NZ Transport Company ordered to pay $86k after fatigued truckie crashed

The 67-year-old driver was found to have been falsifying records to keep up with his workload.  He had worked 77 hours in the week leading up to the November 2014 crash.  He had only had a 7.5-hour break instead of the required 10 hours, and had breached the requirements for half-hour breaks.

Judge Gilbert said the dispatcher should have calculated whether the tasks allocated within the time limits were achievable within the time limits.  The driver said he was “following instructions in terms of handling the work assigned to him”.

The Driver dispatcher was fined $4000. The judge acknowledged that he was under significant pressure and had been working 15 hour days, but he should have taken steps to address the driver’s workload and fatigue.

The company had now invested $180,000 in an electronic monitoring system that ensured drivers did not exceed driving limits, as well as paying $16,000 a month for electronic odometers that provided the tracking data. It had redone its health and safety policies and increased training to drivers and dispatchers.