Bakery fined $15,000 plus costs over lack of breaks for drivers
Issue Date: - Friday, 8 May 2009
A Geraldton bakery has been fined $15,000 plus more than $9500 in costs for failing to ensure that a driver was taking legally-required rest breaks, the second time the company had been charged with offences under the fatigue management laws.
Wytona Pty Ltd – trading as Sun City Bakeries – was found guilty last month of breaching the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations and fined in the Geraldton Magistrates Court today.
A WorkSafe inspector stopped one of the company’s drivers in Port Hedland in May 2007 after receiving a complaint from a former Wytona employee about the long working hours required of the drivers.
The driver was delivering bread and cakes to Port Hedland and surrounding areas. He also had drop-off points on route from Geraldton to Port Hedland, including Carnarvon and Karratha, a trip of around 19 hours.
The Occupational Safety and Health Regulations require that commercial drivers not work for more than 17 hours in any 24-hour period without a break of at least seven hours.
The company did not have adequate fatigue management procedures in place, including making sure the driver fully understood what he had to do under the laws.
Wytona had previously been fined $18,000 in May 2007 for similar offences relating to failing to provide adequate rest breaks, not having a fatigue management plan and failing to require drivers to provide medical certificates as evidence they were fit to drive.
WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said today that the case was a further reminder of the importance of adequate rest breaks for commercial vehicle drivers.
“It is crucial that the commercial transport industry recognises that fatigue is a significant occupational safety and health issue and that the human body has limitations and adequate sleep and rest is essential to safely undertake long-distance driving,” Ms Lyhne said.
“This case is particularly disappointing because this company has now been convicted in relation to four charges involving rest times, and has continued to place its employees at risk through the working hours required of them.
“And this company has not only continued to place its own employees at risk - commercial vehicle drivers who are not well rested are a danger to the entire community when they are on our roads.
“A comprehensive code of practice for the management of fatigue has been in operation in WA since 1998, and regulations governing the management of fatigue have been in place since 2003, so transport industry employers should well and truly know better.
“We’ve generally been pleased with the gradual increase in compliance with the fatigue management laws over the past six years, but we will continue to be vigilant in the commercial transport sector because of companies such as this one that continue to flout the laws.
“WorkSafe takes the issue of commercial vehicle driver fatigue very seriously, and will continue to take enforcement action against any employer who does not comply with the driver fatigue laws.”
Further information on fatigue management can be obtained by telephoning WorkSafe on 9327 8777 or on the website at www.worksafe.wa.gov.au. Copies of the code of practice can be purchased from WorkSafe for $3.30 per copy, or downloaded at no charge from the website.
Media contact: Caroline De Vaney 9327 8744 or 0408 927563 (media enquiries only).