Short Courses

Heavy Vehicle Driver Fatigue (HVDF) Program

It’s time to manage Heavy Vehicle Driver Fatigue...

New national road transport Heavy Vehicle Driver Fatigue laws commenced on 29 September 2008, set to revise work and rest limits for heavy vehicle drivers and require better management of driver fatigue. The reform makes all parties in the supply chain legally responsible for preventing driver fatigue.

The new laws apply to both trucks and buses. They apply to a truck with a GVM of over 12 tonnes or a combination if the total of the GVMs is over 12 tonnes. They also apply to a bus with more than 12 seats, including the driver. The laws do not cover plant items (machines or implements) or motor homes.

The new laws are consistent with current obligations under Occupational Health and Safety(OH&S) laws that also require employers and employees take all reasonably practicable steps to manage driver fatigue.

An operator must produce Statements of Attainment issued by an authorised Registered Training Organisation (RTO) for all their drivers and schedulers (and supervisors of drivers and schedulers), who will be operating under their accreditation.

This means that the drivers and schedulers must be assessed according to Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector practices against competency units in the Transport and Logistics training package.

The required competency requirements are:

  • Drivers under BFM and AFM are required to complete:
      TLIF1007C - Apply Fatigue Management Strategies

  • Schedulers, and people who supervise or manager drivers or schedulers are required to complete:
      TLIF6307A - Administer the Implementation of Fatigue Management Strategies

Go to the following pages for further information:

  • Training information for Drivers
  • Training information for Trainers and Assessors
  • Training information for Schedulers