Ten weeks to CoR commencement – our ten compliance tips for transport operators – Tip #1

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

That means transport operators have just ten weeks left to be ready.

To help with last minute preparations, we will issue weekly alerts for the next ten weeks and share some tips for compliance.

Tip # 1 – Develop a chain of responsibility policy

The CoR changes mean that you should have safety management systems and controls in place, such as business practices, training, procedures and review processes that:

• identify, assess, evaluate, and control risk;
• manage compliance with speed, fatigue, mass, dimension, loading and vehicle standards requirements; and
• document or record actions you take to manage safety in your business.

It is important that you can demonstrate that your business understands its CoR obligations and has communicated this understanding to its customers, staff and subcontractors. Having a CoR policy that details the various parties in the chain of responsibility, their roles and how your business will manage its CoR obligations is a good start. You may also find that other parties in the supply chain will ask you for a copy of your policy as part of their CoR preparations.

As with every business policy, your CoR policy should:

• clearly set out roles, responsibilities and expectations and include definitions of any terms that are used throughout the policy;
• be consistent with your other business policies; and
• detail the consequences of a breach of the policy.

It is also important that the policy is readily accessible and regularly reviewed and that employees receive training about the policy and their obligations under it.

If you would like help with developing a chain of responsibility policy, please contact Gillian Bristow (07 3231 2925) or Emily Ng (07 3231 2986).

For those who need a general introduction to the new CoR regime, we are running a one hour webinar on 29 May 2018. All the details are here.

If your directors or managers need their questions answered on the new regime, we are running CoR half day masterclasses in Brisbane during June 2018 – all the details are available here: 6 June 2018 or 13 June 2018.

Watch out for tip #2 next week – Drivers, fatigue and work diaries – managing the risks.