Businesses involved in Australia’s road freight industry will all know the phrase “chain of responsibility” or CoR. The CoR has certain laws that make sure everyone involved in the supply chain of a transport operation shares responsibility for preventing breaches of Heavy Vehicle National Law. Heavy vehicle transport businesses have obligations under CoR laws, just like everybody else in the transport industry. But it can be tricky to navigate these recently updated laws. So in this post, we outline your business’s obligations under the Australian Standards and show you how improving your on-board weighing systems can safeguard you against breaches of HVNL.
Contracts
As a business, you are obliged to ensure that your employees are working contracted hours that are safe and are not putting them at risk of fatigue. When a contract breach occurs, many employees involved in your business including human resources officers, supervisors and executives are exposed to breach of CoR laws.
Weights
There are strict regulations on maximum safe transport loads. As a business, you have an obligation to ensure that all staff involved in loading freight are aware of the limits on transport loads. That’s why it’s so important to make sure your weighing systems are state-of-the-art and provide long-term reliable and accurate readings. Talking to a team of experts in on-board weighing solutions like Loadmass is a big step towards meeting your CoR weight obligations.
Securing loads
Loads for heavy vehicles must be properly packed and secured. Your business is obliged to provide proper training to all staff who control the packing and securing of loads.
Speed limits
The speed limits are another important aspect of your obligations as a heavy vehicle transport business. You must always reinforce that sticking to the speed limit is a non-negotiable part of a truck driver’s job. Using vehicle trackers and speed limiters has become a standard in the transport industry.
These aspects of road transport are just scratching the surface of what’s involved in CoR laws. There are many obligations to be met by road transport businesses when it comes to the Chain of Responsibility laws. Since CoR laws now play a greater role in the Australian Work Health and Safety Act, meeting these obligations has never been a more important box to tick. Doing this will ensure greater safety amongst your employees, less risk of facing hefty penalties and better productivity in the long run for your business.
If you’d like to know more about how improving your on-board scales can help you meet CoR obligations, contact the team at Loadmass today.