| Legislation and Compliance | | Print | |
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Working Time Legislation in the Road Transport Sector Origniates from Three EU Directives The first Main Directive came into force in the UK in 1998. It introduced new rights to employees and placed additional burdens on employers, but the transport sector was temporarily excluded from its provisions. The second Horizontal Directive was introduced in August 2003 and amended the Main Directive by removing the exemption for the transport sector. It applied the full rules of the Main Directive to non-mobile workers, and some of the rules to mobile workers . The extent to which the provisions of the Main Directive apply to mobile workers depends on whether the vehicle operation is covered by tachograph or domestic drivers' hours rules. The third Road Transport Directive applied from 4 April 2005. It introduced specific rules to mobile workers of operations subject to EU drivers' hours (tachograph) regulations. On April 04.04.05 the final part of the Working Time Directive (WTD) came into force. As you are aware originally mobile workers were excluded from the Directive. The new Road Transport Directive (RTD) will mean, for drivers subject to EU hours rules the following:
Apex Recruitment will be keeping records for two years of the drivers’ working time. Compliance It is our legal responsibility to ensure that the Directive is adhered to. Under the terms of the RTD Apex Recruitment will be monitoring drivers working time ensuring that it does not exceed the 60 hour limit and the 48 hour average over a fixed referencing period. We will also be tracking all Periods of Availability (POA) on the Drivers weekly timesheet. (A copy of our work record can be supplied at your request) Apex will be meeting the statutory obligations to ensure that drivers report to us, and that we hold records on each individual driver’s paid time, breaks and periods of availability All drivers will be asked to record their working hours and POA on their weekly timesheet on a daily basis of which the Client may obtain a copy at the end of the week to confirm compliance if necessary. Apex will then in turn record all working and Drivers POA on a week – to – week basis throughout the referencing periods. Holidays Statutory holidays cannot be used to reduce average working time. Therefore a notional 8 hours for every day of holiday will be recorded and added to the working time calculation. If holidays are for 5 days in a week, then 48 hours working time must be added for each driver this applies to. Sick leave counts towards working time at the rate of 8 hours per day. Rest Breaks The Road Transport working time regulations require that a break must be taken after a maximum of 6 hours. Thirty minutes is required if total working is between 6 and 9 hours, and 45 minutes if total working time exceeds nine hours. These breaks can be subdivided into minimum 15 minute periods. In most instances, depending on the pattern of work, breaks required by drivers’ hours regulations will satisfy this requirement. However mobile workers who are likely to clock up more than 6 hours work before reaching four and a half hours driving would need to satisfy the working time breaks as previously described. Record Keeping Apex Recruitment will keep driver records of working time for 2 years. Apex will monitor all working hours over the relevant referencing periods to ensure that all drivers are compliant. The 60-hour maximum weekly limit will never be exceeded. Apex Recruitment will monitor weekly on all their drivers:
Apex Recruitment will also require the following information from drivers wishing to join us whilst in the middle of a referencing period
Reference Periods The Directive provides three 17 or 18 week reference periods per year. Although the periods are preset, with a collective workforce agreement we are able to vary the dates and length of the reference period up to 26 weeks. Apex has decided to work to the 26-week fixed referencing period as agreed in our workforce agreement to allow for our busiest times throughout the year. Our referencing periods will run
Apex will check working hours every week and around weeks 22/23 of each reference period, we will ensure that all drivers have ample time within their work patterns to ensure compliance to the 48-hour working week. Night Work Limit and 'Opt Out' The RTD restricts night workers to maximum of 10 hours work. A shift is defined, as night work is any shift falls between the hours of 00:00 and 04:00 hours. However in passenger carrying vehicles this is 01:00 – 05:00 hour Apex workers have agreed to opt out of the night working limit as agreed in our workforce agreement, which will be in place for 5 years until 2010. Digital Tachograph Digital tachographs will become mandatory on all qualifying vehicles during 2006 and vehicle manufacturers are delivering their first vehicles to customers now. This will mean a fundamental change in the way vehicle operators manage their business. It is essential for you to prepare now for this legislation to continue operating legally and effectively. Back to Top |
