Heavy Vehicle Safety, Inspection and Certification Requirements
What this domain tests
This domain covers the paperwork and physical checks that keep a heavy vehicle legal and safe: the Certificate of Fitness, daily pre-trip inspection, load restraint and work-time limits.
Certificate of Fitness (CoF)
Heavy vehicles (over 3,500 kg GLM) are certified by a CoF, not a WoF. A CoF is issued after inspection by an NZTA-appointed inspecting organisation and runs on a six-monthly cycle. It must be current and displayed; driving without one is an offence and can void insurance. Inspections cover brakes, steering, tyres, lights, structural condition, glazing, exhaust, couplings and load anchorage.
Daily pre-trip inspection
The driver, not the inspector, is responsible for the vehicle each day. Check tyre condition and pressures, wheel nuts, brake and air-system performance (pressure build-up, leaks, low-pressure warning), lights and indicators, mirrors and screen, fluid leaks, load restraints and coupling security. Defects are recorded and reported; an unsafe vehicle stays parked.
Load restraint
A load must be restrained so it cannot shift. The restraint system must withstand 0.8 g forward and 0.5 g rearward and sideways - so a 10,000 kg load needs 8,000 kg of forward restraint capacity. Recheck lashings after the first few kilometres.
Work time and fatigue
Under the work time and logbook rule: no more than 70 hours of work time per week, at least 10 continuous hours of rest in each 24-hour period, and a 24-hour break after 70 hours of cumulative work. A logbook is required unless you work within 100 km of your base.
Worked example
On a pre-trip check a driver finds a deep sidewall cut and air pressure falling with the engine off. Reasoning: these are two safety-critical defects. The vehicle cannot depart until assessed and repaired, and the defect is recorded and reported to the operator - the CoF does not excuse it, because the CoF certifies the vehicle only as it was on inspection day.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating the CoF as a substitute for daily checks.
- Believing the CoF certifies the load rather than the vehicle.
- Checking load security only once, at the start of the day.
- Misreading rest requirements as 10 hours per shift rather than in each 24-hour period.