Who's at Fault in the Chain of Responsibility?

A LinkedIn survey of 25 respondents from transport, warehousing, and manufacturing backgrounds asked how well they understood Chain of Responsibility and how compliant their businesses felt.

Every respondent said they knew what CoR meant—a positive sign given the mix of industries represented. Respondents spanned five employment categories:

• Owner/Director
• Senior Manager
• Manager
• Supervisor
• Employee

Senior management represented about 45% of responses.

When asked how compliant their business was with CoR legislation, half described their workplace as ranging from completely distant from compliant to fairly compliant in their efforts to keep people safe. The willingness of senior leaders to acknowledge gaps is commendable—but it also signals that many businesses have meaningful work ahead.

NSW Police reported that a transport company was caught with unsafe loads coming out of a major retailer's distribution centre. The goods were not properly restrained, even though the freight was inside a tautliner. By law and by the trailer's design specifications, this was an unsafe, incorrect, and unlawful practice.

What most people do not realise is that this trailer was loaded in a secure facility. The trailer was loaded by warehouse staff—not by the transport provider who was pulled over. The curtains were sealed with a security tag to ensure no tampering took place between departure and destination.

This detail matters: the transport company received the loaded, sealed trailer and transported it in good faith, yet they were the party stopped and scrutinised. The root cause sat upstream, at the loading point.

The real responsible party here is the warehouse operator—the business that loaded the vehicle. This is a textbook example of the shared-responsidence principle built into the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

Under the HVNL, the safety of transport activities relating to a heavy vehicle is the shared responsibility of each party in the chain. A duty cannot be transferred to another person. If a party has the capacity to influence and control a matter, they must discharge their duty to that extent—even if an agreement or arrangement purports to limit or remove that capacity.

For a deeper understanding of how these obligations work in practice, see the guide for Chain of Responsibilities: What Australian HVNL Duty Holders Need to Understand.

As a consignee—or any party in the chain—your obligations include the following:

• Ensure that those working for you, directly or indirectly, are not fatigued and have correctly filled in log books or driver run sheets.
• Ensure the driver is fit to drive—screened by a doctor and not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
• Ensure the vehicle is roadworthy and safe, and that any reported faults are fixed and signed off by a licensed person.
• Ensure the safe mass limits of the vehicle are not exceeded.
• Ensure the safe mass limits of each axle are not exceeded.
• Ensure safe load restraint is applied to comply with the legislation set out in the 2004 Load Restraint Guide.

Looking at the incident photo, points 4, 5, and 6 were a clear red cross against the consignor. As the senior logistics manager responsible for loading and unloading practices at that facility, points 1, 2, and 3 would also be a concern—those being far harder to manage in a busy logistics environment with many people and competing pressures.

For structured support, Chain of Responsibility consulting can map the controls and evidence gaps that matter most to your operation.

There are practical steps any business can take to close CoR gaps before a regulator finds them:

• Go to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator website and review the published guidance on your role in the chain.
• Engage a professional transport auditor to help identify gaps around the Heavy Vehicle National Law within your business—they do not cost much and can provide valuable insight.
• No matter the size of your business, get a plan of action and start working towards those goals now.

If your team needs to understand duties and obligations at a practical level, explore the Chain of Responsibility training pathway or the CoR course for hands-on guidance.

For executive and management-level understanding, the guide to Chain of Responsibility Training for Executives and Managers is a useful starting point.

At the time of this incident, the regulatory landscape was tightening. A consignee in this situation could have been looking at significant corporate fines, with senior directors, logistics managers, and warehouse managers facing personal fines individually.

The sole reason is that this kind of wilful negligence could have been avoided and would be deemed by the regulator as a breach of primary duty. The HVNL establishes a primary duty on each party in the chain to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of transport activities.

The message is simple: do not wait for a fine. Start building your Safety Management System and contact MAEZ for a practical review of the controls, evidence, and training gaps that matter most.