Fatigue – new rules from 1st August, 2026

What is Fatigue Management?

Under the new HVA SMS/GSA, Fatigue Management has changed significantly. You must have an SMS/GSA approved by the NHVR and add Alternative Compliance Accreditation – Fatigue as an additional module. The system you adopt for the above must be audited by an approved HVA Auditor under the new scheme (details of those approved are on the NHVR website).

The Fatigue options available are based around Advanced Fatigue Management principles with a number available to choose from that might closely resemble your desired operations, or you can try and build your own which can be complicated and time consuming. BFM as we have known is available but it has had some minor changes made to it.

What is needed to get going?

1) The operator must have a system in place including Policies and Procedure document. The operator must also maintain records of driver’s activities with an auditable paper trail to be able to demonstrate compliance to the regulator. (Contact us for more details).

2) You must first register any employee doing the training for a Unique Student Identifier (USI) which can be set up at www.usi.gov.au. It’s free and will take around 3 minutes to do.

3) Training:  The Operator must have an allocator appointed and trained to legally issue work schedules to Fatigue managed drivers. The courses required are-

– TLIF0031 for Allocator / Scheduler

– TLIF0030 for the Driver

Note: previously completed competencies such as TLIF0005 and TLIF0006 are accepted by the NHVR.

Both these courses must be obtained through an RTO (Registered Training Organisation). The training can either be done face to face or online if preferred which we can also facilitate.

4) Medical: The driver must obtain and present a current medical along with training certificate to be eligible to operate under BFM accreditation. For medicals to be current, they must be completed as follows: drivers 49 and under are every 3 years, drivers 50 and over are every 1 year.

5) The operator needs to appoint an HVA Manager to oversee and manage the accreditation and ensure all activities and responsibilities are met. The nominated person also acts as liaison to NHVR for any correspondence required from time to time.

6) Audits: Audits are to be conducted at the entry of Scheme, then a 6 monthly compliance audit followed by a third audit at the end of the first 2 years. From then on 1 every 2 years as a renewal audit. These are to be conducted by an NHVR/Exemplar Global certified Auditor.

What we provide

1. A base system with policies/procedures and templates. You need to provide us with the fatigue option you want operate under.
2. The training for appointed HVA manager and administration staff who will be carrying out relative roles.
3. Application form to NHVR
4. Ongoing support via phone and Email. We are also happy to come to site but this will have a cost associated.
5. We provide both the system and the audit on the same day meaning faster turnaround for approval.
6. We keep customers updated with current laws and legislation and track when your audits are due.