Chain of Responsibility

A guide to Chain of Responsibility legislation

We know that transport industry policy can be difficult to understand so we've made a quick guide to one of the most important ones: the chain of responsibility. We hope to answer all your questions about the NHVR, the HVNL, CoR, and CoR training but if you still have questions, don't hesitate to contact us.

What is the NHVR?

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) is Australia's regulator for all heavy vehicles over 4.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass. The NHVR exists to create a safe, efficient, and productive heavy vehicle industry.

What is the HVNL?

The NHVR is the regulatory body authorised to enforce the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL). The law was introducedin 2014 as a single set of laws for heavy vehicles across all participating states and terrioties. It is founded on the principle that "anyone who has influence over the transport activity is responsible for safety on the road". ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, and VIC have each passed a law that either adopts or duplicates the HVNL, with some modifications. Although the law has not been adopted in the NT and WA, it still applies to vehicles from those jurisdictions when they cross the border into a state or territory where the law enforced. Some aspects, such as fatigue work diary requirements, must be compliedwith before they cross the border.

What is the aim of the HVNL?

The aim of the HVNL is to:

Minimise the compliance burden
Reduce duplications and inconsistences in heavy vehicle regulation across state and territory borders
Provide leadership and drive sustainable improvement to safety, productivity, and efficiency outcomes.

What is the Chain of Responsibility?

Chain of Responsbility (CoR) is another term for the new HVNL which was amended in 2018. Under CoR, the everyone in the heavy vehicle transport supply chain has a duty to ensure the safety of their transport activities. The CoR was introduced to recognise that multiple parties may be responsible for breaches of the HVNL committed by the driver. As a party in the CoR that exercises (or has the capability of exercising) control or influence over any transport task, you have a responsibility to ensure compliance with the HNVL. In practice, it means everybody has an obligation to eliminate or minimise potential harm or loss (risk) by doing all that is reasonably practicable to ensure safety.

In previous heavy vehicle laws, an incident, accident or road offence had to occur before exceutives could be held liable. Under new laws, all parties in the CoR are required to exercise "due diligence" to ensure they comply with all duties under the CoR. The new law takes a "proactive" rather than a "reactive" approach to safety with wider-ranging powers and tougher penalities for breaches.

What does reasonably practicable mean?

The WHS legislation defines “reasonably practicable” as that which is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done to ensure health and safety, considering and weighing up all relevant matters including:

1) the likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring
2) the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or the risk
3) what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about
4) the hazard or the risk
- a) ways of eliminating or minimising the risk; and
- b) the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk
5) ensuring the risk has been appropriately compared to the cost of an alternative safe solution.

What is the aim of the CoR policy?

The CoR laws aim to ensure everyone in the transport supply chain shares the responsibility for ensuring compliance with the HVNL. The onus is no longer on the drivers of heavy vehicles but anyone that holds influence. The CoR laws were introduced stop heavy vehicle drivers from receiving all the blame and punishment for breaches of the HVNL.

Who are the parties in the supply chain?

The parties in the Chain of Responsibility for a heavy vehicle are:

an employer
a prime contractor– if the vehicle's driver is self-employed
an operator of the vehicle
a scheduler for the vehicle
a loading manager for any goods in the vehicle
a loader and/or unloader of a vehicle
a consignor of any goods for transport by the vehicle
a consignee of any goods in the vehicle
a loader and/or unloader of any goods in the vehicle.

When could CoR apply?

Some examples include:

when a party has control or influence over a transport activity and fails to manage, so far as reasonably practicable, the risk it creates
when a party's business practices cause or encourage speeding
when a party's business practices cause or encourage the driver of a heavy vehicle to breach mass, dimension, or loading requirements
where instructions, actions or demands to parties in the supply chain cause or contribute to an offence under the HVNL.

This includes any direction, requirement, or demand given directly or indirectly to a driver or a party in the chain of responsibility that has an impact on compliance for example:

a consignor or consignee has unrealistic contractual arrangements which causes or encourages the driver to exceed regulated driving hours or drive whilst fatigued
a schedulers business practices, requests or demands, cause or encourage the driver to exceed the speed limit.

Contracts that cause or encourage a driver of a heavy vehicle or a party in the chain of responsibility to break the law are illegal.

What are the most common breaches of the HVNL?

The CoR legislation changes means that breaches can occur at any point in the supply chain. The most common include:

Applying business practices or demands that cause a driver to breach fatigue management requirements or speed limits
Failing to weigh, measure or secure loads, including poor weight distribution over the axles
Setting schedules with unrealistic time frames
Causing unreasonable delays in loading and unloading, impacting on driver hours/delivery times
Packing goods incorrectly
Entering terms in contracts and arrangements that encourage, reward, or give incentives to the driver or other parties in the CoR to breach the law

Chain of Responsibility Training

Here at 123 Training Solutions, we offer chain of responsibility training to ensure every level of the supply chain is aware of their responsibilities under the HVNL. We run two courses; one geared towards general staff (CoR 1) and one that is more suitable for supervisors and middle management (CoR 2).

Chain of Responsibility 1 (CoR 1) Course Summary

Geared towards general staff in the supply chain, CoR 1 looks at the new legislation, explaining the chain of responsibility features in the HVNL. It then covers the application of CoR requirements as well as how to identify and report chain of responsibility breaches.

Upon completion of the course, students will receive a nationally recognised Statement of Attainment: TLIF0009 - Ensure the safety of transport activities (Chain of Responsibility).

Our fee for the CoR 1 course, is $375 per person.

Chain of Responsibility 2 (CoR 2) Course Summary

Aimed more towards supervisors and middle-managers, CoR 2 is an extension of the CoR 1 course. CoR 2 extends on the material of CoR 1 to not only apply CoR requirements, but to administer these requirements as well as workplace policies and procedures related to CoR.

Upon completion of the course, students will receive two (2) nationally recognised Statement of Attainments: TLIF0014 - Monitor the safety of transport activities (Chain of Responsibility) and TLIF0009 - Ensure the safety of transport activities (Chain of Responsibility).

Our fee for the CoR 2 course, is $475 per person.