A taskforce recently tasked with reviewing the effectiveness of chain of responsibility laws has confirmed that investigators are not doing enough to hold everyone in the supply chain accountable, which means that operators are still being targeted the most.
Chain of responsibility laws state that truckies are not the only ones responsible for road freight safety. There a number of people in the chain that need to do their duties according to the law in order for the safety of the truck and other road users to be ensured.
An issues paper released last week for feedback on the effectiveness of the laws revealed that trucking operators are still attracting most of the attention from authorities for chain of responsibility breaches.
According to the data drawn from the NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) at least 47 per cent of the 3209 charges laid between 2005 to June 2012 were against trucking operators – a total of 1503. From the charges only 512 charges were laid against consignors and 685 against consignees. In the 7 year period only 14 charges were laid against schedulers and 9 were issued to loaders.
An excerpt from an article on Fullyloaded.com.au explains further:
“Despite the positive cultural change effected by CoR, industry believes that investigations remain focused on drivers and operators rather than the wider supply chain. It seems CoR has successfully moved the focus away from drivers and onto operators but may not have pushed far enough along the rest of the chain,” the issues paper states.
“In the absence of comprehensive data it is difficult to empirically analyse this claim. However, based on the data published by RMS the claim appears sound.”
The report goes on to say that 55 percent of the individuals charged for chain of responsibility offences from 2005 to June 2012 were operators.
“This suggests that operators are over-represented as the focus of enforcement along the supply chain,” the taskforce says.
Established by transport ministers late last year, the taskforce made up of government and industry representatives was asked to examine chain of responsibility provisions in the Heavy Vehicle National Law to ensure the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator can enforce them effectively.
Read more at: https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1307/operators-bear-brunt-of-cor-investigations
The post goes on to explain that transport ministers identified the need for a review during the development of the national law which is set to take effect as of September 1st this year.
Truck drivers are often blamed when it comes to road safety although the majority of truck drivers are driving safely and abiding by road laws but a small percentage of people in the road transport industry are not doing their duty and this reflects badly on the truck driver because they are the ones directly in contact with the public. However in some circumstances the driver is not as guilty as others in the supply chain for example ensuring the vehicle is within the mass, height and dimension limits is a vital aspect of the chain and is the responsibility of the consignor or dispatcher. Overloaded or improperly loaded vehicles can result in a crash or cause the goods to dislodge and fall off the vehicle. This is why the issues paper is so important to ensure that everyone in the supply chain is held responsible for their actions to ensure road safety and fairness in the industry.
