The boss of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), David Simon wants chain of responsibility laws to be extended to truck maintenance in order to improve vehicle maintenance and safety standards in the trucking industry. He has also recommended mandating electronic stability control (ESC) for some dangerous goods vehicles. Mr Simon used his address at the opening of the Technical and Maintenance Conference to recommend the changes. He explained that in the wake of recent incidents such as the Cootes Transport Tanker crash and the discovery of a number of serious defects by heavy vehicle enforcement operations, companies need to pay more attention to maintenance and safety issues. Mr Simon explained:

“In tough times, it is easy for executives who are not on the tools to tweak a few numbers in a spreadsheet and cut back on maintenance in the belief it won’t matter,” Simon says. “My personal view is that we should extend CoR to vehicle maintenance. This would compel businesses and their senior managers to take reasonable steps to make sure you can do your jobs properly, for example, by ensuring you have adequate budgets, resources and training.” Source: https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1310/extend-cor-to-truck-maintenance-david-simon

Chain of responsibility regulations currently apply to issues of speeding, driver fatigue, vehicle mass and dimensions and load restraints but doesn’t take into consideration maintenance as much as it should. COR causes all parties involved in the supply chain to be held accountable for their actions if they contribute to a breach. Mr Simon reminded the industry of his partial support of the 2011 coronial recommendation for the NSW government to mandate ESC for all dangerous goods trucks and the ATA’s support for a review of the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS). The post on Fullyloaded.com.au went on to state:

“In my view, it would not be necessary to impose this requirement on all vehicles carrying dangerous goods. It should not, for example, apply to trucks carrying domestic cleaning products in retail packaging as part of a larger load,” he says. “We should, however, urgently look at applying it to trucks carrying bulk loads of flammable or combustible liquids, explosives and radioactive substances.” Source: https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1310/extend-cor-to-truck-maintenance-david-simon

During his speech Simon also suggested that the trucking industry adopt a similar accident investigation system as the one used for plane accidents, he explained that this is one of the reasons why airtravel was so much safer than road travel. Mr Simon believes a long-term goal should involve all parties – governments, the industry, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and the ATSB establishing a national ‘no blame’ accident investigation capacity for fatal truck crashes, like the investigation method undertaken for marine, rail and air accidents. The post went on to explain:

“The ATSB looks beyond the immediate causes of accidents to the organisational and management issues that allow them to happen. When it does issue recommendations, it pushes them until it gets an adequate response. Its recommendations and the responses are all public and easy to find.” Simon says the process gives businesses and government agencies a strong incentive to take the ATSB’s recommendations seriously. Source: https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1310/extend-cor-to-truck-maintenance-david-simon