Fatigue Management & Speed Compliance Laws:

A Brief Summary of Key Points of the Fatigue & Speed Laws

 

 

• MASS;
• DIMENSION;
• LOAD RESTRAINT;
• DRIVING HOURS/FATIGUE MANAGEMENT; and
• SPEED. 

• Drives a truck;
• Loads a truck;
• Allocates loads or drivers to a truck or a job;
• Manages operations and/or the company;
• Customers who send the freight; and
• Customers who receive the freight.

• Considered GUILTY
• UNLESS they can PROVE their INNOCENCE. This REVERSE Onus of Proof increases your risk.

These laws are very complex and we encourage everyone involved to seek advice to ensure that you understand the laws and that your business is both compliant and protected. This web page provides a broad summary only and it would be unwise to treat this as a definitive explanation or advice. 

 

Call SAMS for professional expert advice.  

 

 

LEGAL DUTIES OF CARE: Summary – Fatigue and Speed Laws

 

Consistent with the Shared Responsibility concept, the following legal Duties of Care are established under the Fatigue Management laws and MUST be complied with at all times (this is best done by applying the policies and procedures set out under a Fatigue Management and Speed Compliance Program - either a formal approved Accreditation program or an in-house set of policy and procedures).

 

GENERAL DUTY OF CARE: 

The Business and all of its Managers and Supervisors and each driver MUST take All Reasonable Steps, including complying with their Fatigue Management Program, to meet their GENERAL DUTY of CAREto:

 

ENSURE that no driver drives a Heavy Vehicle operated by the Business, or operating on behalf of the Business, whilst impaired by fatigue – which means that “the use of any mental or physical faculty of the driver is lost or appreciably impaired by fatigue” 

 

SCHEDULER’S DUTY OF CARE:

The Business and each of its staff responsible for setting operational schedules, arranging freight movements and/or allocating drivers MUST meet the Scheduler’s Duty of Care to:

 

ENSURE that the schedules they establish and provide to drivers comply with the Driving Hours and Fatigue Management laws AND that they do NOT cause the Driver to exceed an applicable speed limit

 

SPEED: The Scheduler must NOT cause the Driver, whose schedule was prepared by the Scheduler, to drive a HV unless they have complied with the Scheduler’s Duty of Care; and

 

The schedule allows the Driver to complete the journey without exceeding any applicable speed limit, in any reasonably foreseeable circumstances.

 

 

LOAD MANAGER’S DUTY OF CARE:

The Business operates or utilises several depots at which 5 or more Heavy Vehicles are loaded/unloaded per day and Managers and Supervisors of those depots MUST meet the Duty of Care of a Load Manager to:

 

ENSURE, if a truck is unlikely to be (un)loaded within 30 minutes of arrival or the designated time, the driver is advised and provided the opportunity to rest.

 

SPEED:The Loading Manager must take All Reasonable Steps to ensure HV (un)loading arrangements at sites they manage do NOT cause a Driver to exceed an applicable speed limit.

 

 

SPEED: BUSINESS PRACTICES: Employers, Prime Contractors And Operators 

The Employer or Prime Contractor of a Driver AND the Operator of the Heavy Vehicle, must take All Reasonable Steps to ensure that the business’ practices do NOT cause a Driver to exceed an applicable speed limit when operating a HV for or on behalf of the business.

 

The Employer or Prime Contractor of a Driver AND the Operator of the HV, must NOT cause a Driver to drive a HV unless the Employer, Prime Contractor or Operator has complied with this Business Practices Duty, AND is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the Scheduler has complied with the Scheduler’s Duty of Care set out above.

 

 

SPEED: CONSIGNORS and CONSIGNEES: Duty of Care 

Consignors/Consignees of goods must take All Reasonable Steps to ensure that the Terms of Consignment do NOT: 

Speeding by A Driver Does NOT Need to be Proven For Offences

The authorities do NOT need to prove that a driver did actually speed for offences under the above Speed Duties of Care to be established. So in other words, even if the driver does NOT actually speed, the other parties could be in Breach if they did not meet their obligations set out in the above Duties.

 

Other Parties ARE Guilty IF a Driver Is Guilty

If a Driver is found guilty of a speed offence in a HV, or if they expiate a speeding offence, then the relevant other parties are automatically treated as guilty under the Speed Regulations.

 

Certain Requests & Contracts are Prohibited

It is illegal for anyone, directly or indirectly, to request or direct a HV Driver to do or not do anything that the person knows or ought reasonably to know, may cause the Driver to exceed any applicable speed limit.

 

It is illegal for anyone to enter into a contract or agreement with a HV Driver or any other party in the Chain of Responsibility to do or not do anything that the person knows or ought reasonably to know: 

SPEED: Taking Reasonable Steps

The Speed Regulations provide that a party will have satisfied the Reasonable Steps requirements IF they can demonstrate that they have done the following things: 

NOTE: Steps 1 to 3 should be repeated whenever the circumstances or perceived risk change or annually,  which ever occurs first.

 

 

The Hours Options:

STANDARD Hours, Basic Fatigue Management & Advanced Fatigue Management

The new laws provide for 3 levels of driving hours and fatigue management: 

1. Standard Hours                                             ( a maximum of 12 hours work per day);
2. Basic Fatigue Management (BFM)            ( a maximum of 14 hours work per day);
3. Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM)     (within approved Normal & Outer Limits) 

Each of these three Driving Hours Regimes imposes a complex set of rules which must be complied with, including regarding the limits on Work Hours, the minimum number and frequency of Rest hours and the types and details of records that must be maintained. The key rules are summarised below. Operators and drivers may switch between the three Hours Options but only if at the time of transferring from  one Option to another the driver must be fully compliant with the Option they are transferring into and then remain compliant.

Although operations under the Standard Hours regime do not have to be conducted under a fatigue management program, the law still requires that operators have established business practices and procedures. So a key part of ANY Reasonabl Steps Defence is to ensure that EVEN FOR Standard Hours Operations, your business SHOULD HAVE a an effective set of policies and procedures for its Standard Hrs operations. If you are BFM or AFM accredited, you woud be wise to include Standard Hrs procedures tin that program.

Schedules and Driver Rosters must indicate whether each Heavy Vehicle operation is to be conducted under Standard Hours or BFM rules.

Drivers, Schedulers and Managers/Supervisors must all ensure that their actions in setting schedules, managing freight and truck allocations and movements and operating trucks and or performing Heavy Vehicle-related work, complies with:

1. the policies and procedures set out in their Fatigue Management Program; and
2. the Driving Hours Laws, including the following Work & Rest limits:

	Standard Hours	BFM Hrs
15 mins Rest in	5 ½ hrs	6 ¼ hrs
30 mins Rest in	8 hrs	9 hrs
60 mins Rest in	11 hrs	12 hrs
Minimum Rest In 24 hrs	12 hrs rest (7hrs continuous)	10 hrs rest (7hrs continuous)
Maximum WORK & 24Hr Rests   In 7 days	72 hrs Work ( at least one 24hrs continuous Rest)	36 hrs of Night/Long Work (midnightto 6amand hrs over 12 hrs)
Maximum WORK   & Minimum NIGHT Rests & 24Hr Rests   In 14 days	144 hrs Work   4 Night Rests, with 2 consecutive. (Night Rest is a 7hr continuous Rest between 10pmand 8am)	144 hrs Work   24hrs continuous Rest after 84 hrs work. AND 2nd 24hr consecutive Rest AND 4 Night Rests, with 2 consecutive