Hubfleet EWD approved for use under AFM rulesets

we’ve received from the guys at Hubfleet has been really good too. They always respond really quickly.”

With the Hubfleet EWD system now formally approved by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) to run AFM, company founder James Doherty says the future is looking bright.

“AFM is now part of our certificate of approval,” he said. “For new customers, that means we now have a system in place that allows us to implement their custom rules fairly quickly. We can then carry out testing of the rules to make sure we pick up all of the relevant fatigue breaches and give drivers adequate warnings, etc. The dashboard screen in our app is also customised for the specific ruleset too.”

LATE last year, Hubfleet became among the first electronic work diary (EWD) providers to have its product approved for use under the Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM) rulesets.

Hubfleet was able to integrate AFM capabilities into its system for civil construction, earthworks, roadworks and plant hire services company Western Downs Civil (WDC), which is based in Chinchilla, Queensland.

The company operates a fleet of 23 trucks, of which up to eight will be moving across to AFM in coming weeks. Following impressive results through a trial program of Hubfleet’s EWD with integrated AFM rulesets, WDC is looking forward to moving across to the technology.

“The drivers who trialled the Hubfleet EWD liked it, as it was easy to use – there have also been some updates since the initial trial took place too,” explained WDC supervisor Jason Zeller.

WDC first engaged Hub-

Fleet in early March 2022, choosing the business over the other five approved EWD suppliers because it was the only company that was ‘device agnostic’ meaning the system can run on IOS or android devices, without the need for a specific tablet device to be mounted in the vehicles, which is a much more cost effective and easy solution for the company.

Given the sort of work WDC’s drivers undertake they are often working in remote areas with little to no service and as Zeller explains, this was initially a key area of concern for the business when looking to switch from a paper-based work diary to an EWD. However these concerns were quickly allayed.

“The Hubfleet EWD was taken out to areas where there is no service and the drivers were still able to use the app there without any issues. They use the app as normal and once they are back in an area with service, all of the data uploads as normal,” he said.

“The system actually reports on what is being put into the work diary and provides alerts for non-conformance as well, so it cuts down on paperwork. To be compliant with our AFM accreditation you have to self audit and it’s very time consuming to go through paper dockets. It takes about an hour for each driver, every month, so by using the Hubfleet EWD, it eliminates that need. The reports are all generated automatically. There is also a timer on there for when drivers take their breaks, so it eliminates any guesswork.”

An additional feature of Hubfleet’s EWD are short and easy-to-use training videos. “They are well titled and easy to search for. It’s also very easy for our drivers to download the system and set themselves up on it too,” Zeller added.

“From what I’ve seen of the system so far, it’s pretty impressive. The support