etruck.com.au

Turning the tables on the regulators is all part of the strategy, being used by Philip Halton, Executive Director of the Australian Livestock Transporters Association, to try and get some action from the National Transport Commission in sorting out the dog’s breakfast which is the most recent fatigue management regulations. In his weekly newsletter to ALTA members, Philip puts the NTC in the truck driver’s seat and examines its work diary for inconsistencies, just like a roadside check from an antagonistic RTA inspector.

Checking the entries in the work diary shows it has been 466 days since the NTC promised to review the Basic Fatigue Management scheme. Another entry tells us it had been 117 days since the NTC informed us the result of the review was ‘imminent’. The diary goes on to show us there have been promises of action with scant sign of results and the score, of issues resolved with advice to ministers, sits at 0/6. Looking at the evidence of the work diary it looks like this driver needs to be written up.

Unfortunately, the NTC is unlikely to get fined even though its work diaries shows it is clearly in breach of the rules. The problem is, this is the organisation which wrote the rules which the trucking industry is finding in impossible to comply with, on a local and national level. As Philip is keen to point out the NTC is full of well-meaning people trying to do their best to get a result which will satisfy both the government and the trucking industry. The problem seems to be with the regulatory system itself. Now that would be a revelation, a work diary for the lawmakers! Let’s see how they deal being made accountable for every single minute of the day!