ARTSA Improving Heavy Vehicle Safety Summit Chain of Responsibility and its potential to improve safety Marcus Burke National Transport Commission 16 April 2015

National Transport Commission (NTC) The NTC is an independent statutory body. “To champion and facilitate changes that improve productivity, safety and environmental outcomes.” “To develop national regulatory and operational reform and implementation strategies for road, rail and intermodal transport.”

Introduction Chain of Responsibility (CoR) 1. Background and current state 2. NTC Review of Chain of Responsibility Duties 3. Opportunities for the future

Chain of Responsibility (CoR) Chain of responsibility is fundamentally about safety safety of drivers, safety of the community Chain of responsibility seeks to identify those parties that may control, influence or encourage certain on-road behaviour by making them legally accountable for their actions. Making sure all parties in the supply chain take appropriate and reasonable steps to prevent breaches from happening.

Are we meeting the law’s objectives? Heavy Vehicle National Law, s. 3. The object of this Law is to establish a national scheme for facilitating and regulating the use of heavy vehicles on roads in a way that— (a) promotes public safety; and (b) manages the impact of heavy vehicles on the environment, road infrastructure and public amenity; and (c) promotes industry productivity and efficiency in the road transport of goods and passengers by heavy vehicles; and (d) encourages and promotes productive, efficient, innovative and safe business practices.

Chain of Responsibility CoR – What does it cover? Fatigue Speed Mass, Dimension and Loading Vehicle Standards currently being examined as part of the Roadworthiness Review

Background Chain of Responsibility – Western Australia WA introducing CoR into their law on 27 April Covers mass, dimension and loading. Does not apply to speed and fatigue. Covers both light and heavy vehicles. mpliance/Pages/CoR.aspx

How is heavy vehicle safety tracking? Heavy Vehicle Safety – Improving Number of deaths declining but still significant Variety of causes Many crashes involving heavy vehicles are not the fault of the heavy vehicle driver Freight transport remains one of the most dangerous sectors in Australia

Safety Trends Heavy Vehicle Safety – Improving Source: BITRE

Background Source: NTI

CoR and Safety How do we measure impact? Difficult to measure specific impact of law Surveys conducted by NTC indicate awareness of CoR increasing, but still have some way to go Remains strong support from industry for concept for CoR

Support for CoR CoR Taskforce Chain of Responsibility Taskforce in 2014 concluded that: “The taskforce agrees on the value of the CoR concept and supports the continuation of CoR provisions within the HVNL.” Recommendation 1: …the NTC establish a process to investigate the development of broader duties within the chain of responsibility. This should be the first step in resolving outstanding issues.

Why examine current CoR duties? Existing issues suggested by stakeholders Inconsistencies in the drafting of offences coverage of parties approach in Workplace Health and Safety law Challenge for both regulators and industry to understand and apply the law. Prescription v. performance a focus on prescriptive regulation rather than on managing risks and safety in an integrated way

Why examine current CoR duties? Existing issues suggested by stakeholders (cont) Enforcement inadequate penalties and alternative compliance remedies for high risk behaviour Lack of ability to target underlying risky behaviour

2. CoR Duties Review Discussion Paper Published November 2014 Result of research consultation and government/ industry workshop 25 submissions

What outcome do we want? Broad agreement from government and industry on the need to improve consistency, clarity and alignment with Workplace Health and Safety Ensure appropriate coverage of all key parties that influence heavy vehicle road safety.

What options might be considered? Options proposed in Discussion Paper: Principal duty (general duty) – similar to workplace health and safety law Chapter-based duties – similar to current duty for fatigue Specific/ process-based duties No change to law – focus on operational improvements

Feedback from Submissions Variety of views General agreement that reform was required. Support for a primary duties approach Some stakeholders stated that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support such a change ‘All reasonable steps’ / ‘reasonably practicable’

Feedback from Submissions Variety of views (cont) Support for consolidating existing chain of responsibility obligations, to increase consistency and remove duplication. Agreement on the need for more guidance for industry.

Next Steps NTC CoR Duties Review Recommendations to Ministers for discussion in May If Ministers agree further reforms are required, there will be consultation on the detail of this reform.

Concurrent Projects Roadworthiness Review Examining options for extending chain of responsibility to vehicle standards and maintenance. Executive Officer Liability Review of the current executive officer liability provisions.

Opportunities for the future Opportunities in: Education and awareness Compliance and Enforcement Legislative Reform How do we ensure that all parties in the chain of responsibility are positively influencing safety?

Opportunities for the future Education and awareness Role for governments and for industry Need for further guidance material Only industry truly know how to apply the laws to their particular business and operations Conversations are important How do we ensure that all parties in the chain are aware of their obligations?

Opportunities for the future Compliance and Enforcement National regulator can better target national (cross- border) issues Improved consistency of resources and skills across states. Full use of the all compliance and enforcement tools currently in the law.

Opportunities for the future Legislative Reform Opportunities to make the law: Clearer More consistent Better aligned with Workplace Health and Safety Law.

Opportunities for the future Question How can government and industry work together to further improve safety in the road transport sector? How do we ensure that all parties in the chain of responsibility understand their responsibilities and are positively influencing safety?

Feedback Marcus Burke

The National Transport Commission leads regulatory and operational reform nationally to meet the needs of transport users and the broader community for safe, efficient and sustainable land transport. Keep in touch with the latest NTC news by registering to receive our free e-newsletter and alerts at