When a heavy vehicle is involved in a road incident, it’s easy to point the finger at the person behind the wheel.
However, the sequence of events that contribute to an incident can be much more nuanced.
From procurement teams to importers, warehouse managers to forklift operators, there are plenty of different roles that impact what happens on the road in a heavy vehicle. And all potentially contributing to the event occurring in some way.
Collectively, these roles may hold ‘duties’ relating to heavy vehicles and therefore are part of the Chain of Responsibility (CoR) – a principle under Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) and administered by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) (excluding WA and NT).
“Everyone in the chain has an obligation to ensure their role is performed correctly, safely, and the driver isn’t encouraged to do the wrong thing or be put in a dangerous situation,” says Aaron Louws, Supply Chain Technical Manager at NTI.
For both businesses and individuals, the consequences of not doing so can be significant.
Chain of Responsibility legislation
HVNL applies to vehicles with a 4.5 tonne GVM and over in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. They do not directly apply in Western Australia or the Northern Territory.
“That doesn’t mean the CoR doesn’t exist in those areas, but that heavy vehicle national law isn’t enforced in the same way,” says Louws.
"In Western Australia, the CoR is applied to any commercial vehicle regardless of size – meaning key risks like load restraint apply just as much to a person driving a ute as they do to someone driving a heavy vehicle."
For businesses in Western Australia and Northern Territory, it’s important to check for local regulations regarding CoR to ensure that all necessary requirements are being met.
Chain of Responsibility – what’s at stake for businesses
When the HVNL was updated in 2018, significantly increased penalties were introduced, too.
Penalties for breaches of the HVNL are up to $3 million for businesses (an indexed figure, so closer to $3.9 million in 2024), more than $300,000 for individuals, or up to five years’ imprisonment or both.
“These are significant penalties that organisations are rightly worried about,” says Louws. “We anticipate that there will be an update to this legislation in 2025, and we could see further changes to those penalties.”
Over recent years, there have been a raft of convictions under CoR regulations (click here for the Primary Duty matters which the NHVR have prosecuted), with executives, companies and employees being held accountable – reinforcing the importance of organisations prioritising risk mitigation and safety.
It’s important to remember that an incident or untreated risk may also attract charges under other regulations and legislation, bringing potentially larger fines and longer jail terms.
Chain of Responsibility obligations
Of course, influence differs depending on where a business is within the chain – and the role they play.
Four key CoR phrases that businesses need to be aware of when understanding what CoR really means are ‘primary duty’, ‘reasonably practicable’, ‘influence and control’, and ‘due diligence’.
Primary duty
“Organisations and individuals have to take positive and proactive steps to ensure transport activities are managed safely,” says Louws.
“There doesn’t have to be an incident for this to be enforced – if they have a suspicion that something’s not working as it should, and find, for example, instances of risk-taking behaviour, then that could lead to a potential charge.”
Reasonably practicable
“This considers how well I manage my risks,” explains Louws. “You’ve got to consider the potential consequences of something occurring, versus the likelihood that something will occur.
“If you had something that was very unlikely to happen, and if it did, it wouldn’t hurt anyone, and the solution was incredibly expensive or detrimental to your business, then it probably would not be practicable to take action to completely remove the risk.
“But if something had a reasonable chance of happening, and it could seriously injure someone if it did happen, and the solution was relatively affordable, that would be a different story.”
Influence and control
“Typically, the more influence and control you have over any aspect of any transport activity, the more responsibility you have to proactively manage that risk,” says Louws.
“This isn’t about businesses going over the top to closely manage every possible risk in their business, or every risk they are exposed to if they subcontract work out – it’s about having proportionate controls and focusing on those areas where you might contribute to a positive or negative outcome, and ensure you influence it positively.”
Due diligence
“Due diligence has two aspects,” says Louws. “Firstly, at an organisational level, it’s about understanding the chain of responsibility and the safety of the businesses you choose to work with, like whether the trucks you’re buying are appropriate for the tasks they’re going to be used for.
“Secondly, there’s executive due diligence, which means as individuals, executives have the responsibility to ensure that they understand the risks, have managed them, and measures they’ve put in place are being carried out and are effective.”
Chain of Responsibility: key takeaways
Individuals have responsibility – not just organisations
Individuals can be charged for the duties they hold; it’s not just an organisation’s responsibility. There are serious primary duty offences for individuals, and other specific requirements just for executives. And while we may think ‘C-suite executives’, under CoR that term is a catch-all for anyone who ‘takes part in the management of a business’ – and it’s vital that anyone working in this type of role understands the expectations of them under CoR.
“Traditionally, if there was a heavy vehicle accident, it may have been a fairly straightforward case – for example, a driver was impaired by illicit drugs and fatigue, so they were responsible,” says Louws.
“Under CoR, investigations may look more broadly and explore whether the different parties involved could have influenced or controlled different elements. If they could, did they do everything so far as is reasonably practicable to prevent it happening?”
An incident doesn’t need to happen for an investigation to take place
If risky behaviour is suspected, an investigation can still take place and charges levelled before an event even occurs. The NHVR takes proactive management of risk seriously, whether for an on-road party (someone who is actively involved with the truck or the driver), or an off-road party (someone who is less involved, but might still influence or control certain aspects), the process is the same.
“The goal is to avoid anything happening in the first place, so businesses may wish to consider their plan to identify and reduce risks, like moving from reactive repairs to be more proactive, or introducing fatigue detection cameras into vehicles,” says Louws.
Systems and processes can’t just exist in theory
It’s not enough to identify risks and remedies, and do nothing practical to address them. Steps must be taken, solutions implemented and then monitored for effectiveness.
Recent court cases have highlighted the ineffectiveness of robust policies and procedures that aren’t implemented, or technologies implemented but then never monitored.
It’s about the right process, or the right tool, for the right job at the right time. And to make sure it continues to be right – businesses and technology change all the time so the controls might need to as well.
Perfection isn’t the goal
It’s important to know that perfection isn’t the goal when it comes to CoR. CoR at its heart is about collectively striving towards better safety outcomes while working with heavy vehicles, and continuously improving as your safety management systems evolve.
The goal then is to do better than yesterday as we move toward achieving improved driver conditions, reduce the likelihood of harm, and deliver a safer road network for the broader community.
How NTI can help
As a specialist insurance provider for transport, logistics, marine and construction, NTI’s Risk Engineers can work with brokers and clients to identify risks and help consider potential solutions.
NTI’s safety culture program, Traction, can help businesses identify the gaps that exist between the policies and procedures, and what’s happening in practice.
Of course, risk mitigation strategies only reduce the chances of an event occurring, rather than eliminate them altogether.
If and when an incident does occur, NTI’s award-winning claims team jumps into action for insured customers to thoroughly manage repercussions and manage business impact from the time of the incident all the way through to resolution.
To learn more about chain of responsibility, watch our webinar or contact your local NTI representative.
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