Logbook and worktime fines

2022 was a big year for logbook and worktime fines but less than when we last did it in 2018. If you were a truck driver, police were on your case due to the impact of fatigue on driver performance and risk. However, factors in your favour were:

• More use of electronic logbooks which have fewer opportunities to make errors
• Less traffic due to lockdowns, making it easier for truck drivers to meet schedules, therefore not exceed worktime hours.

Logbook infringements and penalties

Offence	Number
Allowed an omission to occur in a logbook	1
Allowed vehicle to be used when logbook had omissions	1
Allowed vehicle to be used when logbook was not maintained	1
Driver failed to deliver copy of logbook record to employer	4
Driver failed to produce current logbook on demand	291
Driver failed to retain logbook for the required period	1
Driver maintained 2 logbooks	1
Facilitator/employer failed to make records available	2
Made a false statement in a logbook	54
Produced a logbook containing 11 or more omissions	92
Produced a logbook containing a false particular	33
Produced a logbook containing between 1 and 5 omissions	950
Produced a logbook containing between 6 and 10 omissions	118
Sum	1549

The total infringement fines were $360,050, plus court costs where applicable. Many of these will have resulted in 28-day suspensions and additional fines via the courts.

The figures clearly show that producing a current logbook, and producing a logbook with between 1-5 errors are the main issues drivers are grappling with. We have a logbook and worktime course to help drivers manage these. Also, recommended is the fatigue management course.

Worktime infringements and penalties

Offence	Number
Caused or required a driver to exceed maximum work time	1
Caused or required a driver to fail to comply with rest time requirements	1
Driver didn’t have 10 hours continue rest in work day (60 mins or more)	39
Driver didn’t have 10 hours continuous rest in work day (less than 60 mins)	15
Driver drove more than 8 hours in a day – stage 2 accelerated licence	1
Driver exceed 13 hours work time in a work day (60 mins or more)	38
Driver exceed 13 hours work time in a work day (less than 60 mins)	11
Driver exceeded 5.5 hours continuous work time (60 mins or more)	42
Driver exceeded 5.5 hours continuous work time (less than 60 mins)	37
Driver exceeded 70 hours’ work time in cumulative period – 120 mins or more	5
Driver exceeded 70 hours’ continuous work time – 60 mins or more	1
Driver exceeded 70 hours’ continuous work time – less than 60 mins	2
Sum	193

All bar one of the above went to court, so we don’t have the amounts of the court-imposed fine.