TruckSafe-accredited operators should be well positioned to meet changes to the Chain of Responsibility (CoR) laws, according to TruckSafe Chair, Ferdie Kroon, of the Australian Trucking Association’s (ATA) safety management program.
The reforms are scheduled to come into force in mid-2018, and will align chain of responsibility laws more closely with workplace health and safety laws. They include a new general safety duty and the extension of chain of responsibility to vehicle maintenance.
The TruckSafe board has met to look at how the reforms would affect the TruckSafe standards.
“The board has reviewed the new Chain of Responsibility provisions and the consultation draft of the master registered code of practice being developed by the ATA and Australian Logistics Council,” Mr Kroon said.
“We worked through the provisions in detail, and the good news is that TruckSafe accredited operators are well positioned to meet the new requirements of the law and the draft master code.
“Our operators worked very hard in 2016 to upgrade their safety management systems to meet the new standards, which came into force on 1 January 2017,” he said.
Kroon also said accredited operators now have controls in place, such as business practices, training, procedures and review processes that will help them:
• Identify, assess, evaluate, and control risk.
• Manage compliance with speed, fatigue, mass, dimension, loading and vehicle standards requirements.
• Meet regular reporting requirements.
• Document or record actions taken to manage safety.
“All the hard work last year will pay off for operators in 2018,” said Kroon.
TruckSafe will advise operators of any changes to the TruckSafe standards well before the chain of responsibility reforms come into effect.