Opinion: the price of responsibility

Legislation implementing Chain of Responsibility (COR) policy has been in place in the eastern states for 12 months. Already some truck fleets have copped million-dollar-plus fines. The road transport industry is aware of this ominous 'elephant in the room', but not many are sure how the legislation will play out.

What is for sure is that truck drivers are liable for fines of up to $15,000 in extreme cases while freight forwarders, fleets and companies in the supply chain face potential fines of over a million dollars for serious breaches. This is not going-to-happen-one-day stuff; it’s happening now.

The COR legislation is set out between the covers of the Heavy Vehicle National Law Act, 2012. This Act, in its various state iterations, is more than 700 hundred pages of complex legalese. Does anyone understand what the legislation entails? Not many in the road transport industry… Who is it going to affect? Everybody.

Meeting the red tape requirements of this legislation will cost truck operators millions of dollars over the next year or two. Much of this cost will go towards the education of key staff, so they understand the recording requirements and can put processes in place to ensure the compliance of ground staff.

Make no mistake, the word is out. Spearheaded by the RMS in New South Wales, it has been indicated that future enforcement is going to be vicious.

The legislation was promulgated in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia in February last year. It is being enforced in all jurisdictions. It was introduced in Western Australia late last year but is not currently being enforced in that state. It has yet to be introduced into the Northern Territory.

Roxanne Mysko (pictured) is a Chain of Responsibility consultant. Her involvement, while a manager in the New South Wales RMS, was integral to the development of the COR policy and later the legislation. She’s one person who has got her head around the legislation.

She says the legislation focuses on three areas of regulation: speeding, fatigue, and mass/loading/dimensions. These areas are locked into the Chain of Responsibility and breaches are identified at the levels of (1) a business or corporation involved in road transport; (2) a consignor/consignee of goods travelling in road transport; (3) companies and individuals involved with loading and packing transport platforms (either truck or container); and (4) drivers or owner-drivers in charge of vehicles on the road.

Roxy Mysko said the legislation was intended to remove the sole onus of responsibility from the driver.

"[COR is] broadening that onus to people sending goods and receiving goods and pushing unrealistic time expectations onto drivers," she says.

"Now everybody in the chain is accountable.

"Regulating the legislation will be driven by records. Any driver or owner-driver will need a work diary, mass management plan and a safe trip plan before heading out on a run. Even in the Northern Territory, where there is no legislation at present, and in Western Australia, where the legislation is not being enforced, these instruments are necessary before crossing a border into the eastern states."

One of the first regulated areas to hit home in the jurisdictions that have promulgated this legislation is fatigue management. Roxy Mysko agrees that the breach penalties are massive in the COR legislation.

For a driver or owner-driver prosecuted for a breach of the fatigue regulations, the fines range from $4000 to $15,000.

She also agrees that there is some vagueness in what constitutes the four incremental breaches for fatigue mismanagement. It seems that enforcement agencies will take the defendant to court and it is up to the judicial system to ascertain what level of breach a driver has committed.

There is uncertainty whether a major breach attracting a fine of up to $15,000 requires damage to property or injury to another person, or if it can be seen that the driver has driven significantly outside legal working hours.

Enforcement agencies are going to drive the regulations coming from the legislation and it is the responsibility of all in the transport chain to understand their individual liability.

Roxy Mysko said that the onus will manifest itself at various levels. For example, the consignor or consignee will have to satisfy themselves that a transport company or trucking operator is reputable and meets the requirements of COR legislation. This can be done through independent audits of a trucking company, adding yet another cost to the road transport chain.

Likewise, freight forwarders will need to be satisfied that a trucking contractor meets the requirements, and must do so through their own investigations or by an independent audit.

And at the bottom of the chain, the owner-driver or driver will need to ensure the paperwork is done correctly. That includes the correct filling out of the Work Diary with no room for error. Under the legislation it is now seen as a legal document.

Failure to comply with fatigue recording, Safe Trip Plans and Mass Management will cost big bucks. For the small business operator running a few trucks, the record-keeping will add considerably to the administrative workload and will involve everybody from drivers to loaders to yard people to administration people, all understanding their responsibilities under the Chain of Responsibility legislation.

COR legislation is a two-edged sword: failure to carry out the recording processes will cost big dollars, but to bring all employees up to speed will mean bringing in training programs that also will be a big investment, running to millions of dollars across the industry.

The industry has discussed and asked for Chain of Responsibility for years, but after going through the legislation in its current form, the implementation seems likely to come at a huge cost to the road transport industry. Its true cost is still becoming apparent and will undoubtedly become more visible over the next few years – a matter of being careful what we wish for…