Anyone who has influence over transport activity is responsible for safety on the road. Transport & Waste Solutions Australia’s Chris Coleman explains.
While heavy vehicles might not be ones first thought at mention of the waste and resource recovery sector, they are a significant link in the chain.
Recyclers work directly with collection companies, who liaise with councils to ensure waste is collected on time and reprocessed.
A vehicle is present at every stage in this process, and as such, understanding relevant transport safety regulations is critical to a high-functioning waste and resource recovery business.
First developed in 2005 as part of Australia’s National Road Transport Reform (Compliance and Enforcement) Act 2003, Chain of Responsibility (CoR) legislation underwent a revamp in late 2018.
The resulting laws recognise that multiple parties may be responsible for offences committed by the drivers and operators of heavy vehicles.
Chris Coleman, Transport & Waste Solutions Australia (TWS) Managing Director, explains that the legislation operates under the guiding principal that anyone who has influence over transport activity is responsible for safety on the road.
To ensure workplace and community safety, Coleman says those involved in heavy vehicle logistics need to ask themselves a series of key questions, namely: are you responsible?
“Not the driver so therefore think you are not responsible if one of your vehicles is involved in an accident or breaks the law? Think again,” Coleman says.
“If you are responsible for packing, loading or receiving waste in your business, even if you are not driving a truck, you may be held legally responsible for breaches of the Heavy Vehicle National Law.”
Corporate entities, directors, partners and managers are not immune to this legislation, Coleman adds, and must exercise due diligence to ensure the safety of their businesses transport activities.
“You have a duty of care to the transport chain and will be held accountable for the actions of people under your control,” he says.
“You must proactively monitor and manage driver behaviour and all aspects of your logistics to ensure they meet both your company’s safety policies and regulations to the CoR and Heavy Vehicle National Law.”
As such, operators across the transport chain have an interest in making sure every vehicle that leaves their depot is complaint with all legislation.
Failure to do so may result in a range of legally enforceable penalties – from vehicles being impounded to significant personal and company financial penalties and even prison sentences.
According to Coleman, there are five primary areas of focus in the CoR: fatigue management, seed compliance, loading, mass and dimensions and maintenance management.
“While each of the focus areas is critical, breaches to loading and mass compliance are most common and so easily missed by loaders, load managers, drivers and operators,” he says.
“While weighbridges will tell you the gross mass of your vehicle, and whether load limits specified in the Heavy Vehicle National Law are exceeded, they miss one vital statistic.”
To satisfy regulations, loads must be placed in the way that ensures the vehicle remains stable and safe.
Loads need to be distributed so as not to overload axles; a common problem that until now has been often overlooked, largely because of the difficulty in monitoring load distribution.
Via a strategic alliance with UK company, Axtec, a world leader in axle weighing and load monitoring solutions, TWS can provide operators with peace of mind by ensuring their loads comply with all regulations.
“We’re helping Australian waste management companies and state utilities meet their CoR obligations, by providing accurate and reliable vehicle load information in real-time as vehicles perform their day-to-day operations,” Coleman says.
He adds that TWS’ OnBoard Axtec axle load indicators should be an integral part of any safety management system.
“By constantly measuring and displaying axle and gross weights, drivers know they are complying with mass load limits and are able to distribute their loads safely and legally at all times,” Coleman says.
Axtec OnBoard provides drivers with information on axle and gross vehicle loads via a simple, easy to read, colour coded bar graph display.
Visual and audible warnings prompt the driver when overloads are present, while load data can be simultaneously written to the built-in logger and transmitted to a tracker system.
The colour touch screen can automatically display images from rear-view or side-mounted cameras and can be set to dim when the vehicle is in motion.
“All of these functions take place with absolutely no input from the driver, so they are not unnecessarily distracted,” Coleman says.
Axtec Onboard is used to provide real-time information to the drivers of thousands of vehicles from 3.5 tonne van-based derivatives through to 26 and 32 tonne rigids.
Dynamic weighbridges will automatically weigh road-going vehicles, including abnormal loads, as they drive over it, determining both individual axle and gross vehicle loads.
“This isn’t just about safety. The productivity gains are significant, for example, a six-axle articulated lorry can be weighed in under 40 seconds,” Coleman says.
“Whether you are an owner, driver or responsible for a national fleet, the CoR applies to you.”
For more information click here.
Related stories:
- A next generation solution: Transport & Waste Solutions
- Axtec OnBoard Axle Load Indicator
- Chain of compliance: Transport Waste Solutions