Heavy vehicle drivers are a bit different …….

Drivers of heavy vehicles have a different task to many other workers in that a large portion of their time is not spent on a site controlled by their employer or other Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU). Often the safety of heavy vehicle drivers is reliant on the competence and alertness of other road users.

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Fined for making a mistake at work?

For a driver, the main task is to operate a vehicle on the road network interacting with the general public, where the environment is controlled by the road rules, Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) and other road transport legislation. These rules are enforced by the Police, jurisdictional enforcement officers and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR). 

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Whilst there is an amount of freedom being on the road instead of a warehouse or office, unlike most people at work, when drivers make a mistake they face the risk of personal fines, loss of licence and potentially their livelihood. On top of this, heavy vehicle drivers face the potential of having collisions with pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, light vehicles and other heavy vehicles even if they are doing the right thing.

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Expecting the unexpected

Talk to any driver about other road users and they will be able to give many examples of general public poor road behaviour. Whilst a business cannot stop the poor behaviour of other road users they can support their own drivers by building their resilience and helping them to expect the unexpected, drive defensively, and to the conditions.

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Discussing and promoting road safety with drivers is obviously a good idea. From our experience the Transport for NSW Centre for Road Safety videos (link) and guide to the Top 10 misunderstood road rules in NSW (link) are great conversation starters.

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Another great resource to raise awareness with the driver groups is The National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP) Heavy Vehicle Toolbox Talk: Interactions With Other Road Users (link).

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If something does go wrong…..

If something does go wrong the business should know that their control systems and processes are in place and that they are working to ensure both safety and compliance. 

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Many businesses don’t find a gap in their systems until something goes wrong. Then they struggle to find the expected information and records while trying to investigate the cause of the incident. This often happens with a lot of “interest” from their customers and the owners of the freight being moved.

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From the Heavy Vehicle National Law perspective this could be seen as a lack of “due diligence” on the part of the managers of the business.

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Due diligence

Taking a due diligence perspective Unavin aims to automate the demonstration that management has:

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• ensured the business has, and uses, appropriate resources to eliminate or minimise identified hazards and risks
• ensured the business has, and implements, processes to eliminate and minimise those hazards and risks
• ensured the business has, and implements, processes of receiving, considering and responding in a timely way to information about those hazards, risks and incidents
• verified the resources and processes are being provided, used and implemented

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By taking and documenting the corrective actions with the drivers and reporting on the health of the system through the organisation you are protecting both the driver and the organisation as well as reducing risk on the road network that we all use.

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