National drivers work diary

[Steve Fryar]

Help!!This is as clear as mud!I have received four different answers on this question from government departments.And here it is....
What does the definition of work in the diary cover when you are working with a special purpose vehicle,ie a crane.You drive the crane,set up the crane and use the crane as a hoist.Does your time operating the crane count as work time with the vehicle?
I have had two yes and two no so far.
Also if you do 12 hours work away from the truck,this is counted as rest from the truck.Therefore you can hop in the truck,drive 5hrs and be legal even though you have been working for 17 hours.Please tell me this is wrong.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks,Steve.

[wheelinround]

Steve FSIL has one and from what he tell's me all work during the paid working hours count. From sign on till sign off loading, unloading, tarping, fuelling, checking the oil its all work related.

So if your loading and it takes 2 hrs thats 2 hrs less driving time
stop to change a blown tire 40 mins thats 40 mins less driving time.

I know in the Bus & Coach side if you drive for a taxi part time etc or professionally even as an ambo, boy in blue your hours driving count as do rest breaks.

[Calm]

Rest is time spent away from the vehicle in a designated rest area or in the bunk - there is conjecture that reading the paper in the drivers seat can be counted as a rest break.

Talking on the phone, checking out the vehicle before driving, fueling the truck or watching the truck get unloaded is not rest.

Therefore anything other than what i desribed above is work and should be recorded as such.

The book is in 1/4 hour periods and the recording is always in favour of work not rest so if you stop for a break at 5 past the hour you record your stop commencing at 1/4 past the hour then if you start at 25 minutes past the hour you record starting work at 1/4 past the hour so if you follow my example you have stopped for 20 minutes but the book will show zero break - in this case use your common sense and hope they do too.

As for officework or whatever - any time spent for the same employer or driving another similar vehicle then that must be recorded as work time - if you work in the office from 8 to 5 then drive the delivery truck tll midnight then all time should be recorded in the diary.

If you are an apprentice carpenter and drive the truck for Toll or someone else after hours - to do a Tarcutta changover - then i am not sure that the apprentice work is relevant - What is the connection??

Hope that helps

Cheers

[ian]

[quote=Steve Fryar;873345]Help!!This is as clear as mud!I have received four different answers on this question from government departments.And here it is....

What does the definition of work in the diary cover when you are working with a special purpose vehicle,ie a crane.You drive the crane,set up the crane and use the crane as a hoist.Does your time operating the crane count as work time with the vehicle?

yes
and watch that your compulsorary breaks actually occur

Also if you do 12 hours work away from the truck, this is counted as rest from the truck.

not on your Nelly, even if the 12hr is for a second employer

Therefore you can hop in the truck,drive 5hrs and be legal even though you have been working for 17 hours. Please tell me this is wrong.

it is wrong


ian

[DJ’s Timber]

Are you required to fill out a log?

If its for the recent acquisition "The Mitsi", I wouldn't have thought you'd need to, as isn't a Heavy Vehicle

[ian]

Are you required to fill out a log?

If its for the recent acquisition "The Mitsi", I wouldn't have thought you'd need to, as isn't a Heavy Vehicle

If I'm correctly seeing the photo, "the Mitsi" has a single tyred front axle and a dual tyre rear axle — the maximum legal total vehicle mass is therefore 6.5 + 8 = 14.5 T which means the GVM will be greater than 12T so a log book is required, unless Steve qualfies for one of the exemptions.

The other thing Steve needs to be careful of is that if he is in partnership with his wife, she may also be liable under the chain of responsibility legislation



ian

[Calm]

Are you required to fill out a log?

If its for the recent acquisition "The Mitsi", I wouldn't have thought you'd need to, as isn't a Heavy Vehicle

If I'm correctly seeing the photo, "the Mitsi" has a single tyred front axle and a dual tyre rear axle — the maximum legal total vehicle mass is therefore 6.5 + 8 = 14.5 T which means the GVM will be greater than 12T so a log book is required, unless Steve qualfies for one of the exemptions.

The other thing Steve needs to be careful of is that if he is in partnership with his wife, she may also be liable under the chain of responsibility legislation

ian

Not sure about SA but in Vic you can still go 100 KM radius from your home without requiring a log book to be filled out. If you then go more than 100 KM the book must be filled out for the whole day. In NSW you must fill out the book for all trips.

National Driver Work Diary
The Road Traffic (Heavy Vehicle Driver Fatigue) Regulations 2008 set new work and rest limits for heavy vehicle drivers and require better management of driver fatigue. If you drive a heavy vehicle with a gross vehicle mass over 12 tonnes or a bus with more than 12 adult seats including the driver’s, these laws apply to you. The drivers’ work/ rest details must be recorded in a Work Diary - the National Driver Work Diary.
You must fill in a Work Diary unless your journey is within a radius of 100 kilometres from the place of business from which your vehicle normally operates.
Note: If the driver base is not recorded, the driver base will be taken to be the garaged address of the regulated heavy vehicle.


From this website



Cheers

[wheelinround]

Interesting

Farmers have their say

FSIL is local only and has to fill his in every day regardless of distance.

[Calm]

What a lot of people fail to realise is you only need to make an entry when you change activities (from work to rest or rest to work)

The farmer can start his log book and does not need to make a change until he has a rest break. - he can work all morning and when he has smoko enter the rest break into his log book and then continue.

I can actually enter "Ballarat , speedo reading, rego number" into the log book
then drive to melbourne make pickups & deliveries, drive back to ballarat and my next log book entry can also be "Ballarat" with the same rego but the speedo reading will be about 300 km further advanced. You dont have to fill it in every time you stop - only when you change activities.

There are only 2 activities work or rest so it is not hard to determine which one you are doing - although for some it is harder for observers to tell

Cheers

[ian]

snip
If you are an apprentice carpenter and drive the truck for Toll or someone else after hours - to do a Tarcutta changover - then i am not sure that the apprentice work is relevant - What is the connection??

to quote from the National Farmers "cheat sheet" on this issue, see
http://www.nswfarmers.org.au/__data/...ue_Reforms.pdf

Time that is spent doing other activities that are not related to the operation of a regulated heavy vehicle (such as fruit-picking) are not considered work time.

However, it is an offence for a driver to drive while impaired by fatigue.
Under the legislation, the driver has a duty to avoid driver fatigue.
If a driver undertakes activities (whether or not they are related to the operation of a regulated heavy vehicle) that will result in fatigue, then they must not drive unless they have received sufficient rest.

so your aprentice is liable for driving while "impaired by fatigue"
the "evidence" that the aprentice is "impaired by fatigue" would be the aprentice being up and about rather than sleeping during the day

also, the aprentice's second employer (you suggest Toll) would also be liable for not taking reasonable steps to ensure that the apprentice had actually slept for 8 (or thereabouts) of the preceding 12 hours


ian

[Steve Fryar]

Thanks for your replies.My query is not in regards to my truck,though I do need the diary for it,it is in regards to work.We do geophysical logging of oil and gas wells.Operators drive the loggers(HR trucks) to the rig and then they operate the wireline winch for upto 16hrs.The 16hrs includes the drive.Say the drive is 5 hrs,does the 11hrs logging(operating the winch)work or rest?

[Cruzi]

If its wireline operators, its rest
Sorry, could not resist.

I have known the engineers and casing operators to go for up to 52 hrs, with only catnaps.

And one final point, you know at Moomba that safety rules are used to blame people for accidents, not actually enforced any other time.

[ian]

Thanks for your replies. My query is not in regards to my truck, though I do need the diary for it, it is in regards to work.
We do geophysical logging of oil and gas wells. Operators drive the loggers (HR trucks) to the rig and then they operate the wireline winch for upto 16hrs. The 16hrs includes the drive. Say the drive is 5 hrs, does the 11hrs logging (operating the winch)work or rest?

If the wireline winch is on the HR truck then it's activity on and about the truck and therefore work

if the wireline winch is NOT on the HR truck then it's operation is not "truck driving" work and therefore the time dosen't need to be recorded but also it's not REST so you can't count the time as rest — you should still expect to be done for "driving fatigued" if you then hop in the truck to drive back.

the distinction between "truck driving" work and "other" work really relates to the maximum allowable "truck driving" time within the recording cycle

and your only supposed to have one log book in which you record time on the well logger truck and time in the "Mitsi"


ian

[wheelinround]

This raises concern I suppose for a heavy line haul neighbour working for a national carrier as a supervisor come driver, who often when heading out stops at home for a break.
During these stops he does such as mow the lawn, repair his boat ( he does this constantly boat see's more of his steam cleaner than salt water), does shed work wood metal etc. Then hops back in his truck and departs for his aprox 400k drive and return.

How would this be effecting his fatigue management etc and supposed rest breaks.

[ian]

Difficult to say without knowing his "official" work and rest times.

During a "long" (7 hour) break you're supposed to be resting (dozing or sleeping) not mowing the lawn or working in the shed, I don't think there is a similar assumption for shorter breaks

you could always
ask the question of his employer (the number should be on the truck)
report his activities to his employer
dob him in to "the authorities"


after all the regulations are there to
1) protect owner drivers from unreasonable contracts
2) rid the trucking industry of idiot drivers
3) protect the community from fatigued heavy vehicle drivers


ian