Traditionally, Fatigue Management has always been about processing paper in large volumes. Many transport operators out there can say that breaches have been discovered – only – after the fact, and once the written work diaries have come back to base.
In 2019, we’re now seeing growing numbers of transport operators that are seeking to adopt electronic fatigue management systems (i.e. Electronic Work Diaries or EWDs) now that the NHVR has allowed applications for accreditation. This will have a significant impact on reducing the paperwork burden – while improving compliance standards.
The written work diary has become redundant in terms of a useful document, due to the administration associated with collating and auditing the data. Several leading fleets have turned towards real time electronic fatigue management systems, focusing on business productivity gains.
A snapshot of the technology provided to drivers by leaders in the field.
- Sign-on glass driver declaration for fitness for duty and adequate rest taken, with interlocks to prevent driver bypassing this process.
- Super Simple Systems which include “W” for work and “R” for rest buttons.
- Online and offline operation of the 28-day work diary with driver editing and audit trail.
- Display all fatigue hours for work, rest, night, long and 84/144 limits.
- Standard and BFM driver nomination and fatigue rules application.
- Preventive Rest warnings at 45, 15 and 5 minutes with audio announcement.
- Informative breach warnings with details of fatigue rule breached and audio announcement.
- Accurately audit written work diary against the EWD records.
Furthermore, fleet operations staff should expect to be provided immediate and reliable access to all the NHVAS Fatigue related information that is required to meet all the fatigue management requirements and more.
In order to fully meet the NHVAS Fatigue standards the following paperless capabilities would be required:
- Auditing of any driver fitness for duty declaration and signature.
- Allocators to have access to all drivers’ fatigue data including 7/14 day hours remaining and night/long hours.
- Compliance staff to access full 28-day EWD for any period of time for review.
- Maintain all driver training records for fatigue and medicals with expiry alerts.
- Email/SMS fatigue breaches in real time and manage corrective actions with drivers.
- Alerts for driving while EWD is in rest.
- Fatigue breach reports with corrective action with driver.
We believe that it is critical that transport operators manage their drivers using innovative technology and tools currently available and decide on the corrective action under reasonable steps – including the freedom to use any technology or smartphone apps that meet their needs.
As the majority (more than 70% of heavy vehicles) operate within 100km of local areas, or are accredited to NHVAS Fatigue, they are free to use any technology including uncertified EWDs or smartphone apps to meet their Chain of Responsibility (CoR) obligations.
DID YOU KNOW? Kynection is in the process of applying to NHVR to become Australia’s 1st certified electronic work diary (EWD) provider.
In the case of CoR, transport operators will continue to ensure drivers complete the written work diary under current regulations, even though it has limited if any benefit to the transport operator.
Key Issues:
- Heavy vehicle fatigue management using paper systems has always been about after-the-fact identification of fatigue breaches and the necessary corrective action required.
- A number of factors have contributed to the large increase in paperwork and auditing that now takes place, with the NHVAS Fatigue module becoming a significant but necessary overhead for fleets.
- Additional paperwork, completion of the National Work Diary, as well as data entry of driver fatigue data to determine breaches is costing fleets significantly.
Our solution to this pervasive paper problem is to deploy into the truck reliable Android, Windows or IOS (6.5/8/10) based enterprise mobile platforms and Cloud based software solutions to eliminate almost all NHVAS Fatigue related paperwork, and provide fleet operations with real time fatigue checking.
One of the other great challenges a fleet manager has is the collation and analysis of vast amounts of information ‘Big Data’, especially once NHVAS Fatigue management is automated. Kynection believes in providing integrated Business Intelligence through Dashboards and KPI reports for various aspects of fatigue management compliance, which also include corrective action responsiveness and breach severity analysis.
In our opinion, paperless NHVAS Fatigue management is now a reality and numerous fleets are benefiting from 100% compliance performance and a significant reduction in operating costs. For those looking at making improvements in 2020 (and beyond), now is the time to take action and ensure you’re on the continual improvement path.
© 2022 Autolync Pty Ltd, trading as Kynection