A more holistic approach to heavy vehicle accreditation, driven by a government-industry partnership, will significantly improve road safety outcomes
Operators accredited in TruckSafe, an industry ‘best practice’ accreditation scheme, have 87 per cent fewer crashes than non-accredited operators. Crash rates for government-accredited operators are also 71 per cent lower. Yet, only three per cent of heavy vehicle operators are currently accredited.
Accreditation schemes use regular audits to demonstrate safe business practices, which reduces governments’ reliance on traditional roadside enforcement.
National Transport Commission (NTC) Chief Executive Nick Dimopoulos said the primary objective of a draft policy proposal on accreditation, released today, is to encourage greater participation in audit-based compliance assurance schemes; particularly among smaller businesses and rigid truck owners.
“A more holistic approach to accreditation is needed to extend those proven safety benefits across the heavy vehicle fleet,” he said. “We want to encourage more operators into compliance assurance schemes and provide a clear pathway towards industry best practices.”
Regulatory concessions, such as higher axle weights for better load management, are currently only available through the government-administered National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS). This adds to business compliance costs for operators already in ‘best practice’ schemes.
The policy proposal establishes a national panel, with industry representation, to oversee a new single accreditation framework. The panel can certify private sector audit-based compliance assurance schemes to agreed national standards.
“As confidence grows in private sector compliance assurance schemes, regulators have an opportunity to phase-out NHVAS administration and take a more strategic ‘standard-setting’ role through the national panel,” Mr Dimopoulos explained.
Existing regulatory concessions will be supplemented by ‘carrots and sticks’ to further encourage industry participation. This includes:
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the use of accreditation as a rehabilitative option for operators with a poor compliance record under the Compliance & Enforcement (C&E) reform;
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formal recognition of industry ‘best practice’ standards through voluntary registration (eg: a speed management module);
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registered audit-based compliance standards can be used as prima facie evidence of a ‘reasonable steps’ defence under the C&E reform; and
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financial incentives for operators who go ‘beyond compliance’ to maintain a risk-based safety management system to a new national safety standard.
During recent consultation on heavy vehicle charges, the trucking industry made it clear that the potential inclusion of enforcement-related costs should be supported by a better compliance framework and more targeted enforcement. Mr Dimopoulos said both industry and government wanted better safety outcomes.
“Financial incentives, if agreed, would encourage those truck operators who currently do not benefit from existing regulatory concessions to introduce a safety management system within their business.”
The funding mechanism for financial incentives will be developed through consultation.
The NTC is seeking public comment on the document by 21 December 2007. Consultation will include a series of stakeholder meetings and a national government-industry workshop.
You can download the report here.