Regulations have played an important part to date in improving safety and boosting productivity within supply chains with significant gains for workers and employers alike. And now that there is a centralised body to oversee their formulation and implementation the Australian Logistics Council, at their recent forum, stressed that they will continue their push for better regulations. According to the Supply Chain review at http://www.supplychainreview.com.au/:

The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) will continue to push for seamless regulatory arrangements in Australia, it says. ALC Chairman Don Telford, who addressed the ALC Forum’s delegates in Melbourne yesterday, believes the beginning of national transport regulators does not spell the end for efforts to improve regulation. “While the regulators have opened their doors, the journey has only just begun and we must continue to push for seamless regulatory arrangements in Australia,” Telford says. He says the group will also push both sides of federal politics to commit “serious funds” to infrastructure projects to boost productivity and freight efficiency. Telford highlighted planned works across the country as a positive sign. “On the infrastructure side, some major projects have commenced, are nearing finalisation or about to commence,” he says. “Both Port Botany and Port of Melbourne are planning significant works, and we are starting to see movement on intermodal facilities in both major cities. Telford says the ALC will continue to work on critical issues such as infrastructure, regulation and safety in the coming year, including the lobbying for a second airport in Sydney. The ALC also believes the Federal Government should maintain an 80-20 funding split with the states on infrastructure projects under the next Nation Building Program, which will begin in the 2014-15 financial year. “Otherwise, overall public-sector spending on infrastructure will inevitably fail because of pressure on state budgets,” Telford says. “ALC will continue to encourage governments to recognise the benefits of obtaining private sector investment in nationally significant infrastructure. “We would also like to see the government establish special tax provisions to improve certainty for private sector investment in nationally significant projects.” Source: http://www.supplychainreview.com.au/news/articleid/83028.aspx

It is important that safety for the logistics and transport industries continues to improve. With statistics for heavy truck accident still too high it is essential that everyone works towards a common goal and that is ensuring that every worker gets home safely at night. These regulations don’t need to mean that productivity and employers are negatively impacted. With careful strategic planning the best outcome for everyone can indeed be the end result.