Industry Codes of Practice Guidelines

This consultation closed on Friday 2 July 2021. The NHVR would like to thank everyone who took the time to provide feedback.

The NHVR sought public feedback about its codes of practice program and suggestions for improvements to the guidelines for preparing and registering industry codes of practice.

Background

Industry codes of practice are developed for industry by industry groups, based on their actual experience of the hazards present in the heavy vehicle transport industry and the ways they’ve found to manage them.

Registered codes of practice can provide valuable guidance to people in the heavy vehicle industry to help them manage the safety of their transport activities. They can also provide a benchmark for accepted standards and ways of operating that enable business partners to be on the same page.

Codes of practice can also be used by courts to determine whether a party has done everything reasonably practicable to manage safety.

For all these reasons, the required standard for a code of practice is high.

What’s NHVR’s role?

The NHVR has a statutory power to assess and register an industry code of practice – but it cannot create one. Only an industry group can do that. However, the NHVR does have the power to publish guidelines for codes of practice. These guidelines are used to maintain the standard and consistency of registered codes.

Why we consulted

Feedback was sought from anyone with an interest in codes of practice, whether it be developing a new document, using a code for training purposes, or simply referring to a code of practice for safety information. The feedback helped the NHVR shape our strategy for codes of practice going forward and was used in the revision of our guidelines.