As we all know, if you’re on standard hours, the obligation to fill in your work diary under the Heavy Vehicle National Law kicks in when you’re going to be doing work outside of the 100km radius from your base.
When doing entirely local work on standard hours, you don’t normally need to fill in the work diary, but this doesn’t mean that the work and rest hour laws no longer apply. Everyone working in fatigue regulated vehicles need to comply with the work and rest hour limits, even when working entirely inside their 100km radius. You are also required to keep your own detailed written records of your work and rest times and provide them to your record keeper, for example on a ‘daily run sheet’.
In a practical sense, not having a work diary to check roadside means it’s less common for the authorities to detect breaches of work and rest hours by local drivers. It’s easy to get complacent. However, a recent case my firm worked on is a cautionary tale for all of us on the importance of following the work and rest hours, even within the 100km radius.
Our client, an excellent driver who only worked locally, caught the attention of a particularly proactive police officer. This officer, using the broad investigative powers available to them under the HVNL, accessed our driver’s tachometer printouts, GPS tracking information, payslips and work schedules and then used those things to piece together their work and rest hours and charge them with a handful of fatigue offences.
Because our client had a good traffic record and prepared for court well, we were able to achieve a result in court that kept them below the demerit point threshold and on the road. But it was a lesson well learned for all in the importance of always following the fatigue limits, and one I wanted to share.
The other thing I have seen recently that I wanted to raise with you is drivers who are opting to take their heavy vehicles and park them at home for the night between work days, as opposed to leaving them onsite or returning them to base. This can be convenient, but if you’re doing it, please bear in mind that the drive from home in the morning to your starting point and then back home again after your day’s work count towards your work hours.
Now this is a bit odd, because if you did the exact same drives before and after work in your personal car, they wouldn’t be counted, even though arguably their impact on fatigue would be the same. But because the driving is in a fatigue regulated heavy vehicle, it counts. So if you’re doing this, it’s important to pay attention to the time these drives add to your work hours. I had a driver recently who was driving upwards of 1.5 hours on either side of the day to get home in their truck, and it pushed them over their standard 12 in 24, leading to charges.
If you have been charged with a fatigue offence or have questions about work and rest requirements as they relate to your business, the lawyers at Ainsley Law would be happy to help.
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