Chain of Responsibility Update: Tribunal Aims to Make Roads Safer for Everyone

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The problem of truckies driving long hours while fatigued and being forced to speed in order to meet strict schedules has long been plaguing the industry. However with the introduction of the Road Safety Renumeration System, government hopes to change all that. Government plans to increase truck drivers pay rates which will hopefully remove the necessity for them to drive unnecessarily long hours in order to make more money.

While many have welcomed governments plan for the Road Safety Remuneration System hoping it will ease the burden on over worked truck drivers and ultimately lessen the number of crashes on our roads, Industry insiders warn that the truck plan could backfire and instead of alleviating problems in the industry, cause more problems for transport companies.

The government is relying on the new system to substantially cut the number of deaths that occur on our roads each year. Currently the toll sits at 250 people per year that have lost their lives to heavy vehicle incidents with an even larger number being injured. But may in the industry say that government has not made clear how it plans to do this.

  • An interesting post in Smh.com.au had more on the issue:
  • A NEW national tribunal with the power to set pay rates for truck drivers in the name of preventing crashes could instead strangle transport companies in red tape, industry watchers have warned.
  • But the Gillard government, whose Road Safety Remuneration System comes into place from tomorrow, says the tribunal’s powers to increase truck drivers’ pay rates will remove incentives for them to work unduly long hours.
  • Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten will today name the eight-member panel that will begin hearing cases from next January.
  • Mr Shorten said the tribunal would help ”make Australian roads safer for everyone”.
  • The government hopes the system dramatically cuts the number killed on Australian roads: about 250 people die each year in accidents involving heavy vehicles, while another 1000 are injured – with an estimated economic cost of $2.7 billion.
  • But many in the transport industry say there is still little understanding on how the tribunal will succeed in linking pay rates to safer work practices.
  • ”There is no formula in the legislation for calculating a safe rate of pay,” said workplace relations lawyer Paul O’Halloran, of Rigby Cooke.
  • Trucking magnate Lindsay Fox said that because of money pressures, many drivers still felt compelled to drive long hours – with 18-hour runs common. ”Eighteen hours behind the wheel, no matter who you are, it’s a very tough task.”
  • Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/national/truck-plan-could-backfire-20120629-21885.html#ixzz1zeOp0N91

To provide more clarity on the role of the Tribunal we visited the website of Fair Work Australia who provided the following description:

  • Under the System there is a new Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (the Tribunal). The Tribunal can set pay and related conditions for road transport drivers in the road transport industry. In future, it will also be able to approve road transport collective agreements between owner drivers and hirers and help if there are disputes involving drivers, their employer or hirer and / or a participant in the supply chain.
  • Source: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/

While employers and transport companies remain sceptical about the new system, the Transport Workers Union(TWU) has welcomed it, saying that it will help save the lives of truck drivers and ordinary road users. According a post on tandlnews.com.au Transport Workers Union National Secretary, Michael Kaine had this to say:

  • Major clients who place excessive pressure on road transport operators will now have to face the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal and this will result in a safer, fairer and more efficient road transport industry for everyone, according to acting national secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) Michael Kaine.
  • Mr Kaine was speaking as the government announced the appointment of the members the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, which began operation on 1 July.
  • “The appointments announced by the government to the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal send a clear message that major transport clients like Coles can no longer bully their supply chain with lethal consequences for all Australians. We have had more than 20 years of cross party parliamentary inquiries, coronial reports and academic research, all of which clearly highlighted the link between client pressure and tragedies on our roads. A recent national survey of over 700 truck drivers found that 55% of drivers surveyed working in the Coles supply chain felt pressured to engage in unsafe road practices such as speeding.
  • “The tribunal begins operation from today with the strongest possible tribunal membership from Fair Work Australia and with industry experts who know road transport inside out. I’m sure that everyone involved in road transport industry welcomes this clear signal from the government, that the tribunal will act quickly and efficiently to address the lethal pressures in road transport.
  • “Inaction is no longer acceptable. Each year more than 330 people are tragically killed on our roads in truck crashes and 5300 are injured. One in three workplace fatalities occur in trucking.

The TWU has also welcomed the appointment of the tribunal members and expressed its faith that the tribunal will get to work immediately on righting some of the wrongs in the industry that see truck drivers being exploited due to pressure from employers.

The unions and truckies hope that some of the pressure from employers will be eased and in turn make Australia’s roads a safer place to be.

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