Legal
Issue No. 52 - April/May 2010
Compliance in a new era of road safety
Everyone who goes to work in the morning has a right to go home safely at night. In 2008, 245 heavy vehicle drivers did not.
Under new compliance and enforcement laws designed to improve road safety, CEOs, managers and directors have extended obligations and responsibilities as part of the heavy vehicle transport ‘chain of responsibility’.
As with occupational health and safety legislation, everyone involved in the transport chain now shares responsibility for making sure the transport task is performed safely.
Most Australian businesses rely on transport in some way. All companies using transport, even in small capacities, are affected by these recent changes to the law.
Nationally consistent heavy vehicle laws are dramatically changing the transport industry and the demands of clients.
The laws require companies to review business practices, to make sure they do not create the opportunity for an offence, either directly or indirectly, by making illegal demands or requests in the transport of goods or passengers, such as:
• exceeding the legal weight and length of a load and how it is secured
• not complying with allowable driver work time or providing inadequate rest breaks
• drivers exceeding the legal speed limit placed on the vehicle or particular road.
These offences put drivers, other road users and property at greater risk of injury or damage. Penalties are scaled according to the safety risk, with of...
