Commercial vehicle driver fatigue is a major safety problem

The concept of “Due Diligence” has meant that operators must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect the health and safety of their workers, customers and the general public. In turn the need for better standards of health and safety has been matched by an increasing requirement for documentation of commercial vehicle driver operations and activities.

A driver fatigue management plan will help employers meet their duty of care

Standards for safe operations in road transport are summarized in this online lesson which explains the background to the development of a Driver Fatigue Management Plan (DFMP), and aims to provide some help and advice for operators who wish to develop a DFMP or who may wish to revise or update their existing system. So we’ll look at the following issues:

• the basic principles for fatigue management;
• the steps in producing a company Driver Fatigue Management Plan;
• commercial vehicle driver well-being – an important consideration;
• administrative tasks necessary to ensure that policies, procedures and contingency actions are performed as required by the regulations; and
• policies necessary for dealing with critical incidents and for the provision of training.