Chain of Responsibility is a part of the HVNL (heavy vehicle national legislation) which holds every party in the heavy vehicle supply chain accountable for safe business practices. It is less about on-road driver offences and more about ensuring off-road parties are held accountable for their actions (or inactions) which may result in driver breaches on the road. It is a shared responsibility.
CoR is all about changing the behaviour of off-road parties to relieve pressure put on drivers. When you look at most on-road offences, they can usually be traced back to the pressure put upon drivers by others in the supply chain. For example, a scheduler may be setting driver schedules which are unrealistic and unattainable, which may cause the driver to speed or engage in dangerous activities. In this case, the scheduler should be held accountable for breaching CoR requirements.
In chain of responsibility, every person in your business who participates in the process of heavy vehicle transport, from an executive to a consignor, is held accountable for performing their role safely and doing as much as they can to minimise and manage risk. Every person who has influence over transport activity is considered to be responsible for safety on the road.
Who is Part of the Chain of Responsibility? CoR Parties Explained.
More than half of the CoR functions are related to people and organisations that do not own or operate a heavy vehicle. If you are confused about whether your business is part of the CoR, you only have to identify whether it either sends or receives goods via a heavy vehicle. If the answer is yes, your business is part of the chain of responsibility.
It should be noted that driving a heavy vehicle is not one of the CoR functions. However, when the driver is undertaking other functions, such as loading or unloading a heavy vehicle, then the driver and their employer are CoR parties. This is because CoR parties are not based on job titles or job descriptions, but by the functions that are performed, as you’ll see below.
There are ten functions that the NHVR has identified to decide who is a chain of responsibility party.
1. You Employ Someone Who Drives a Heavy Vehicle
You may not drive the heavy vehicle, but you have hired and are responsible for managing an employee who does.
2. You Contract Someone to Drive a Heavy Vehicle as a Service
You are a prime contractor if you engage someone to drive a heavy vehicle under contract for services.
3. You Direct the Control and Use of a Heavy Vehicle
Operators have influence over how and when goods are dispatched and delivered.
4. You Schedule Goods, Passengers or Drivers
Schedulers are responsible for the scheduling of goods or passengers via heavy vehicle, or the scheduling of driver work and rest hours.
5. You are the Sender of Goods via Heavy Vehicle Transportation
Consignors are those in a business who are in charge of dispatching items from a warehouse to their destination.
6. You are the Receiver of Goods via Heavy Vehicle Transportation
Consignees are those in a business who receive inwards goods delivered by heavy vehicles.
7. You Assemble or Pack Goods to be Delivered by Heavy Vehicle
Packers work in warehouses or workshops to pack and fulfil orders.
8. You Manage a Premises Where at Least Five Heavy Vehicles are Loaded or Unloaded Each Day
Loading managers have a wide range of responsibilities to ensure heavy vehicles are loaded and unloaded in a safe and productive manner.
9. You Load Goods into a Heavy Vehicle
Loaders are the ones who pack heavy vehicles with goods in order to transport them to their destination.
10. You Unload Goods from a Heavy Vehicle
Unloaders are those who work to unload goods from heavy vehicles at their destination.
CoR Primary Duty
You may have heard the term primary duty used when talking about chain of responsibility. The NHVR identifies primary duty as ‘the obligation to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the safety of your transport activities.’ In a nutshell, primary duty refers to your responsibility to do everything possible to minimise risks and hazards that may arise from your transport activities.
Primary duty applies to all parties in the chain of responsibility. It requires the party to eliminate or minimise the risk of the transport activities they influence or control, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Things You Must Do Under Primary Duty
When it comes to transport activities within your business, you must do the following:
- Identify the risks involved in those activities involving heavy vehicle transport
- Assess those risks identified
- Seek to eliminate those risks, or in the case where this isn’t possible, minimise them as much as is possible
Things You Must Not Do Under Primary Duty
You are required to refrain from taking any actions which could influence drivers and other parties to breach the HVNL, including:
- Direct requests or terms in a contract
- Financial penalties or rewards
- Preferential treatment
- Using any other words or actions that may encourage or cause another party in the CoR, or driver, to bend the rules
Steps to Comply with Primary Duty Obligations
The NHVR has provided a set of steps for businesses and CoR parties to ensure they are complying with their primary duty obligations.
Step 1: Know and Understand What Your Transport Activities Are
Identify the transport activities that your business participates in. And remember, if you are simply sending or receiving goods via heavy vehicle, you are a part of the CoR.
Step 2: Identify the Risks of Your Activities, Starting with the Main Risks Identified in the HVNL
This step requires that you start with the main risks of fatigue, speeding, excessive mass or dimension, poorly restrained loads and unsafe vehicles. These have been identified in the HVNL (heavy vehicle national legislation) as being the most important. You could also use your own professional knowledge and expertise, as well as calling on other resources such as legislation and regulations, documents such as codes of practice and other trusted sources of information.
Step 3: Assess the Risks
Examine and assess the risks identified in step 2 by identifying how potentially hazardous and dangerous they are.
Step 4: Find Ways to Manage the Risks
In this step, you are asked to identify methods to manage, reduce or remove these risks. Ways to do this may include complying with specific rules in the HVNL, identifying which risks and activities you can control and which ones you can’t, and reading codes of practice for recommended control measures. You could also weigh up which safety procedures are reasonably practicable for your business to implement, considering things such as the potential risks involved, the available safety measures and their suitability and cost.
Managing Fatigue and Speeding
Some ways of managing this main risk include:
- Training employees to understand the risks and identify signs of fatigue
- Ensuring rosters and schedules do not require drivers to exceed driving hours or speed limits
- Records of driver work times and rest times are taken using a written or electronic work diary
- Packing and loading of goods is well-planned so that goods are ready for collection on time
- Click to read the full list here
Managing Mass and Dimension
Mass and dimension could be managed by:
- Ensuring drivers and CoR parties are educated on the mass and dimension limits applying to heavy vehicles
- Providing drivers with equipment and methods for measuring the mass and dimensions of a loaded vehicle
- Keeping copies of required documents on-board the vehicle
- Click to read the full list here
Managing Safe Load Restraints
Businesses can ensure safe load restraints by:
- Fitting vehicles with the correct load restraining equipment
- Training drivers to restrain loads
- Ensure appropriate vehicles are chosen for the type of freight which is required
- Requiring overseas manufacturers or suppliers to secure goods inside shipping containers
- Click to read the full list here
Managing Vehicle Standards
Preventing unsafe vehicles could include:
- Ensuring inspections are carried out according to the manufacturer’s recommendations
- At the start and end of each journey, vehicles are checked
- Training drivers to identify and report maintenance issues
- Take advantage of safety systems such as ABS and ESC where possible
- Click to read the full list here
Step 5: Implement Appropriate Control Measures
These may include education, training or recruitment, procedures and policies, forms and documentation, equipment, technology, information collection and monitoring, modifications to premises or vehicles, auditing or inspection, agreements or amended agreements and subscribing to safety bulletins, education and training updates.
Step 6: Monitor the Effectiveness of the Controls and Update Them When Needed
Check out the NHVR’s resources page, which includes an overview of Safety Management Systems (SMS) in addition to other options to stay on top of your primary duty.
CoR Executive Due Diligence Duty
In this case, the term ‘executive’ includes executive officers, managers or other people who make up the management of a business. It may also include a director of a company and a partner in a partnership. If you fall under one of these roles and your business is a party in the chain of responsibility, you have a due diligence duty.
This means that you must ensure that your business complies with its primary duty. You can read more about the executive due diligence requirements here.
Chain of Responsibility Penalties and Liabilities
When it comes to the investigation of a chain of responsibility breach, it is understood by the NHVR that employers generally have more influence and control over work practices, training and resources. Therefore, they are expected to take the lead in managing safely. When an investigation is required, it will generally begin with the business and its management team. However, individual employees may also be investigated, depending on the severity of the breach.
A decision on who should be charged – employer or employee – is then made based on a wide range of factors such as law, rules of evidence and the NHVR’s Prosecutions Policy.
There are some fairly significant penalties for any party in the CoR that does not meet the primary duty. Penalties for individuals can start at $300,000 and up to five years imprisonment. The penalty for businesses is even higher, at a rate of up to $3 million. A breach of executive due diligence, like the penalty for CoR individuals, starts at $300,000 and can include up to five years imprisonment.
Chain of responsibility is a very serious legal requirement, as it keeps both drivers and the general public safe. Any breach of these rules should be taken extremely seriously.
How an EWD Can Simplify CoR Requirements
Meeting chain of responsibility requirements, especially those around fatigue and speeding, can be challenging. For fleet managers and schedulers, this requires real-time knowledge and data of driver work and rest times. An EWD (electronic work diary) like Smart eDriver gives fleet managers and schedulers clarity to perform their duties as safely and efficiently as possible. By having access to this real-time data, the risk of overscheduling drivers, and therefore breaching CoR requirements, can be eliminated. Automated notifications for rest breaks and potential non-compliance events are also an important tool to prevent fatigued driving, and to bring compliance front and centre.
Real-time compliance data is a powerful tool, and an EWD like Smart eDriver can simplify your CoR. Enquire today.