WHAT IS THE   “F1 - BLUECARD”?

Heavy Vehicle Accreditation System (HVA) now includes the F1 competency Standard.

The F1 has been added to the HVA to ensure drivers and employers understand the responsibilities and obligations drivers and employers hold when they drive heavy vehicles operating under HVA.

Aligned to the National Competency Standard TDT F1 97B – “Follow Occupational Health & Safety Procedures” (OH&S), BLUECARD has been designed in response to the challenges faced by industry in working toward incorporating national competency standards within the Transport and Distribution industry.

The competency must be held by all heavy vehicle drivers and requires four main objectives which you, as a driver or employer must demonstrate to achieve and maintain competency in F1 - BLUECARD.

Drivers and employers must:
Hold an understanding the OH&S Act and Duty of Care:  This area ensures you understand you roles and responsibilities with respect to safety and the obligations you have under the act.

Maintain the diligence and understanding to following company procedure:  This area covers your ability and requirement to follow company or industry regulated procedures  (eg Dangerous goods transporting).


Have the ability to recognise and report hazards:  This area relates to your ability to identify hazards and effectively deal with them either through reporting them to your company officers or resolving them in the workplace (ie if you are an owner operator).

Be able to demonstrate general safety knowledge:  This area tests your general safety knowledge within the industry and enables you to show you hold the correct knowledge to effectively carry out the previous requirements.

Ensure they are inducted into new or regularly visited workplaces.

For you information we have provided a copy of the competency standard at the rear of this booklet.


WHAT BLUECARD DOES NOT DO !

We would remind you of two important points about BLUECARD and the F1 Competency

You should be clear in your mind that BLUECARD’s main intention is to ensure you maintain your professional diligence in relation to OH&S.  BLUECARD (or the F1 Competency) does not teach you drive a vehicle or work more productively:

BLUECARD does not remove the requirement for you to ensure you are properly inducted at sites you either work at or regularly visit, in fact BLUECARDS second purpose is to ensure you make sure you are inducted at worksites.


NUTSHELL SUMMARY
BLUECARD does not replace site specific training or workplace training on safety, vehicle operations, cargo handling or specialised equipment.

The BLUECARD Program seeks to ensure that employees understand their duty of care obligations.  
Where employees have not been inducted or trained in a new or existing workplace, a person competent at F1 Level has the diligence to seek that information, procedure and policy from their supervisors or employers.

In Short; People:
Ensure they receive or provide site specific inductions
Understand their OH&S Act requirements
Follow procedure
Report hazards, incidents/accidents and
Work Safely



WHAT IS A SITE SPECIFIC INDUCTION !

Every workplace is different.  All depots and workshops will have different layouts and the people who administer various tasks such as OHS, Emergency Procedures and first aid vary in their roles and function depending on the operational size of that workplace.

Unless you know the basic induction information for that workplace you cannot effectively and legally carry out you role and responsibilities under the OH&S Act.

Remember that under the act, one of your roles relates to “not endangering yourself and others through your actions”.  Without a site specific induction you put yourself and others at risk, especially if there is an emergency and you do not know your role, where the muster point is and how to conduct yourself to that point.

Site specific inductions do not need to be onerous to provided you with the right information.  An example is set out below.  This induction would take around 15 minutes to complete.

Provided that you and other employees have:
a good understanding of the work environment they work in,
know and abide by the company (or your) procedures
have an understanding of the OH&S Act and its obligations between employers and employees,

that employee is operating within the requirements of the F1 competency standard and the BLUECARD Program.


Example Site induction:

Employees should be informed on:
Knowing the site emergency procedure and who the evacuation officer is.
Emergency evacuation maps and muster areas
First aid facilities and the first aid officer
Who is the safety rep at that site
How and to whom they report hazards to when they identify them
Who they report accidents/near misses to
Asking about any specialized equipment they will be using and ensure they receive training before using it.
Ensure if they are working with hazards and Dangerous Goods they are provided with the correct Personal Protective Equipment and training.
Knowing the location of fire fighting equipment
Having the diligence to ask questions and raise issues if they are not sure about aspects of work or the work environment.

Meta Dynamics Transport & Logistics Qualifications now include - Bluecard