Following last week’s ‘work diary blitz’ at the Marulan inspection station, where 18 work diary related offences were recorded from over 1000 intercepts, the NHVR says “there is still more work to do”.
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) carried out a blitz at the Marulan Heavy Vehicle Safety Station (HVSS) from June 4-10, following a spate of work diary penalty infringements recorded in recent months.
The regulator says the latest operation is “a good reminder to always carry work diaries”.
NHVR director of operations Central Region, Brett Patterson, said that although education on work diaries is having a positive impact, there is still more work to do.
“It’s great to see the majority of drivers and operators in this latest operation doing the right thing by carrying their work diary, however there is still a small group who were not,” hew said.
“We take fatigue related offences seriously and those who were not carrying their work diaries were issued a direction to stop and rest for a period of seven hours.
“As a driver, meeting your safety and fatigue management obligations, in accordance with the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), is imperative for not only keeping yourself safe, but those you share the road with.”
Patterson added that the blitz resulted in a number of enquires around carrying work diaries. “We’d like to stress that it’s important to ensure drivers can produce records for the past 28 days. If you change from using a WWD to an EWD, then you’ll also need to carry your WWD until which time you can show 28 days of records.”
Other breaches recorded at the operation included 137 vehicle defect notices with 48 per cent of those defect notices being self-clearing and 26 notices to secure or adjust load.
“Following Marulan, we have numerous operations coming up at various locations and this won’t be the only one to tackle the issue of drivers not carrying their work diary. We urge drivers to remain vigilant and ensure they always have their work diaries with them and completed,” Patterson said.