ALRTA News – 20 April 2018

SAVE THE DATE: LTAT CONFERENCE

You are invited to attend the Livestock Transporters Association of Tasmania (LTAT) conference in Hobart on Saturday, 26 May 2018.

This is the first time in many years that LTAT has held a conference, so it is a perfect opportunity to meet your fellow Tasmanian operators and check out the island state.  The LTAT crew often make the effort to come to our ALRTA Council meetings or conferences and it would be great if you can come down and show your support for LTAT.

The conference will commence after the ALRTA Council meeting (1:00pm) and conclude with a dinner event.

Stay tuned for more information including a program and registration forms.

NHVR TO APPROVE EWDS

The NHVR has published a ‘Notice of Final Rulemaking’ which advises that the embargo on voluntary electronic work diaries will be lifted.

It is expected that the NHVR will commence accepting applications to recognise EWDs in May 2018.

Prior to this time, the NHVR will develop and publish regulatory guidance for drivers, record keepers, transport operators and technology providers.  In addition, training standards and guidelines will be provided to authorised officers.

NHVR will review the operation of the voluntary EWD system every two years.

ALRTA reminds members that, while we are supportive of voluntary EWDs being available for operators who wish to use them, we remain strongly opposed to mandatory EWDs.

EWDs count time in minutes and both drivers and enforcement officers will have an easier time of monitoring compliance. While the NHVR EWD Compliance Policy states that the devices will not display work or rest breaches of less than 15mins, operators must be aware that this is not a protection from prosecution.  The Heavy Vehicle National Law only provides for an 8min tolerance on work breaches for EWD users (which is not available to users of written work diaries).

ALRTA recommends that you carefully consider whether or not an EWD is right for your business.

The recognition of voluntary electronic record keeping systems underscores the need for an urgent and comprehensive review of the HVNL which was developed with a paper-based system in mind.  The review must consider fatigue regulations, liability for causes of off road fatigue, access, rest areas and roadside interpretation of compliance.

More information can be found here.

 

HAVE YOUR SAY ON REST AREA DESIGN

Austroads has developed draft Guidelines to assist road agencies to provide heavy vehicle rest areas (HVRA).  Earlier this year, Austroads consulted with drivers through a rest stop survey and an online survey to determine what facilities are important to drivers at different types of HVRA.

The draft guidelines that have been developed cater for major/formal HVRA and informal HVRA. The draft guidelines also recognise and provide some guidance on the adequacy of other rest opportunities for heavy vehicle drivers to rest.

Other rest opportunities include in-town and commercial facilities where their use is permitted by the body responsible (e.g. local government permitting the use of a town as a heavy vehicle rest opportunity and/or operators catering for heavy vehicle rest opportunities at commercial facilities).

The formal HVRA have been classified from 1-5 within the draft guideline. There is also one type of informal HVRA.

The guidelines outline a table of facilities to be considered for each class of formal heavy vehicle rest area and provide schematics of how both the formal and informal HVRA could be laid out. Development of the table of facilities and the designs were based on feedback received from drivers through the earlier consultation.

AustRoads is keen to hear drivers’ views on the table of facilities and the designs developed through a brief survey.  Please click here to undertake the survey.  The survey will be open until 4 May 2018.

After the survey, the draft guidelines will be finalised and approval will be sought from the Austroads Board to publish the guidelines later this year.

 

ROUNDTABLE ON SMALL BUSINESS FINANCE

ALRTA is a member of the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA).

This week, the CEO of COSBOA, Mr Peter Strong, participated in a roundtable discussion convened by the Reserve Bank of Australia to discuss small business finance.

“The small business sector is as diverse as the 6.5 million Australians who work in it – it is not just ‘a bunch of shops’ – and modern lending products must be developed to take account of this diversity”, said Peter Strong.

“One issue that gained a deal of interest was the opportunity to collect and use better data on small business operations to support banking decisions on loan applications”, Peter Strong added.

Other key messages included a stated desire of small owners to run their business without being told what to do by regulators, government or banks; and a call for access to a range of products that are better tailored to the specific needs of small business owners – most of whom are more than capable of looking after their own interests without being overprotected by onerous lending regulation.

For more information click here

 

TRUCKING AUSTRALIA 2018

The ATA Board and Council met in Canberra this week ahead of the Trucking Australia Conference 2018 held Wednesday-Friday.

Look out for a full report next week.

REMINDER: NHVR BASELINE SAFETY SURVEY

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) wants to get a snapshot of the way industry currently manage their safety responsibilities.

This baseline measurement will assist in informing decisions around the development of future education and guidance materials.

We encourage ALRTA members to contribute to this important initiative by sharing your experience about working in the heavy vehicle industry.

The survey is open until Wednesday, 9 May 2018 and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

To participate click here

MEETING NOTICE: ALRTA NATIONAL COUNCIL

Members are advised that the ALRTA will be holding a Council meeting on Saturday, 26 May 2018.  Details are:

Start: 8:00am
Close: 12:00pm
Location: Hobart, Tasmania

For more information please contact the ALRTA Secretariat.