It has become a regular feature at this time of year, the nationwide blitz by roadside enforcement going through trucks with a fine tooth comb and pinging drivers and operators for defects and offences. This year’s event has just finished and the numbers are in.
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Maintenance COR is coming
Chain of responsibility laws are to be extended to truck maintenance, making trucking businesses and their executives legally accountable for heavy vehicle maintenance. This change is expected to be outlined in a Regulatory Impact Statement due out in the coming months from the Heavy Vehicle Roadworthiness project being carried out, jointly, by the National Transport Commission and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.
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One voice on critical COR reform
All of the representatives of the trucking industry have agreed to a single submission to the National Transport Commission on amendments needed to improve the current chain of responsibility situation. Speaking at an industry information forum, hosted by Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers on the Gold Coast today, Chris Melham has outlined the road transport industry’s position on COR.
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Rattling the chain
Chain of responsibility issues continue to dog the transport industry. As a review of the COR rules, their enforcement and their remit is being undertaken by the National Transport Commission is taking place, the trucking industry has to cope with the current regime, warts and all.
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Safety and COR on the agenda
The Chain of Responsibility and Heavy Vehicle Safety Conference, supported by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Association (CILTA), will be taking place on December 3-4. This discussion comes at the end of the year during which the National Heavy Vehicle Law rolled out, with changes in standards, fatigue management and chain of responsibility.
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Making the chain
An operator commented to me this week about how he thought the trucking industry was ready for the future, but his customers weren’t. They still expect the world to go on as it has in the past, with cheap rates and operators queueing up for their work and being as flexible as possible to keep the work when they get it.
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There’s talking tough, and there’s being tough
When the fine was handed down for Lennons Transport, the $1.3 million amount was heralded by the NSW Roads and Freight Minister’s press department as, “Toughest truck compliance and enforcement regime in Australia secures historic fine.”
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Jerking the chain
A review of the chain of responsibility rules and their enforcement is long overdue and the National Transport Commission (NTC) has released its draft proposals to improve the effectiveness of the Compliance and Enforcement laws, as they stand. As to whether the changes proposed will make any difference to life for the truckie, there’s another question. Perhaps we need to think a bit more out of the box to make it work?
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No redress for Blenners
We all know the world can be unfair, at times, but the situation Blenners Transport is in demonstrates just how hard it is to get any justice when sensationalism in the media comes into play, when associated with the trucking industry. Having your name plastered all over an exposé of the evils of the trucking industry is bad news and there is no redress when many of the accusations are found to be unwarranted.
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Is the trucking industry ready for new challenges?
Unfortunately, working in the trucking industry, we are destined to always be living in ‘interesting times’. There has never been a time in living memory when people involved in road transport haven’t been lurching from one potential crisis to the next. It’s in the industry’s DNA, the tendency to wait until a problem gets big enough to take drastic action to solve the issue. It’s a bit like the way many of the more traditional truckies run their business.
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