Its hard work to meet the law and customer demands, but it has to be done, says Mainfreight managing director Don Braid.
Some truck drivers claim they are illegally working up to 120 hours a week, and say they are put in an impossible situation by their employers.
Truck drivers are not legally able to work more than 13 hours a day, or 70 hours a week, but many do, say three drivers who Stuff agreed not to name because they feared for their jobs.
Hours are either tracked by the driver in a paper logbook, or monitored using an electronic logbook, a voluntary system many companies do not use.
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Mainfreight managing director Don Braid said the company was very strict about what the rules were, and worked closely with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency on the management of logbooks and the hours driven.
The law is the law, and were working hard every day to make sure we are within the boundaries of what the law requires, as well as meeting the demands of our customers – and thats not easy by the way, but its something that youve got to make sure youre on top of.
The company worked hard with individual branch managers ensuring that delivery runs, particularly the long ones, were managed so drivers could complete it within the legal timeframe. If a driver could not complete a run in time, they had to park up, he said, and rest somewhere.
Mainfreight works hard to make sure it meets the law and customer demands, says managing director Don Braid.
Some of the owner-drivers combined on the longer runs.
Its fatigue that causes issues, and thats not where we want our guys to be for their own safety and the other users on the road.
He said a lot of transport companies would be under enormous pressure from customers.
Particularly where the industry has probably supply chain congestions like weve never seen before, and there is an enormous amount of pressure from customers to deliver product that was probably late because of international delays, and therell be no doubt that those customers are putting companies under pressure.
But at the end of the day, weve got to do it safely and if we cant deliver it on time within the legal operating hours … then Im afraid were late.
The company was in the process of introducing an e-logbook based on its existing systems within the vehicles.
Mainfreight focused on looking after its people, and people could raise issues freely, he said.
None of us have an office, and its that open plan lack of bureaucracy, flat management structure to ensure that everyones heard. If theyve got an issue, they can put up their hand and get it addressed.
The Road Transport Forum supports the gradual introduction of electronic logbooks.
Customer demands and delays were partly to blame for pressure on truck drivers to work longer than 13-hour days, Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett said.
Leggett said the forum did not condone or defend truck operators and drivers who deliberately or negligently broke the law.
The fear expressed by truck drivers for their jobs if they spoke up about an employer could be traced back to customer pressure, he said.
Its a very competitive industry with very low margins and theres an attitude from many customers, theyll just take what we give them, and I think weve got to push back and assert ourselves a bit more and that will improve things for everybody.
Customer-related pressure included trucks being held up while loading and unloading, or closing a pick-up area that was meant to be open.
There had to be an immediate response when drivers went with their concerns to the regulator, Waka Kotahi, he said.
Theres got to be an open door for people to be able to report them, but weve got to take a wider lens and look at some reasons why this is happening. Thats the way were going to actually stamp out the problem.
The forum supported the gradual introduction of electronic log books with GPS. Better tools to signal to the regulator which companies and drivers were complying and which were not were also needed, Leggett said.
We want the chain of responsibility law to be enforced, and potentially strengthened, because often trucking operators are the weakest link in the chain, and theyve got all the pressure and all the responsibility fall onto them.
What happens is that trucks get bounced around and are really at the whim of the people that are at either end of their delivery, and so much of their day is defined by decisions that others make.
According to Waka Kotahi, the chain of responsibility holds accountable all the people who influence drivers’ behaviour and compliance including customers, and company directors if that influence results in breaching traffic rules and laws.
A person convicted of a chain of responsibility offence can be fined up to $25,000.
The forum had raised the idea of a transport accord, covering all transport operators, with Transport Minister Michael Wood.
The aim of the accord would be to strengthen responsibility, to build training capability and to co-ordinate across government. It would also be to look at the way the industrys structured to see if we can improve that, so were better able to partner with the regulators.