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NTC and NHVR acknowledge a road safety milestone today as amendments to chain of responsibility duties in the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) take effect.
NTC Acting Chief Executive Dr Geoff Allan says these reforms, developed by NTC over several years of close consultation with industry and government, respond to calls to improve the safety and productivity of road transport operations.
“The priority was to create greater clarity and consistency of CoR laws while reinforcing that all parties who influence heavy vehicle safety must act responsibly. Operators, consignors, consignees and loading managers all have a role to help ensure road users can get home safely at the end of each day.”
“The reforms remove prescriptive obligations, providing greater flexibility for industry in how they achieve safety outcomes. They also encourage parties in the chain to be proactive in managing risks. This performance-based approach to regulation will underpin our upcoming review of the HVNL,” Dr Allan said.
NHVR Chief Executive Officer Sal Petroccitto says the NHVR has been working with many of the 165,000 businesses across the heavy vehicle supply chain to prepare for these important changes.
“These reforms recognise that every party in the heavy vehicle transport supply chain has a duty to ensure safety.”
“The best way to do this is to have safety management systems and controls in place, such as business practices, training and procedures,” Mr Petroccitto said.
Included in HVNL changes taking effect today are the loading performance standards, which have been transferred from the Load Restraint Guide for heavy vehicles into the HVNL. The Load Restraint Guide will continue to provide guidance on appropriate methods for restraining loads.
The NTC completed the review and update of the latest Load Restraint Guide in 2017 and will hand over future maintenance of the guide to the NHVR.