NHVR Regulatory Advice – Bus and Coach Driver Fatigue and Health and Wellbeing
Thank you to the industry representatives who met with the NHVR to provide comprehensive feedback on the new Regulatory Advice – Bus and Coach Driver Fatigue and Health and Wellbeing
The bus driver specific regulatory advice is now live.
APTIA and BIC are working with NHVR to pull together an educational program regarding fatigue in the industry off the back of this latest advice and the outcomes of Operation Solstice.
To obtain a copy of the advice go here: Regulatory Advice – Bus and Coach Driver Fatigue and Health and Wellbeing.
National Transport Commission – Driver Health Screening
In May, the BIC and APTIA welcomed the opportunity to provide feedback to the National Transport Commission (NTC) on their Improving health screening for commercial vehicle drivers: discussion paper (discussion paper).
Throughout the consultation period we held two roundtable sessions with around 45 industry participants, representing:
- every state and territory in Australia,
- small, medium and large operators,
- local and international organisations,
- private and public operators,
- school, long distance, urban route and mining operations
- metropolitan, regional and rural operators, and
- state industry associations.
The industry strongly advocated for the existing parameters within the Assessing Fitness to Drive (AFTD) to be nationally harmonised and strengthened, with more consistency in assessing against these standards adopted by medical professionals, and more transparency between the driver authorities and operators. This is irrespective of the level of intervention or testing adopted as result of the review into health screening processes for commercial heavy vehicle drivers.
Within the existing health screening regime, access to medical professionals, especially in regional and rural areas, impacts operators’ ability to recruit and retain drivers. These issues were raised by operators repeatedly throughout the consultation period. Without careful consideration, any increased testing will have a serious impact on the recruitment and retention of our drivers and our ability to service our contracts across all facets of the industry.
In the discussion paper, we argued that introducing more stringent health screening measures for bus drivers will be costly for both drivers and operators, both in the costs of medical intervention and the cost of being off work awaiting medical clearance. These costs financially and commercially are currently being borne by the driver and operator.
In considering the options presented, the industry put forward the position that we are unable to support the option of increased and more invasive testing without more robust work undertaken to explore a comprehensive action plan, pilot testing and a cost-benefit analysis.
The industry calls on the NTC to explore opportunities for improvement within the existing health screening parameters without the need for additional, costly and invasive testing for bus drivers and operators. We submitted that in adopting ‘Option B’ – improvements to the current system – this provides opportunities for more consistent and comprehensive driver health screening, and we would welcome further opportunities to be involved in any project designed to deliver such outcomes.
Single Interest Authorisations/Multi Employer Bargaining
It’s no state secret that single interest authorisations/multi-employer bargaining (SIA/MEB) is on the agenda for the industry in the next 12-18 months.
We’ve been in touch with some of you already to discuss how this might impact you and get your feedback around how we can advocate for you.
If you haven’t heard from us directly yet, don’t panic! We’re currently scanning the horizon to identify where this is going to “hit” and the operators it might effect first. As always, in our discussions we’re thinking about the broader industry and how any developments in this area are going to impact all types of operators.
For those of you who remember the old State Awards, it might feel like a case of Back to the Future (ROADS?!? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads). However, we’ll be sure to keep you informed about any new developments as they arise and get your input into this new era of workplace relations.
