Countdown to CoR changes – Tip #6 for transport and logistics operators

As those in the transport and logistics industry would know, changes to the chain of responsibility provisions in the Heavy Vehicle National Law will commence on 1 October 2018.

That means transport operators have limited time left to be ready.

This week we are up to the sixth of ten tips to help with your last-minute preparations.

Tip # 6 – How 'alive' is your safety and compliance system?

The new provisions impose a 'primary duty' on parties in the chain of responsibility to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of their transport activities relating to heavy vehicles.

This duty creates an obligation on transport operators to proactively manage risk, not simply to react to incidents and accidents. It is not enough to prepare policies that document your commitment to compliance with chain of responsibility legislation and put them on the office shelf ready to be dusted off if and when you are asked to produce them.