Court Finds Council Took Reasonable Steps in Waste Vehicle Overloading Case

In an important legal decision for organisations on the impact of chain of responsibility, the City of Glen Eira (Glen Eira) was recently acquitted in the Dandenong Magistrates Court of all charges alleged against it on the basis that it had taken all reasonable steps to prevent overloading of garbage trucks in connection with its domestic waste collection service.

The decision provides the first real indication as to what amounts to "reasonable steps" for the purposes of ensuring compliance with the mass limit provisions of the Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) (the RSA), also known as the 'chain of responsibility' legislation.

Under the chain of responsibility legislation, any person using road transport as part of their business, including consignors, packers, loaders, drivers, operators and consignees can be held responsible for breach of vehicle mass and dimension limits or load restraint requirements (amongst other things).