Chain of Responsibility

The Heavy Vehicle National Law and Regulations(HVNL) commenced in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria on 10 February 2014. The Northern Territory and Western Australia are not commencing the HVNL at this time. The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) looks after one rule book for heavy vehicles over 4.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass.

Chain of Responsibility or CoR is one of the key features of the HVNL.

If you consign, pack, load or receive goods as part of your business, you could be held legally liable for breaches of road transport laws even though you have no direct role in driving or operating a heavy vehicle. In addition, corporate entities, directors, partners and managers are accountable for the actions of people under their control. This is the ‘Chain of Responsibility’ (CoR).

There has been many convictions recorded by Roads and Maritime Services in NSW; statistics show 4,437 charges laid in relation to CoR offences, with 2,275 against operators, 543 against company directors and 161 against employers. Some cases attracting significant fines i.e. Lennon’s Transport 1.3m, Cootes Tankers $500,000, Scott Corp $1.25m. Griffiths Garage and consignee Rapid Access were fined in excess of $1.4m for damage to a pedestrian overbridge due to a vehicle carrying over height machinery. McCabe Transport $335,000 for failing to manage drivers fatigue.

Each Business must have a Policy of Compliance in writing, adopted by the Board and recorded in the Company Minutes.

Chain of Responsibility includes:

• heavy vehicle driver breaches of fatigue management requirements or speed limits

• heavy vehicle driver breaches of mass, dimension, or loading requirements

• where any instructions, actions or demands parties in the supply chain make cause or contribute to an offence under a road transport law. That includes anything done, or not done (directly or indirectly) that has an impact on compliance, for example: schedulers whose business practices place unrealistic timeframes on drivers which cause them to exceed their work rest options

• Operators who do not provide drivers with a sleep environment which allows for quality sleep if their work requires them to sleep away from home (approved sleeper cab, access to rest stops).

People in the supply chain must also make sure the terms of consignment or work/employment contracts will not result in, encourage, reward or provide an incentive for the driver or other party in the supply chain (e.g. a scheduler) to break any road transport laws.

Contracts that require a driver to break the law are illegal.

In a prosecution, the courts would consider the actions of each party in the supply chain. This includes what measures those parties have in place to prevent breaches of road transport laws occurring. Each person in the supply chain must take all reasonable steps to ensure a heavy vehicle driver can perform their duties without breaching road transport laws.

Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal

On 1 May 2014 a new Tribunal came into operation due to a link being identified between a drivers pay and fatalities in the transport industry. The Tribunal is supported by the Fair Work Commission. The order applies to:

• road transport drivers

• employers or hirers of road transport drivers

• participants in the supply chain in relation to road transport drivers

It applies to any long distance operation of greater than 500 kms round trip, transport of any livestock, any interstate operation which exceeds 200kms, and any site which loads or unloads an average of at least 5 vehicles per day.

The Order requires a written contract to be in place between the driver and an employer or hirer covering the employment or engagement of the road transport driver, prior to the road transport driver commencing their employment or engagement with the employer or hirer. The contract must include mandatory items from party details, through to payment time, remuneration, safe driving plans, Training, Drug and Alcohol Policy and be aligned to the agreement with other supply chain partners.

To see how Modal Logistics can advise you and take you through each of these areas to see these items minimised as a risk to your business, contact us on 0417 220 712 or complete the form on our contact page.