National Heavy Vehicle Regulator – Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM)
I want to align my expiry date for AFM with the expiry dates with the rest of my NHVAS Module expiry dates; will I be able to do this?
Yes, AFM Accreditation is issued for a period of 2 years however, there are provisions within the AFM business rules to shorten or lengthen this period in order to align the expiry dates with other NHVAS modules.
Is AFM still bound by 14 and 28 day periods?
The certificates are required to include periods of time greater than 24 hours. Depending on the frequency of your reset breaks you may still see 14 days and 28 day periods on your certificate. These will be incorporated into your certificate as appropriate. However, the Risk Classification System (RCS) approach allows for greater potential flexibility – applicants can design as many tasks as they need for their business.
What is the processing time for AFM applications, what is the turnaround time?
The time taken to process your application may be affected by a variety of factors which include:
- including all relevant documents – if you are making reference to another process or policy within the application please be sure to include these as additional reference materials
- quality of the application – how well the risks are identified and how succinctly the countermeasures are explained will shorten the timeframes
- timeliness of your responses – it is likely that upon receipt of your documents we will offer some form of feedback which will require further information. The quicker that this information is supplied to the FMU, the shorter the timeframes will be
- demand – if we receive requests from multiple operators at the same time there will be unavoidable delays in processing. We will aim to treat all applications on a first in first out basis however, priority to transitional cases wherever possible.
A lot of the timeframes are dependent on when industry can get the information to the Fatigue Management Unit (FMU). All applications will be referred to FERG as they are ready. At this stage all documents will need to be finalised and with the FMU no later than four weeks prior to the scheduled FERG meeting.
Will there still be a difference in hours that may be worked between states? For example, Queensland and New South Wales.
No. States and territories have agreed to the maximum work time in a 24 hour period being unified to 15.5 hours. Approved AFM Operating Limits will be set based on the application and the recommendations from FERG. In some circumstances, there may be additional requirements placed on the use of work rest limits in NSW.
Are there exemptions from fatigue legislation available?
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) is responsible for issuing fatigue management exemptions and has strict approval criteria for exemption applications. The exemptions include:
- work and rest hours exemptions
- work diary/literacy exemptions
- record keeping exemptions
For more information, visit the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator website
You must be logged in to post a comment Login