Heavy vehicle supply chain businesses can access information on safety practices from other transport and logistics operators in a new NHVR video.
NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto said the latest NHVR video provided first-hand accounts from four heavy vehicle operators and logistics companies about controls and systems they were implementing ahead of changes to Chain of Responsibility (CoR) laws, coming in mid-2018.
“Accessing this kind of information from a range of operators is important for everyone across the heavy vehicle supply chain,” Mr Petroccitto said.
“The feedback shows how different companies are assessing risk, encouraging a safety culture and implementing their safety management systems.
“Under the new CoR laws each business needs to develop tailored solutions that match their business circumstances.”
The video titled Industry Approaches to Safety Management Systems uses feedback from senior logistics and safety staff from Metcash, Woolworths, Branstrans and Martins Transport.
Metcash Chief Logistics Officer Linda Venables was one of four leading logistics safety managers who outlined their safety management systems in the video.
“In wanting to take our Chain of Responsibility to the next level I felt it was important to engage the people who actually do the roles,” Ms Venables said.
“The approach was to map all of the controls in CoR and for each site to document where the control was and how they managed it… so there was some sharing of best practice across our sites.”
Mr Petroccitto said the video supported recent moves by operators of some of Australia’s major distribution centres to work towards a common safety standard.
“Last week I was pleased to join Metcash, Coles, Woolworths and Bluescope and major transport operators to discuss how together they can lead the creation of a more consistent safety standard and operating practice,” he said.
“There was good open discussion about what heavy vehicle drivers and operators should expect from their interaction with a major distribution centre.
“Likewise we discussed what DCs can expect from heavy vehicle drivers and operators.
“A good day for heavy vehicle drivers and distribution centre operators starts with being a safe day.”
For more information on heavy vehicle safety and fact sheets on the new CoR laws go to www.nhvr.gov.au/cor