Dispatch Officer
DEPARTMENT Contracts
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO Operations Manager
REPORTS INDIRECTLY TO Contracts Manager
NUMBER OF REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS 2
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS Travel required within the metropolitan area on a frequent basis
EMPLOYING ENTITY Capital Transport and Logistics Group Pty Ltd
AUTHORITY TO ACT
This position must act within written group policies, procedures and operations manuals. All decisions outside these parameters must be approved by your direct manager.
CRITICAL RELATIONSHIPS (INTERNAL)
- National Operations Manager
- National Account Manager
- State Manager
- Contracts Manager
- Contracts Department
- Fleet Management Department
- Courier Department
- Taxi Trucks Department
- Administration Department
CRITICAL RELATIONSHIPS (EXTERNAL)
- Existing Clients
- Existing sub-contractors
Position Summary
As a Dispatch Officer, you will report directly to the Operations Manager/Supervisor and indirectly to the Contracts Manager. You are responsible for scheduling the sub-contractors’ daily runs based on the most efficient route, and liaising between the client and the sub-contractor to ensure all deliveries are completed within the agreed timeframes. You must ensure customers are kept informed of any variables or delay with their delivery.
It is imperative that you are highly proficient in all Contract client delivery processes and requirements, as well as acutely aware of Work Health and Safety legislation and how it relates to our sub-contractors and service provision.
1. Key Responsibilities and Tasks
1.1 SCHEDULING AND CONTRACT OPERATIONS
- Use your best endeavours to ensure the 80% of jobs are picked up and delivered within the agreed timeframes. This timeframe may differ between clients; therefore, you must ensure you are aware of the agreed service targets of all Contracts clients
- Effectively allocate work to the Contracts fleet to ensure that service levels are consistently met. This includes:
- Proficiently operating a two-way radio by communicating clearly, professionally and concisely with sub-contractors at all times;
- Ensuring that jobs are allocated to the correct vehicle type and do not exceed the vehicle’s carrying capacity at any time;
- Scheduling pick-up and delivery runs based on the most efficient route;
- Possessing an exceptional understanding of our Contracts service provision and our clients’ expectations to foresee issues and resolve them before they occur; and
- Ensuring sub-contractor PDA equipment is used correctly and efficiently.
- Ensure all jobs have been despatched for the following day and that the appropriate sub-contractors have been contacted (emailed/called/SMS depending on the client) with the details of each run
- Send all jobs to the sub-contractor’s PDA for the following day’s jobs prior to leaving for the day
- Make HDS bookings within 3 days of the client’s job booking request and subject to their availability
- Review and modify the daily manifests received from clients and upload these manifests into the Transport Management System (“TMS”) once completed and within one hour of receiving them
- Monitor and adhere to all restrictions that an injured or impaired sub-contractor may have. This includes but is not limited to sub-contractors participating in Return-to-Work programs. You must ensure that no jobs outside of these restrictions are allocated to the sub-contractor and escalate any non-compliances to the Return-to-Work Coordinator without delay
- Monitor sub-contractor hours of work and ensure that all sub-contractors adhere to the Company Fatigue Management Policy
Scheduling:
- Review the fatigue management email upon receipt daily;
- Review driver workloads throughout the day, particularly post 2pm to ensure that the deliveries yet to be completed can be executed within the driver’s maximum work hours; and
- Re-distribute jobs as appropriate, where drivers may breach their maximum work hours.
Regional:
- Before allocating country work, you must assess whether the sub-contractor is likely to exceed their maximum hours or work prior to making any allocations;
- In all regional delivery allocations, you must confirm with the sub-contractor that they are willing to stay overnight at accommodation paid by the Company, prior to allocating the job. If the sub-contractor is not willing to stay at the accommodation, you must not allocate the job to them;
- If the sub-contractor is willing to stay at the accommodation, you must arrange the accommodation and include it in the handover to the Afterhours team; and
- You are also required to create a fatigue plan to identify critical times in the performance of the delivery, such as the latest pick-up and delivery times, and a time that the sub-contractor should be at home to effectively manage the job as it is performed.
- Complete the afterhours handover communicating any fatigue management risks, where required (i.e., when you are scheduled to finish at 6.00pm or later). The handover must contain any live jobs, including local, country and relevant contracts deliveries with an estimated delivery time of 6.00pm or later, and a list of sub-contractors that are available to perform airline deliveries/airline roster if applicable. You must also hand over any fatigue plans created for drivers still undertaking regional deliveries
- Ensure that your allocation decisions comply with Company Policies and legislation with respect (but not limited) to Occupational Health and Safety, Work Health and Safety, and Heavy Vehicle National Law. Such allocation decisions must ensure:
Manual handling:
- Job information that presents a potential or actual manual handling risk are reviewed and controlled prior to allocation.
Fatigue management:
- Workloads, or long-distance jobs, will not cause any driver to breach their maximum work hours in a day.
Load restraint:
- Job information that presents a potential or actual load restraint risk are reviewed and controlled prior to allocation.
Speed:
- Workload and communication with sub-contractors do not incentivise, or pressure a driver to breach speed limits
Mass and dimensions:
- Goods within a job, or aggregate goods on a vehicle, do not breach the carrying capacity or dimensions of a vehicle.
- Liaise with the Courier Department and the Taxi Trucks Department during peak periods to enhance our service capabilities through cross-utilisation of fleets
- Ensure all Saturday work for the Contracts Department has been despatched and accepted by the sub-contractors before 6.00 pm on Friday
- Ensure that all important information relating to jobs, including but not limited to sub-contractor correspondence, delivery issues and queries raised are recorded in the Notepad on the Transport Management System (“TMS”) against the relevant job
1.2 ADMINISTRATION/ CUSTOMER SERVICE
- Review all Contract client job charges each period to identify and rectify any anomalies
- Review scheduled customer delivery timeframes (AM/PM) through MMD
- Respond to client POD requests within 24 hours of receipt
- Prepare and send all client-specific reporting prior to close of business each day or stipulated deadline
- Ensure all booking jobs are administered on the day after the work is performed and prior to close of business
- Review the Billing Audit and the jobs to be priced to identify and correct any anomalies and/or inconsistencies
- Respond to all email bookings, and confirm the job booking and job number with the client
- Contact all HDS clients regarding their job booking requests within 24 hours of receipt of the booking request. You must confirm the booking details and any special delivery request (if any)
- Ensure clients are informed of any delays or issues in relation to their deliveries. You must liaise between the client, end customer and sub-contractors to resolve delivery issues and anomalies
- Address all “call back” requests received from the Customer Service Department within 5 minutes of receipt
- Effectively communicate with our clients and their customers when handling queries and implement quality solutions to resolve issues. These solutions must:
- Ensure that our clients’ KPI’s are achieved on delivery;
- Be within the framework of the Capital Service offering; and
- Meet all WH&S guidelines and policies
- Resolve client enquiries within:
- A four-hour timeframe from receipt; or
- As specified by your manager; or
- A customer specific Service Level Agreement
- Provide route analysis to clients as required and implement forward planning to pre-emptively resolve clients’ issues
1.3 SUB-CONTRACTOR MANAGEMENT
- Management of sub-contractors on Incentive Agreements
- Appropriately manage sub-contractors on Incentive Agreements, using best efforts to supply them with work that meets or exceeds our minimum obligations under the Incentive Agreement;
- Provide and document first verbal warnings to sub-contractors with regards to breaches of their Incentive Agreement;
- Where a sub-contractor’s Incentive payment needs to be rescinded for one day, or one period, or indefinitely, you must provide that information and supporting reasoning to your Manager/Supervisor and Fleet Management Department, without delay, ensuring that notes are inserting into the TMS where required.
- Management of sub-contractors’ performance and conduct against Company standards
- You must manage the performance and conduct of sub-contractors in line with the minimum standards prescribed in the sub-contractor agreement and Company policies;
- You must log all communication with sub-contractors in the software provided by the Company;
- You must exercise professionalism and impartiality in the management of sub-contractors; and
- You must escalate any on-going performance or conduct issues with the Fleet Management Department.
- Use your best endeavours to ensure that sub-contractors comply with legislation and Company Policies in relation to Work Health and Safety and industry best practice. You must further ensure that sub-contractors are not exposed to a situation or environment that observably poses a risk to their health and safety
- Escalate all incidents and near misses to the relevant stakeholders including but not limited to the Fleet Department, relevant Operational Manager, State Manager and National Work Health and Safety Manager as they occur and assist with the investigation where required
1.4 GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Use your best endeavours to ensure that sub-contractors comply with legislation and Company Policies in relation to Work Health and Safety and industry best practice. You must further ensure that sub-contractors are not exposed to a situation or environment that observably poses a risk to their health and safety. You are further responsible for ensuring your direct reports are appropriately trained to identify and control known risks that exist in the performance of services
- Escalate all incidents and near misses to the relevant stakeholders including but not limited to the Fleet Management Department and National Work Health and Safety Manager as they occur and assist with the investigation where required
- Effectively communicate with colleagues and sub-contractors
- Advocate both intra and inter co-operation of Departments
- Ensure that your written and verbal communication with clients, colleagues and sub-contractors is always professional and courteous at all times
- You must be available to work a rotating roster for afterhours work
- Attend one on one meetings with your manager as required
- Perform any reasonable tasks requested by your manager; which may include, but is not limited to, being available for on-call work during peak periods
- Notify your manager if you require additional training as soon as practicable
- Ensure you use work time and resources for work activities, through limiting personal phone calls, internet browsing and mobile phone usage
- Ensure compliance with Capital Group’s Company Policies at all times
- Ensure compliance with the Work Health and Safety (“WH&S”) responsibilities as outlined in section 3
2. Work Health and Safety (WH&S) Responsibilities
All staff are responsible for the following safe work procedures and instructions:
2.1 EMPLOYEES MUST
- Cooperate with the Capital Group in relation to activities undertaken to comply with WH&S and National Heavy Vehicle legislation;
- Undertake all relevant training to carry out your responsibilities in line with CG’s policies and procedures and legislative requirements;
- Perform their roles effectively to manage Chain of Responsibility (COR) risks, and ensure their actions or inactions do not cause or contribute to road safety breaches, specifically with regards to:
- Load Restraint;
- Mass and Dimension;
- Fatigue;
- Speed; and
- Vehicle Standards.
- Ensure that any potential or actual breaches of CG policies and procedures are reported immediately to their manager;
- Take reasonable care for their own health and safety and the health and safety of other people who may be affected by their conduct in the workplace; and
- Not wilfully or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interest of environment health and safety or welfare.
2.2 SUPERVISORS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
- Providing adequate supervision through technical guidance, training and support to ensure employees carry out their responsibilities in line with CG’s policies and procedures and legislative requirements;
- Maintaining regular communication with employees to identify if there are any issues that could result in a breach to CG policies and procedures and escalating to the Manager and relevant key stakeholders;
- Assisting with any efforts undertaken by the Capital Group to implement initiatives and corrective actions to comply with WH&S and National Heavy Vehicle legislation;
2.3 MANAGERS AND SECTION HEADS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
- Ensuring information, training, instruction and supervision is provided to all employees at the point of induction, and cyclically thereafter, so that they can effectively perform their roles and responsibilities in accordance with CG policies and procedures, and legislative requirements;
- Maintaining regular communication with employees to identify if there are any issues that could result in a breach to CG policies and procedures;
- Monitoring internal and external processes to identify risks to the business and developing suitable control measures;
- Identifying and investigating any potential or actual breaches, notifying and consulting with the relevant key stakeholders, implementing corrective actions required for compliance without delay, and ensuring appropriate records are maintained.
