Laing O'Rourke Australia | NHVR Enforceable Undertaking

Rather than simply imposing a fine, the enforceable undertaking required Laing O'Rourke to carry out specific initiatives to remedy the situation and demonstrate ongoing compliance.

The regulator's obligations included:

• Weigh all heavy vehicles that carry plant or equipment, including individual axles.
• Develop and deliver Chain of Responsibility training — face-to-face workshops that demonstrate compliance in practice.
• Develop and deliver a supply chain workshop specifically for small to medium businesses in their supply chain.
• Trial on-board weigh systems that alert vehicle operators to potential risks when the weight on any pre-programmed axle group approaches the overload limit.

These requirements signal that verbal assurances and assumptions about mass are not enough. The regulator expects measurable controls, documented training, and technology that actively warns operators before a breach occurs.

Mass and axle limits are among the most challenging aspects of Chain of Responsibility compliance. Many supply chains struggle because the resources needed to weigh loads, monitor axle groups, and verify compliance are not always easy to implement or inexpensive to operate.

A common misconception is that the transport operator carries all the risk. Under the HVNL, no party in the chain can delegate its responsibility for safety. If your business influences a transport task — as a consignor, loader, manager, or executive — you share the duty to ensure mass, fatigue, speed, and vehicle standards are managed so far as is reasonably practicable.

This case makes the financial exposure clear: an undertaking valued at nearly $250,000 arose from just two mass breaches. By comparison, a proactive compliance audit is a fraction of that cost and exposes gaps before a regulator does.

For a structured review of your supply chain risks, see Chain of Responsibility Consulting.

MAEZ has worked with multiple businesses facing mass management challenges and a lack of understanding around axle limits and mass restrictions. Even when teams are remote, we provide training and practical outcomes that help operators ensure compliance in their respective states of operation.

Our approach covers three connected stages:

• Find — Identify what is exposed before an auditor or regulator does, through targeted Chain of Responsibility training and advisory reviews.
• Fix — Build Safety Management System controls around how your transport business actually runs, not generic templates.
• Prove — Connect training records, driver diary checks, corrective actions, and audit findings into a structured evidence trail.

Where software is the right next step, CoRGuard supports the evidence workflow — covering records, reminders, audits, document control, inductions, and corrective actions. Training is delivered through our dedicated CoR training platform, while MAEZ advisory focuses on the risk pathway and implementation.

To get a practical review of the controls, evidence, training, and SMS gaps that matter most to your business, contact MAEZ. You can also explore more case studies and insights on the MAEZ blog.