When we are asked this question it is referring to the National Heavy Vehicle Concrete Agitator Work and Rest Hours Exemption Notice which was originally released in 2018 and updated in 2023.

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In the original notice the work and rest hours did not exactly match either standard hours or Basic Fatigue Management (BFM); this issue was addressed in the 2023 release.

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To understand the notice and how to use it we first need to understand what HVNL work and rest are:

work, in relation to a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle, means—

(a)  drive a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle; or

(b)  instruct another person to drive, or supervise another person driving, a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle; or

(c)  perform another task relating to the use of a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle, including, for example—

(i)  load things onto, or unload things from, the heavy vehicle; and

(ii)  inspect, service or repair the heavy vehicle; and

(iii)  inspect or attend to a load on the heavy vehicle; and

(iv)  if the heavy vehicle is a bus, attend to passengers on the bus; and

(v)  clean or refuel the heavy vehicle; and

(vi)  perform marketing tasks in relation to the use of the vehicle; and

Examples for the purposes of subparagraph (vi)—

•  arranging for the transport of goods or passengers by the heavy vehicle

•  canvassing for orders for the transport of goods or passengers by the heavy vehicle

(vii)  help another person to perform, or supervise another person performing, a task mentioned in any of subparagraphs (i) to (vi); and

(viii)  record information or complete a document, as required under this Law, a corresponding fatigue law or otherwise, in relation to the use of the vehicle; or

(d)  occupy the driver’s seat of a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle while its engine is running.

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rest, in relation to a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle, means not work in relation to a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle.

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The Heavy Vehicle National Law related to work is different in NSW because of sections like 248A (below):

248A   Occupying driver’s seat to count as rest time in certain circumstances [NSW]

(1)  A period during which the driver of a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle occupies the driver’s seat of the vehicle while its engine is running counts as rest time rather than work time if—

(a)  the vehicle is stationary during that period; and

(b)  the driver is not subject to work demands during that period; and

(c)  the period is at least 15 minutes or forms part of a period of rest time of at least 15 minutes.

Note—

Section 246 provides for the manner in which periods of rest time are to be calculated.

(2)  This section has effect despite paragraph (d) of the definition of work in section 221.

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You can see from the above that heavy vehicle drivers in NSW can sit in the driver’s seat with the engine running and have a rest break where drivers in the other states cannot.

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For concrete agitator drivers waiting to unload into a concrete pump this means that in NSW they could sit in the driver’s seat and in other states they had to sit in the passenger’s seat, the Concrete Agitator Work and Rest Hours Exemption Notice was issued to address this problem and the Notice legally allows the drivers to take a ‘short work break’ of at least 15 minutes,if:

• the vehicle is stationary 
• the driver occupies the driver's seat while the engine is running
• the driver does no “work” other than remaining in the driver’s seat while the engine is running.

Note that the drivers must record the:

• time
• duration
• location

Of the short work break, meaning that many companies will need to update their record keeping forms etc. to ensure that this information is captured, now that the work / rest hours in the Notice are aligned to Standard and BFM hours there is no benefit using it in NSW.

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