About Chain of Responsibility (or CoR)

Chain of Responsibility (or CoR) Summary

On the 1st October 2018, the HVNL morphed significantly to align itself closely with Work Place Health and Safety Legislation.

This was by no mistake, as the legislation was written to ensure that the listed ‘Parties’ written within the heavy vehicle national law would ensure so far as reasonably practicable, that safety within an organisation was managed by those who influence a transport task.

The ‘Parties’ are Consignees, Consignors, Loading Managers and Loaders or Unloaders of goods, Schedulers, Operators and Packers.

By virtue of what you do within your workplace, irrespective of what your role is called, if your role encompasses any of the ‘Party’ duties, then you are within the heavy vehicle national law reach.

If you influence the safety of a transport task, it is now a prime duty to ensure so far as reasonably practicable that you are ensuring safety within that transport task.

The term ‘Reasonable’ in the courts, is tested to a measure of what someone could similarly expect or expect of you within your role, by ensuring safety standards.

In other words, if a standard can be proven to be capable in normal everyday circumstances, then it will be assumed that it is capable by any and all.

Importantly, within the ‘Parties’, there is no provision for drivers.

That is purposeful and is because drivers of heavy vehicles are encompassed by other legislation and drivers have other duties and responsibilities to ensure on road safety.

Furthermore, the heavy vehicle national law is designed to address and ensure that businesses and the employees of those businesses who employ a transport task are now responsible for their actions or inactions which can cause harm.

In correlation with the heavy vehicle, national law is the Executive Liability Provision.

This legislation which is independent is aimed at re-enforcing the heavy vehicle national law, by making Executives, Directors and Senior Executives with the power to change or enforce budgets or spend within an organisation, solely responsible for enforcing the heavy vehicle national law within their organisations.

Executives, CEOs and Directors have a responsibility to;

1. Ensure compliance at the coal face;
2. Ensure middle management are performing their duties required of the HVNL; and
3. Ensuring that agreements with 3rd parties do not involve prohibitive requests.

The Executive Liability Provision is independent, and it does not require an incident to instigate a discussion with or investigation by the regulator or other State Enforcement agencies.

The executive liability provision gives the heavy vehicle national law its teeth and is also why it is imperative that your safety system is always ‘active’ within your organisation.

The meaning of an ‘active’ safety system when it comes to safety systems, means a safety system that does not hang off a wall in business premises, such as policies or nice looking safety posters, to make the business look nice and pretty for visitors.

If you have a safety system that only lives on your wall and something goes wrong, it may be too little too late and the conversation will be centred on how to mitigate your costs, which could be millions.