Regulatory Advice - Managing the risks of time slot bookings

Note: This information is intended as general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. We encourage you to obtain independent advice about your legal obligations.

This regulatory advice provides guidance on recognising and managing the risks associated with the scheduling of delivery or pick-up times for heavy vehicles.

picture is of a person with a clip board making notes as they watch over a repair of a heavy vehicle

Who is this advice for?

Note: Businesses that own or manage loading and unloading facilities are ‘loading managers’, one of the defined parties in the CoR.

What are my legal obligations?

Under the HVNL section 26C, each party has a primary duty: to ensure the safety of transport activities, so far as is reasonably practicable.

This is an obligation to eliminate or minimise public risks, and a prohibition against directly or indirectly causing or encouraging a driver or another person, including a party in the CoR, to contravene the HVNL. CoR parties and their executives, should be aware that they remain a CoR party even when their transport activities are contracted, or subcontracted, to another party.

Under the HVNL section 26D, executives of a businesses that are a party in the CoR have a distinct duty: to exercise due diligence to ensure the business complies with its primary duty.

Note: Transport activities↓ includes all activities and business processes associated with the use of a heavy vehicle on a road.

What are the legal consequences?

If your business is a party in the CoR and it fails to eliminate or minimise public risks so far as is reasonably practicable, then it may be in breach of its primary duty. If a breach is proven, the law provides sanctions against a company and its executives, ranging from education and improvement notices to prosecution.

What are the hazards and risks?

A time slot booking is when a driver is expected to be at a stated location at a stated time for a shipment to be loaded or delivered. The location is usually a distribution centre, port facility or another type of warehouse. 

The demand on drivers to meet time slots can have unintended consequences. They can feel pressured to drive when fatigued or exceed speed limits. Both behaviours create serious safety risks to drivers, other workers, road users and the community. 

There are other risks associated with slot booking systems that can impact safety in and around the facility including:

  • queueing vehicles leading to increased traffic and traffic congestion around the site
  • time constraints during loading impacting drivers or other workers ability to properly restrain and secure the load
  • rushed, or pressure to rush unloading can compromise safe work practices.

The potential safety risks resulting from these hazards may include:

  • serious injury or fatalities to workers, road users and the public
  • damage to road and other infrastructure.

Why is it important to manage hazards and risks?

Taking positive steps to manage the safety risks of time slot bookings keeps drivers and other heavy vehicle workers safe while protecting other road users in the community. Managing time slot safety risks also helps loading facilities, loading managers and other CoR parties avoid regulatory sanctions.

Heavy vehicle incidents attributed to fatigue, speeding, poor loading or traffic congestion can cause significant reputational damage to a business that influences and controls slot booking systems. Effective and ongoing safety risk management can position a business as an employer and contractor of choice.

Who has a duty to manage risks?  

Businesses that own or manage loading and unloading facilities are ‘loading managers’, one of the defined parties in the CoR. However, each party in the CoR has a duty to ensure the safety of their transport activities, including eliminating or minimising any circumstances that could cause drivers to take risks or contravene the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL). 

Executives of a business that are a party in the CoR have a distinct duty to exercise diligence to ensure the business complies with its primary duty. Executives must ensure sufficient financial, human and other resources are available to the business to effectively implement risk controls. They must also be aware of - and approve - final risk assessments, actively monitor the effectiveness of risk controls, and promote continuous improvement of safe business practices. 

How can I manage the risks?

The best practice approach is to manage risk proactively, rather than reacting after an incident has occurred. Being proactive will ensure everyone in the CoR is meeting their obligations to ensure the safety of their transport activities.

At a minimum, you should undertake a risk assessment and consider what risk controls are required to mitigate those risks. 

Time slot booking risk controls 

Risk controls to manage the risk of drivers being fatigued or speeding to meet time slot bookings often include the following strategies: 

Distribution centre/warehouse facilities

  • don’t enter into a contract with conditions that would have the effect of causing a driver to speed or drive while fatigued 
  • ensure sufficient staff are available to load or unload vehicles and ensure loaders and unloaders work efficiently
  • in the event of a delay, communicate with operators and drivers to allow drivers the opportunity to better manage their fatigue along the journey (rather than arriving as scheduled only to have to try to rest while queueing, for example)
  • don’t exceed loading or unloading facilities’ capabilities when creating bookings
  • educate workers undertaking loading and unloading tasks about the impacts on drivers and operators arising from loading/unloading delays (both scheduled and unscheduled)
  • provide back-up bookings to allow flexibility in the event of a delay
  • have contingencies in place to minimise delays to account for any unforeseen issues on site
  • prevent queuing of vehicles onto the road as this increases the public risk of passing vehicle collisions with waiting vehicles 
  • ensure contracts allow sufficient time to absorb delays (do not penalise drivers for missing or being late for a booking time)
  • include space for vehicle queueing when designing or configuring premises
  • have a specific traffic management plan in place
  • schedule time slots where possible to minimise night driving 
  • allocate a specific area and a procedure to allow drivers and other workers to check that loads are properly restrained, or to respond to any other vehicle safety issue prior to leaving site.

Transport operators and schedulers

  • when developing a driver’s schedule, consider the complete task the driver has to perform (including the potential impact of traffic delays or other unforeseen circumstances) and allow the driver adequate time to complete the task lawfully
  • minimise queuing times by planning the journey to arrive at scheduled times and using any extra time around bookings to rest where possible
  • don’t enter into a contract that would have the effect of causing a driver to speed or drive while fatigued to meet booking obligations
  • ensure contracts allow sufficient time to absorb delays (do not penalise drivers for missing or being late for a booking time)
  • ensure contracts have flexibility in booking times to cater for minor variations in the driver's expected arrival time  
  • when developing schedules, ensure contingencies are in place should a driver become unwell or is unable to complete the journey
  • maintain open, two-way communication with all relevant parties (and drivers) and encourage early notification of delays to allow appropriate alternative arrangements to be made
  • ensure back-up time slot bookings are made available should there be a delay
  • provide information, education and training to workers, which includes the risks arising from working while fatigued or speeding
  • introduce Electronic Work Diaries (EWDs) to help drivers effectively manage their fatigue
  • implement technology solutions, such as fatigue detection devices or GPS monitoring devices, to ensure driver safety and other legal obligations are being met.

Resources

Master Code

Guidance and direction on how to effectively introduce a risk management process within your business can be found in Section 3 of the Master Code. 

Safety Management System (SMS)

Management of safety risks can be more effective with a holistic Safety Management System (SMS) in place.

Benefits include:

  • having a proactive, preventative method to manage safety risks by focusing on prevention rather than a less effective reactive approach
  • preventing loss of life and injuries through a systematic risk management approach
  • helping your business become a preferred supplier to customers
  • improving employee satisfaction through involvement in the process
  • maintaining a more efficient interface with regulatory authorities.

Regardless of the size of a business, an effective SMS can be a tool for ensuring your business has an appropriate safety focus and complies with its duty to ensure the safety of its transport activities.

Targeted guidance, tools and information regarding the development and implementation of an SMS is available in the 9 Step SMS Roadmap.

Understand the HVNL and your primary duty

Under the HVNL section 26C, each party in the CoR has a primary duty to ensure the safety of its transport activities, so far as is reasonably practicable. This duty includes an obligation to eliminate or minimise public risks and a prohibition against directly or indirectly causing or encouraging a driver or another person, including a party in the CoR, to contravene the HVNL.

So far as is reasonably practicable

So far as is reasonably practicable means an action that can reasonably be done in relation to the duty, considering relevant matters such as:

  • the likelihood of a safety risk or damage to road infrastructure
  • the harm that could result from the risk or damage
  • what the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the risk or damage
  • what the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the ways of removing or minimising the risk, or preventing or minimising the damage
  • the availability and suitability of those ways
  • the cost associated with the available ways, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the likelihood of the risk or damage.

More information can be found in Regulatory Advice - Reasonably practicable.

Executives of businesses that are parties in the CoR have a distinct duty under the HVNL section 26D to exercise due diligence to ensure the business complies with its duty to ensure the safety of its transport activities.

Due diligence

Exercising due diligence includes taking reasonable steps to:

  • acquire and maintain knowledge about conducting transport activities safely
  • understand the nature of the business’s transport activities, including the hazards and risks associated with those activities
  • ensure the business has, and uses, appropriate resources to eliminate or minimise the hazards and risks associated with its transport activities
  • ensure the business has, and uses, processes to eliminate or minimise the hazards and risks associated with its transport activities and that information about hazards, risks and incidents is received, considered and responded to in a timely way.

Executive due diligence

Examples of executive due diligence activities include:

  • collecting information about incident rates to see if the safety management plan is working
  • participating in industry-led forums and safety seminars
  • ensuring work procedures are being followed and result in improvements in safety
  • ensuring safety incidents are responded to and investigated
  • implementing learnings from the investigation of safety incidents.
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