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The NHVR will undertake a three-month consultation following a review to align the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) Standards and Rules with the recent changes to Chain of Responsibility laws.
NHVR Executive Director of Productivity and Safety Geoff Casey said consultation on the proposed changes would be conducted through on-line feedback, as well as face-to-face at a series of information sessions.
“The NHVR today wrote to more than 7150 operators in the NHVAS scheme about proposed changes to the Business Rules and Standards for the Mass, Maintenance or Fatigue modules,” Mr Casey said.
“These changes will assist NHVAS participants to meet the recent changes to Chain of Responsibility laws, which require all parties in the supply chain to address the risks of their transport activities.
The NHVAS was first offered to industry in 1999 as an alternative compliance scheme and has evolved as a formal process for recognising operators that have robust safety and other management systems in place. The NHVR has been the single administrator of the scheme since 10 February 2014.
Some of the key reforms proposed for NHVAS include:
- requirements for crash and incident reporting of major and significant events
- a register of infringements and defects notices received
- fit and proper person requirements as part of the assessment criteria
- maintenance strengthened to now include tow couplings and drawbars.
A detailed overview and summary of changes document has been provided.
“The review seeks to address some of the inconsistencies that currently exist,” Mr Casey said.
“For example, the Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM) Business Rules and Standards have been harmonised into the existing NHVAS Business Rules and Standards - this includes the unification of the two fatigue standards.”
The NHVR will be conducting a series of information sessions across Australia in February and March 2019 to provide further opportunities to discuss the changes and provide feedback directly to the NHVR’s Accreditation team.
Consultation ends on March 31, 2019. More details on the information sessions, proposed changes and Notice of Proposed Rule Making are available at www.nhvr.gov.au/nhvas-review