Hi, guys. I have a question regarding the WTD on Tacho. I always keep reading that in order to work over 6 hours you need a 15 min break minimum. And to work between 6-9 you need a further 15 min break.
Well today i got in a situation where i started work at 5:00 AM. Had a 45 break at 10:05 untill 10:50. After that i took a further 15 min break at 15:55. But i finished work at 17:30. That means that from 10:50 to 17:30 i had 6hrs 40mins work time… sooo i took a further 15 mins break at the end of my shift but im not really sure if i had to do this.
Can anyone enlighten me on how this all works. Do i need a further 15 mins at the end of the shift or will my daily rest break count towards it?
Sorry if i made it complicated but im confusing myself at this moment aswell. Thanks in advamce
Matt0503:
Hi, guys. I have a question regarding the WTD on Tacho. I always keep reading that in order to work over 6 hours you need a 15 min break minimum. And to work between 6-9 you need a further 15 min break.
Well today i got in a situation where i started work at 5:00 AM. Had a 45 break at 10:05 untill 10:50. After that i took a further 15 min break at 15:55. But i finished work at 17:30. That means that from 10:50 to 17:30 i had 6hrs 40mins work time… sooo i took a further 15 mins break at the end of my shift but im not really sure if i had to do this.
Can anyone enlighten me on how this all works. Do i need a further 15 mins at the end of the shift or will my daily rest break count towards it?
Sorry if i made it complicated but im confusing myself at this moment aswell. Thanks in advamce
Your 15 min break at 1555 split up the 6.40 work time so you never did more than 6 hours without a 15 break
Break taken at the very start or end of a shift do not count
There is no 6 to 9 hour 15 min break rule
Matt0503:
Hi, guys. I have a question regarding the WTD on Tacho. I always keep reading that in order to work over 6 hours you need a 15 min break minimum. And to work between 6-9 you need a further 15 min break.
Well today i got in a situation where i started work at 5:00 AM. Had a 45 break at 10:05 untill 10:50. After that i took a further 15 min break at 15:55. But i finished work at 17:30. That means that from 10:50 to 17:30 i had 6hrs 40mins work time… sooo i took a further 15 mins break at the end of my shift but im not really sure if i had to do this.
Can anyone enlighten me on how this all works. Do i need a further 15 mins at the end of the shift or will my daily rest break count towards it?
Sorry if i made it complicated but im confusing myself at this moment aswell. Thanks in advamce
Your 15 min break at 1555 split up the 6.40 work time so you never did more than 6 hours without a 15 break
Break taken at the very start or end of a shift do not count
There is no 6 to 9 hour 15 min break rule
So why do i keep reading about 30 mins 6-9 and 45 9-12 but they can all be taken seperately… meaning 15-15-15. Why is this so confusing?
Matt0503:
Hi, guys. I have a question regarding the WTD on Tacho. I always keep reading that in order to work over 6 hours you need a 15 min break minimum. And to work between 6-9 you need a further 15 min break.
Well today i got in a situation where i started work at 5:00 AM. Had a 45 break at 10:05 untill 10:50. After that i took a further 15 min break at 15:55. But i finished work at 17:30. That means that from 10:50 to 17:30 i had 6hrs 40mins work time… sooo i took a further 15 mins break at the end of my shift but im not really sure if i had to do this.
Can anyone enlighten me on how this all works. Do i need a further 15 mins at the end of the shift or will my daily rest break count towards it?
Sorry if i made it complicated but im confusing myself at this moment aswell. Thanks in advamce
Your 15 min break at 1555 split up the 6.40 work time so you never did more than 6 hours without a 15 break
Break taken at the very start or end of a shift do not count
There is no 6 to 9 hour 15 min break rule
So why do i keep reading about 30 mins 6-9 and 45 9-12 but they can all be taken seperately… meaning 15-15-15. Why is this so confusing?
This is what im referring to. Why does it say you need 30 "by the end of your shift?
Rule 1 = do not work/drive more than 6 hours at any point in a shift without taking at least a 15 break
Rule 2 = total amount of break(s) needed depending on the length of work/drive during a shift
Which are -
6 to 9 hours = 30 mins
over 9 hours = 45 mins
Legal example where the total shift is 13 hours and the max driving time during that shift is 4 hours so no driving time breaks needed - only WTD breaks
work 6
break 15
work 4
break 15
work 2
break 15
work 15
As the total work in that shift is 12.25 hours so over 9 then a total of 45 mins break is needed and at no point is the 6 hour break rule broken
As you can see a total of 10 hours work is taken before the second 15 break but that is totally legal as it does not break any of the rules
Breaks for the RT(WT)R can be taken in segments of no less than 15 minutes.
A break of less than 15 minutes will not count towards you breaks for the RT(WT)R.
No worker should work more than 6 hours without a break of at-least 15 minutes.
Regardless of the length of your total working time you must not at any time in the shift work more than 6 hours without a break of 15 minutes or more.
If your total working time is 6 hours or less you do not need a break for the RT(WT)R.
If your total working time is more than 6 hours but not more than 9 hours you need a total of 30 minutes break/breaks.
If your total working time is more than 9 hours you need a total of 45 minutes break/breaks.
You should read rules 1, 2 and 3 as separate and individual rules, you need to comply with one of those rules but not all three.
Lets say your total working time is 8 hours then you only need to bother about rule 2 (ignore rules 1 and 3 because they don’t apply to you).
Rule 1 doesn’t apply because you’ve worked over 6 hours, rule 3 doesn’t apply because you have not worked over 9 hours.
Lets say your total working time is 10 hours then you only need to bother about rule 3 (ignore rules 1 and 2 because they don’t apply to you).
Rule 1 does not apply because you’ve worked more than 6 hours, rule 2 does not apply because you’ve worked more than 9 hours.
Bear in mind that drivers breaks also count for the RT(WT)R and where a RT(WT)R break is long enough it also counts as a driving break (assuming you’ve done some driving when the break is taken).
Lets say you start work at 06:00 and at 11:00 have done about 4 hours driving so you have a 45 minute driving break, you finish work at 19:00 but do very little driving between 11:00 and 19:00 so you don’t need another driving break.
However from finishing the first break at 11:45 until you finish work at 19:00 is 7 hours 15 minutes, so you would need to have a 15 minute break to split that up so that you do not work more than 6 hours without a break.
Hope that makes sense
edit:Just to add that working time does not include breaks or POA, they are not counted as working time.
tachograph:
Breaks for the RT(WT)R can be taken in segments of no less than 15 minutes.
A break of less than 15 minutes will not count towards you breaks for the RT(WT)R.
No worker should work more than 6 hours without a break of at-least 15 minutes.
Regardless of the length of your total working time you must not at any time in the shift work more than 6 hours without a break of 15 minutes or more.
If your total working time is 6 hours or less you do not need a break for the RT(WT)R.
If your total working time is more than 6 hours but not more than 9 hours you need a total of 30 minutes break/breaks.
If your total working time is more than 9 hours you need a total of 45 minutes break/breaks.
You should read rules 1, 2 and 3 as separate and individual rules, you need to comply with one of those rules but not all three.
Lets say your total working time is 8 hours then you only need to bother about rule 2 (ignore rules 1 and 3 because they don’t apply to you).
Rule 1 doesn’t apply because you’ve worked over 6 hours, rule 3 doesn’t apply because you have not worked over 9 hours.
Lets say your total working time is 10 hours then you only need to bother about rule 3 (ignore rules 1 and 2 because they don’t apply to you).
Rule 1 does not apply because you’ve worked more than 6 hours, rule 2 does not apply because you’ve worked more than 9 hours.
Bear in mind that drivers breaks also count for the RT(WT)R and where a RT(WT)R break is long enough it also counts as a driving break (assuming you’ve done some driving when the break is taken).
Lets say you start work at 06:00 and at 11:00 have done about 4 hours driving so you have a 45 minute driving break, you finish work at 19:00 but do very little driving between 11:00 and 19:00 so you don’t need another driving break.
However from finishing the first break at 11:45 until you finish work at 19:00 is 7 hours 15 minutes, so you would need to have a 15 minute break to split that up so that you do not work more than 6 hours without a break.
Hope that makes sense
edit:Just to add that working time does not include breaks or POA, they are not counted as working time.
Ok, i completely understand now. I was thinking i have to look at all 3 rules altogether as that is what i was told when i did my test. I do however understand what i did wrong. Eventhough it wasnt really wrong i just didnt understand it fully so i took a break just incase. That explanation from ‘Tachograph’ was really helpfull and i appreciate you taking the time to reply to my query.
However i have one more question. Lets say i start work at 0600
I then have a 45 min break at lets say 0700.
Will i be able to work a full day until 2100 and get away with having a 15 min break at 1300 and another 15 at 1900?
Of course assuming i only do under 4.5 hrs driving the whole day.
Or would i even get away with changing the first break at 0700 to a 15 min aswell? So 3x 15’s would equal 45 for the whole day?
Matt0503:
However i have one more question. Lets say i start work at 0600
I then have a 45 min break at lets say 0700.
Will i be able to work a full day until 2100 and get away with having a 15 min break at 1300 and another 15 at 1900?
Of course assuming i only do under 4.5 hrs driving the whole day.
Yes that would be fine
In fact if you start work at 06:00 then have a 45 minute break from 07:00 to 07:45 you could work until 13:45 before starting a 15 minute break (There should be no more than 6 hours working time between breaks), your next 15 minute break would then have to start no later than 19:00 (6 hours from the end of the last break).
Matt0503:
Or would i even get away with changing the first break at 0700 to a 15 min aswell? So 3x 15’s would equal 45 for the whole day?
Yep that would be fine also
A 15 minute break at 07:00 would mean your second break must start no later than 13:15 then the next break would need to start no later than 19:30.
As long as you’re not doing more than 4.5 hours driving three fifteen minute breaks work just as well as anything for the RT(WT)R
Obviously you would not normally leave the breaks until the last minute like this but as an example it is legal.
0600 to 2100? Sorry but are you mental? I hope this is just an example and not what you have to work? At least you can only do that twice a week. Rather you than me.
I don’t know, but do you need more than 45 mins for a 15 HR shift?
stu675:
0600 to 2100? Sorry but are you mental? I hope this is just an example and not what you have to work? At least you can only do that twice a week. Rather you than me.
I don’t know, but do you need more than 45 mins for a 15 HR shift?
You could do that 3 times between weekly rests - not per week
Without needing any driving time breaks then a total of 45 mins is legal for a 15 HR shift
I know the 15 hour day was just an extreme example, but when I have done 15 hour days, I have found 45 minutes to be insufficient to be able to gain sufficient sustinence to keep me going. I look back and think how on earth I did those shifts and of course it was completely wrong and bad for my health. Not only are the days longer but the rests are shorter. No time to eat a meal (never mind make it) on return home and then out again the next day.
Somewhere around the 10-11 hour mark what I really needed was a three course meal and a 30 minute sleep.
So the moral of the story is that the breaks the government decides you need to take are the minimum legal breaks, not necessarily what you should take in practice.
Noremac:
So the moral of the story is that the breaks the government decides you need to take are the minimum legal breaks, not necessarily what you should take in practice.
I 100% agree with this but lets not forget that what may seem like extreme examples are often used in order to explain what is and is not legal.
Having said that, I imagine most of us have had times when things went wrong and we’ve gone to the limits to make up time or to get home at night.
^^^
I completely agree and obviously on the occasions where I did a 15, by implication I didn’t have any spare time to have additional breaks. This is where it is important to consider how reasonable what you are being asked to do really is. In my case I probably helped out too much or went the extra mile for the sake of the customer. Of course some outfits will apply pressure to do certain runs, but as we know the boot is on the other foot a bit more at the moment with the dearth of drivers.
I have also probably hung on too long waiting for a collection and have made the mistake of believing what a company says when they say they will ‘live load’ me within 30 minutes. All to easy to end up on a red light running out of time to get back. In those situations I would now always drop the trailer on the bay to give myself the chance of going back unit only if it came to it.
