR) detailing and explaining what went wrong. Managers can step in with plain English solutions and replica work diaries, so everyone involved in the driver’s activity can acknowledge and learn from the experience.
LogChecker is a month-to-month subscription. For many, assistance with fatigue regulations is one of the crucial parts of thriving in this industry, and Ross Smith at LogChecker has issued a call to action for all operators across the sector to ensure they stay on the right side of the HVNL.
Fatigue compliance information can come from a variety of sources; schedulers, allocators, clients, fellow drivers, or even your nearest roadside expert – but the only true source of accurate information is the fatigue regulations themselves.
LogChecker has been quietly and reliably assisting tens of thousands of drivers over the past 25 years and continues to do so every single day for hundreds of Australian transport businesses.
For LogChecker, the crux of fatigue regulation and management is education. Smith has been an RFS member for 33 years and has witnessed firsthand the consequences of poor decision making in maintenance, load management and fatigue. Coupled with a lack of training, the results can be catastrophic.
He has also been training and auditing transport operators and staff in heavy vehicle accreditation and compliance for almost 20 years and is available to provide LogChecker clients with online fatigue compliance support.
Non-compliance to fatigue regulations generally comes from a lack of knowledge. LogChecker takes pride in its clients being proactive in determining their compliance to regulations and congratulates the NHVR for consistently pursuing education over enforcement where appropriate.
Smith believes there has been a noticeable, positive change in attitude towards fatigue compliance from the majority of transport industry professionals over the past two decades. and invites all operators to take the LogChecker challenge. You can head to the LogChecker website and sign up for a seven-day free trial and submit as much driver history, for as many drivers as you wish, obligation free.
You can also test your knowledge of fatigue in the LogChecker Knowledge Base, which contains clear and concise descriptions of each fatigue ruleset including Standard, Standard Two-Up, BFM, BFM Two-Up and WA rules.
LogChecker and their family of products are not just about checking driving hours. Their systems assist in a variety of fleet management outcomes including fleet maintenance software, Prestart apps, asset allocation and school bus management. Its family of products include Gearbox, PreStart, FreightTracker and RollCall.
Compliance with complicated HVNL regulations can be a challenge if you do not arm yourself with the correct tools. LogChecker is suitable for small and large transport operators and can demonstrate reasonably practical steps in managing fatigue compliance and accreditation requirements in an easy, online setting from as little as $6 per driver with no long-term contracts.
For more information on LogChecker or other systems that can streamline your accreditation and compliance activities, please go to LogChecker or the Easy to Use Software website.
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