Fatigue Management: Sentinel™

Sentinel™ is Transtech’s pioneering solution for fatigue management compliance. While other vendors talk of running trials, Transtech’s clients talk of the operational benefits they have already been receiving from Sentinel looking after their fleet 24/7.

When it comes to your exposure to fatigue management regulations, marketing promises are not enough. Only a working, proven system is. Sentinel has been offering the certainty of proven results in an operational setting for the past four years.

Use Sentinel as a defensive and offensive strategy. Use it to reduce dramatically the risk of the expensive consequences of non-compliance. Smart operators will also use it to promote their services as safe. They can sell the Sentinel quality assurance of safe driving plans 24/7.

So how can Sentinel help?

Sentinel ensures in real-time, and all the time, that your drivers are complying with fatigue management regulations whilst significantly reducing the administrative burden in planning, reporting and complying with this new set of laws.

Before your driver leaves the depot, Sentinel will tell you whether or not a driving plan is safe if you put a particular driver in the vehicle. It knows his driving-working- resting history and applies that to the proposed driving plan for the trip. Sentinel gives you peace of mind that every driver leaving your depots has a safe driving plan.

The plan is safe as long as the driver keeps to it. Sentinel extends your peace of mind by monitoring driver behaviour in real-time. It sends real-time alerts to every one in the Chain of Responsibility just before, or when, the driver becomes non-compliant to State and company driving rules. Corrective action can be taken immediately to cut exposure to zero.

Automated alerts are also be sent to the drivers themselves to ensure that they always adhere to the prescribed driving hours. For example a message can be sent to the driver reminding that a break is due.

Allowing Sentinel to record data electronically on driver activity and apply the relevant rules provides more objective measures and reports of driver activity than are possible where relying on the memory or experience of the operations manager. Sentinel exception reports are excellent for managers. They show every violation for the day and the rule that was broken. The manager can then make note of the corrective action applied. This saves keeping mounds of paperwork to prove compliance.

Electronic logbooks of driving history also remove dependence on faulty manual log book entries. Sentinel tracks all driver behaviour and notes it down for examination at any time. Gone are the days of using investigative methods to test whether or not a log book is true.

Transtech’s Sentinel module has been developed in conjunction with WorkCover and WorkSafe advisors and corresponds to driving, working and rest requirements in all Australian states and territories.

How does it work?

Sentinel captures information feeds from an in-vehicle source, such as eBox or eProof. Usually the source will be connected to the vehicle ignition, and have a GPS receiver to inform Sentinel when the vehicle is moving and where it is.

Sentinel must also discern when a driver starts and ends work, and when he or she is resting. There are a variety of options to achieve this. Your Transtech consultant can assist in determining the most appropriate implementation.

Features

• Implements the full set of current drive/work/rest rules- including breaks required over 7 days (NSW, Qld, Vic, SA, Tas) and 14 and 28 days (WA, NT)
• Implements the new Standard Hours, Basic Fatigue Management and Advanced Fatigue Management rules for all states and territories.
• Maintains electronic logbooks for each driver
• Sends email and SMS alerts for fatigue management breaches.
• Provides comprehensive breach reporting over any defined time period.
• Sends warnings to drivers before breaches occur
• Driver productivity report
• Calculation of driver payments.