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Travel and transport – Workers
What’s the difference between travel and transport?
Travel is a you driving to, between and from clients.
Transport is when a client travels with you, in your car.
Do I have to have a car?
Suitsme requires you to have a valid drivers licence and a suitable vehicle that you are willing to use to travel and transport clients in.
Providing safe transport services
You and clients are both responsible for ensuring your own safety and the safety of others. You must follow these guidelines to fulfil your duty to maintain safety
Suitable Vehicles:
It’s your responsibility to ensure that:
- You have up to date vehicle registration.
- Your car is clean, roadworthy and safe.
- The vehicle is maintained and serviced, as outlined in the owner’s manual.
- You complete a vehicle inspection prior to driving a vehicle for work purposes for the first time and at least annually thereafter.
- If you identify any defects then it is your responsibility to rectify them within 6 weeks of completing the inspection.
- You have adequate insurance that covers you for work use of your vehicle. At a minimum you must hold Third Party Insurance and let your insurance provider know that you’re now using your vehicle for support work as this may impact your policy or premiums.
- Think about your insurance needs and consider obtaining Comprehensive Vehicle Insurance. Have a look at Insurance for more information.
- Understand that you are fully responsible for your vehicle in the event of any claim that arises as a result of an accident, in conjunction with your insurer. Suitsme will not be held liable for damages or claims arising from the use of your vehicle for work purposes.
You are required to provide Suitsme with copies of any of these records when requested.
I have an accessible vehicle, can I let clients know this?
At this stage the app doesn’t have a field for vehicle type. You can put it in your profile information, but it might be hard for clients to find you based on that. Best bet is to let Suitsme management know and we can pass that information on to clients who have accessibility requirements.
Driving Safety:
It’s your responsibility to ensure that you:
- Display safe driving practices including: remaining alert, managing fatigue and fitness to drive, observing road rules (including licence conditions and passenger limits) and wearing a seatbelt
- Drive carefully and utilising defensive driving techniques where appropriate
- Do not operate any vehicle while presenting with symptoms of fatigue, including tiredness, sleepiness, headache, dizziness, muscle weakness or other impairments which could impact decision making;
- Do not operate any mobile phone or other hand held device while operating a vehicle;
- Notify Suitsme immediately of any medical condition, medication or other circumstances which could give rise to a risk to the health and safety of yourself or others while operating a vehicle.
- Keep accurate records of the trips you have made using your own vehicle using Suitsme’s app.
Pre trip planning and assessment:
You are required to plan for each journey. This could include:
- Assessing the client’s state of mind and sobriety poor to commencing a journey
- Allowing sufficient time for the journey to avoid pressure to speed;
- Avoiding travel at times when travel may be more risky due to weather conditions, heavy traffic, the driver’s sleepiness or the presence of wild animals or more;
- Scheduling rest stops or leaving at suitable times to avoid fatigue;
- Not committing to any journey which gives rise to any health and safety concern.
- Consider keeping a first aid kit in your vehicle.
Emergency safety:
Following the guidelines above will reduce the risk of you encountering an emergency situation, however the risk of an emergency situation occurring still exists. In the event of any emergency:
- Call 000
- Follow Suitsme’s Incident management document.
- Report the incident to Suitsme via the app.
If a client threatens or attacks you while you are driving, pull over as soon as it is safe to do so. Take all necessary steps to preserve your own safety, including contacting 000. Do not continue to transport the client.
What happens if I have an accident?
A motor vehicle accident is an incident, you must report the incident to Suitsme management and follow the incident management document.
If you are the owner or driver of a vehicle in a crash, you must report it to ICWA Motor Injury Insurance Scheme as soon as practicable after the crash.
See their website for more details on the process https://www.icwa.wa.gov.au/motor-injury-insurance.
Can a client drive my car?
You must never let a client drive your vehicle under any circumstances.
Can I travel as a passenger in a client’s vehicle?
It depends. Suitsme is required by law to ensure a safe working environment for you. We both have a role to play in keeping you safe at work.
Suitsme management’s role
Suitsme management has a strict process in place to assess client requests to drive a worker. If a client is approved to transport workers, this will be indicated in the Safety Plan section of their profile. This section will also indicate the licence plate(s) of the approved vehicle(s) and expiry dates of any licences, registrations and insurance policies. Suitsme management audits these regularly to ensure they remain current.
Your role
Read the client’s profile and ensure that:
- The client is approved to transport a worker
- The licence plate in the profile matches the vehicle.
- All insurance policies, registrations and licences listed in the profile are current.
- Complete a visual inspection of the vehicle to ensure it is safe.
- Assess the client. Ensure they are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are not overly fatigued and their mental health is not deteriorating. (You should be doing these checks anyway, but it especially important if you are going to be driven by them).
If in doubt DO NOT get in their vehicle. Suggest as alternative activity for the session. If you need support to manage the situation, contact Suitsme management.
Can I drive a client’s vehicle?
It depends. Suitsme is required by law to ensure a safe working environment for you. We both have a role to play in keeping you safe at work.
Suitsme management’s role
Suitsme management has a strict process in place to assess client requests for a worker to drive their vehicle. This includes verifying that you will be covered by the client’s comprehensive car insurance.
If a client’s vehicle is approved for you to drive, this will be indicated in the Safety Plan section of their profile. This section will also indicate the licence plate(s) of approved vehicle(s) and expiry dates of any registrations and insurance policies. Suitsme management audits these regularly to ensure they remain current.
Your role
Read the client’s profile and ensure that:
- The licence plate in the profile matches the vehicle.
- All insurance policies and registrations listed in the profile are current.
- Complete a visual inspection of the vehicle prior to driving, to ensure it is safe.
- Request training from the vehicle’s owner(s) to ensure you understand how to effectively operate the vehicle.
- Ensure you have the appropriate licence to operate the vehicle.
If in doubt DO NOT get in their vehicle. Suggest an alternative activity for the session. If you need support to manage the situation, contact Suitsme management.
Do I get paid for travel and transport?
Suitsme’s service model operates between 7am – 7pm and allows for up to 30 minutes travel time between clients. Based on this:
Travel
- Your first shift for the day is to your place of work, you don’t get paid for travelling to work.
- Your last shift of the day is from your place of work, you don’t get paid for travelling home.
- You must not accept shifts that will result in more than 30 minutes travel directly from one client to another.
- Payment for travel between clients depends on whether you are working a broken shift or a single shift.
Single shift means you leave one client and travel directly to another client.
Broken shift means you did not travel directly from one client to another within 30 minutes. This is considered a broken shift as it is outside Suitsme’s service model.
- If you travel directly from one client to another within 30 minutes then you will be paid for the time you spend travelling and reimbursed the cost for the kilometres you have travelled at a rate of 99 cents per kilometre (km).
Where you take an unpaid break you may have a 1 hour break between clients (a 30 minute break and 30 minutes travelling) and it is still considered direct travel. For more information on unpaid breaks, refer to Can I work any shift I want?
This stuff is complicated so here are some example scenarios:
- I have a session from 9:00-11:00, and then a session from 11:30-1:30. I finish my first shift and travel directly to the second shift. This is a single shift so I am paid for 4.5 hours and reimbursed the kms I travelled between shifts.
- I have a session from 9:00-12:00 and then a session from 1:00-3:00. I finish my first shift and travel directly to the second client, but on the way I stop and take 30 minutes for lunch. As I am working longer than 5 hours straight, I am entitled to an unpaid break. Therefore this is a single shift, with a break. I am paid for 5.5 hours and reimbursed the kms I travelled between shifts.
- I have a session from 9:00-11:00, and then a session from 12:00-2:00. I finish my first shift and travel to the second client, but on the way I stop and take 30 minutes for lunch. As I am working less than 5 hours straight, I am not entitled to an unpaid break. Therefore this is a broken shift. I am paid for 4 hours and I am not reimbursed the kms I travelled between shifts.
- I have a session from 9:00-11:0 and then a session from 1:00-3:00. I finish my first session and then go shopping before heading to my second shift. Although these sessions span over more than 5 hours, my break is longer than the 30 minutes I am entitled to, therefore this is a broken shift. I am paid for 4 hours and I am not reimbursed the kms I travelled between shifts.
Transport
- Any transport must be delivered within Suitsme’s operating hours (7am – 7pm) and within a booked shift.
- The cost of transport is passed on to the client.
- Clients can only be provided with transport if they have agreed to pay the cost of providing it.
- The booking screen in the app will tell you if a client has agreed to pay for transport.
- The booking screen in the app will also tell you how many kilometres the client has available.
- You are responsible for:
- Only providing transport to clients who have agreed to pay the cost of providing transport; AND
- Ensuring the client has enough kilometres available in their balance; AND
- Ensuring the client is aware of their kilometre balance and is making an informed decision about use (e.g. if they ask you to transport them 200km this will have an impact on their future services and they need to understand this).
- If you have followed for these conditions you will be reimbursed for kilometres you have transported a client at a rate of 99 cents per km. You can also be reimbursed for parking and/or public transport expenses you incur while supporting the client.
How do I claim these payments?
- If you have travelled directly between clients, you will be asked to put in the time spent and kms travelled between clients so we can reimburse you. You will be asked to do this at the end of the shift you travelled to so you may want to note this somewhere when you arrive to ensure you remember.
- At the end of a shift, if a client has transport funding available, you will be asked to input the kms you transported the client. These will be reimbursed to you in the next pay run.
- Suitsme completes random and targeted audits to verify your travel and transport entries.