Archive, Industry News

NatRoad wants more from CoR

COR legislation cannot be watered down if it is to be effective, NatRoad CEO says

 

National Road Transport Association (NatRoad) chief executive Warren Clark has called for the forthcoming Chain Of Responsibility laws to go further after meeting with deputy prime minister Michael McCormack earlier this week.

Clark tells ATN the organisation supports the changes that are set to become law in October, but says it is important that all who had responsibility for safety were held accountable.

“The problem is that it doesn’t cover everyone,” he says – citing freight forwarders and livestock transport operators as among his concerns.

“The definition of a ‘party of chain of responsibility’ does not currently capture everyone who ‘influences or controls’ the safety of transport activities in the supply chain.”

“If we want to see a real result, then everyone has got to be covered by it. We don’t want to see any watering down of it at all – we want to see it extended, and that is really what we are saying,” he says.

Clark added that changes being introduced would help to lift the safety and efficacy of the transport sector.

“It seems to be scary to the smaller operators, but the fact it that CoR is not new, they are probably doing all of the things correctly anyway, they just need to have a look at it and make sure that they document it correctly,” he says.  

Clark’s comments come after NatRoad joined with the Western Roads Federation and the Northern Territory Road Transport Association to submit a joint submission to the National Transport Commission – pointing out fatigue-related issues within the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).



Clark tells ATN he wants to ensure industry is able to contribute to an independent review of the HVNL.

“At the present stage we have got a really outdated piece of legislation that is very prescriptive,” he says.

“We are saying look, tie your fatigue laws with your work, health and safety laws – it works very well in WA and the NT, and it is more of a WHS issue.”

Previous ArticleNext Article
Send this to a friend