Master Code of Practice

The 2026 Master Code does not create new legal obligations or replace existing requirements under the HVNL. Its purpose is to provide information to help CoR parties comply with their existing HVNL obligations – particularly the Primary Duty, which has been in place since October 2018.

The Code provides comprehensive guidance to parties in the CoR, but it is not a compliance manual for the HVNL or any other law. It will assist businesses in managing safety.

• The Code may be used as evidence if a CoR party or executive is charged with a breach of the Primary Duty or the Executive Duty. In such cases, its content may demonstrate what CoR parties and executives knew, or ought to have known, about hazards, risks, risk assessments and controls relevant to the safe use of heavy vehicles.
• This would be only one piece of evidence among many that the prosecution would need to prove what was reasonably practicable.
• There is no offence in the HVNL for failing to implement an individual control in the Master Code, or any other Code of Practice.
• A business cannot be prosecuted for “failing to comply with the Code”.

The 2026 Master Code contains more than 500 controls, but no single business in Australia would apply all of them.

The controls are spread across 45 different activities, and no one party undertakes all of these. For example, some controls only apply to the manufacturers of goods, others relate to the design for premises, while some apply to construction sites.

These controls reflect existing safe practices. Most businesses already operate safely and have many of these controls in place.

Businesses may also choose to use alternative controls – different ways of managing risks that are not listed in the code, provided they are equally effective.

Importantly, the controls in the 2026 Master Code are recommendations, not obligations, and many offer alternative approaches to achieve safety.

Employed drivers are not CoR parties -  The 2026 Master Code should be helpful to employed drivers, because it is targeted at CoR parties, and in many cases makes recommendations that will directly benefit drivers, making their job safer and more efficient.

Employed drivers can also benefit by seeing examples of good practice, and learning what they should expect from consignors, consignees and loading managers, and what support they should receive from their employer.

Owner Drivers are CoR parties and the 2026 Master Code provides guidance specifically aimed at them. The Code recognises that many of the challenges experienced by owner drivers occur because of incorrect, incomplete, or deliberately false information provided by other parties about journeys or loads. The code also includes resources that can assist owner drivers to access better information.

The 2026 Master Code was not designed to be an audit tool, although some businesses may choose to adapt it for that purpose.

Rather than auditing against the entire Code, businesses should first identify which parts are relevant to their operations or those of their business partners and determine whether the listed controls can be implemented in a way that suits their scope and scale. Any audit should then focus on the measures being implemented, not the Code in its entirety.

NHVR will not be endorsing any audit scheme for the 2026 Master Code and does not accredit auditors as Master Code or CoR auditors. NHVR only accredits auditors for the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS), and not for other purposes.