Safety Management Sytems
The safety of transport activities relating to a heavy vehicle is the shared responsibility of each party in the Chain of Responsibility. Each party in the chain must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that transport activities relating to the vehicle are conducted safely.
Organisations and the executive officers of the business conducting transport activities has additional and specific responsibilities to take reasonable steps to ensure transport activities are conducted safely, eliminating or minimising hazards and risks. Regardless of the size of your business, having an effective Safety Management System (SMS) can be one of the best ways of ensuring you have a safety-focused business and are complying with your safety duty obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).
What Are Safety Management Systems
Policies, Procedures and NHVR Tools
SMS Audits and Gap Analysis
Safety Management Systems
Get a Quote For Your Safety Management Systems Audit
Safety Management Systems
Under the HVNL, government departments, private companies, and Contractors may be a party to CoR provisions. The CoR provisions impose liability for heavy vehicle offences on all people or businesses whose actions, inactions or demands influence conduct on the road as well as on-road parties such as drivers and operators. As such a Safety Management System must be in place as an audited operational item demonstrating compliance. This system includes documenting your safety processes and activities which is a key factor of Risk Management Systems and as a minimum all organisations must have a clear commitment to safety in their business.
This includes identifying and reporting hazards is an important first step in the risk management process and, along with near miss and incident reporting, this information can be used to help develop your businesses risk register. A key fact is also your organisations Safety Assurance which is the process of monitoring and checking how your SMS is performing. It’s about looking at the things you’ve put in place and the things you’re doing on a daily basis to manage safety to see what’s working well and what isn’t.
A Risk Register is a very important part of your approach to managing risk. You can use the On-site Risk Assessment template as a starting point to assist you to document the details from a risk assessment before you add the completed assessment details to your Risk Register. The On-site Risk Assessment template will also assist you to identify the measures and controls you have to respond to your risks.
Using a Risk Register will also assist you to maintain a current record of your risks and will give you an ongoing understanding of the controls you have and the further treatment you propose.
The Incident Report template is designed as a quick and straightforward document that will assist your employees to record the initial details after being involved in an incident or near miss. We have also included a worked example that can be used to demonstrate to your employees how easy it is to complete an incident report.
The incident as documented in the worked example flows through to the Incident Investigation worked example and should assist you when conducting your own incident investigations.
Safety promotion and training is an important part of an SMS. Safety promotion includes activities to support the implementation and ongoing improvement of your SMS.
The CoR provisions are designed to ensure that any party in a position to control, influence or encourage particular on-road behaviours is identified and held appropriately accountable. In simple terms CoR recognises the on-road effects of the actions, inactions and demands of off-road parties in the transport and supply chain. Specified parties in the CoR perform particular activities that influence road transport operations and have a direct impact on the safety of drivers and the general public. These parties must be appropriately accountable for the influence and control they exercise.
To comply with the HVNL law, government departments, private companies, and Contractors must ensure that they can demonstrate reasonable steps are taken to prevent a breach from occurring in the workplace or as a result of its activities.
- Speed
- Fatigue
- Mass
- Dimension
- Maintenance
- Load Restraint
- Permits
- Accreditation
- ISO Certification
- Policies
- Procedures
- NHVR Tools
- COR Checklist
- Incident Reporting
- Safety Management Systems
Audits and Gap Analysis
Contractors must be audited against their CoR Management Plan, usually done as part of integrated systems audits. Relevant external service providers specialised in the CoR provisions should be engaged to conduct the audits. As a minimum, the CoR Management Plan must address:
(i) hazard identification and risk analysis of CoR issues, including formal CoR risk workshops at key stages (design development and construction) including the designer, Contractor, Subcontractors and suppliers of major items, the government department or Principal Contractor Representative and the Project Verifier. The CoR risk workshops can be combined with the WHS risk workshops;
(ii) reporting on near misses, accidents, incidents and infringements arising from CoR issues, within two working days of such events taking place, and including corrective actions in monthly progress reports.
(iii) the orderly management of CoR issues throughout the Contractor’s Work and the provision of evidence that the Contractor has met its legalCoR obligations;
(iv) methods of managing interfaces with other stakeholders, suppliers, subcontractors and other organisations related to CoR;
(v) methods of dealing with relevant regulators and Authorities related toCoR;
(vi) strategy and processes for obtaining all necessary approvals which have CoR implications;
(vii) methods of developing, implementing and reporting on safety metrics for CoR;
(viii)the organisation chart showing team structure and defining CoR responsibilities, including for the project handover stage;
(ix) CoR related communication protocols, including for the project handover stage;
(x) key personnel, description of their positions/qualifications and reporting lines, as related to CoR;
(xi) resources management, including addressing shortage of skilled resources that are critical to management of CoR issues.
Safety Management Systems
The safety of transport activities relating to a heavy vehicle and the National Heavy Vehicle Law is the shared responsibility of each party in the Chain of Responsibility. Each party in the chain must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that transport activities relating to the vehicle are conducted safely and in accordance with an ISO Accredited Transport and Logistics Framework.
The Directors, Executive Officer and Management of a business conducting transport activities has additional and specific responsibilities to take reasonable steps to ensure transport activities are conducted safely, eliminating or minimising hazards and risks. Regardless of the size of your business, having an effective Safety Management System (SMS) is one of the best ways of ensuring you have a safety-focused business and are complying with your safety duty obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).
We can provide guidance and document templates to help you implement an SMS in your business. We’ve developed these products in consultation with representatives from the heavy vehicle industry through the our Safety Industry Operations Group which is made up of many leading national providers.
NHVR provides an overview of Safety Management Systems( SMS) in a booklet – Introduction to Safety Management Systems in the Heavy Vehicle Industry (PDF, 1.6MB) which provides some practical guidance to help you implement an SMS in your business. The booklet contains information that:
- highlights why, as an industry participant in the heavy vehicle Chain of Responsibility, adopting and actively utilising an SMS is important and beneficial to your business
- demonstrates how an SMS can assist your business to meet its safety duties obligations under the HVNL
- explains what a typical SMS looks like, including its four key components and their elements.
- advises you how best to get started on building an SMS as part of your everyday business.
They also supply an SMS Fact Sheet (PDF, 269KB) which provides a short overview of an SMS and the FAQs (frequently asked questions) page provides some further information.
As a good starting point, it’s recommended that you read the overview booklet Introduction to Safety Management Systems in the Heavy Vehicle Industry (PDF, 1.6MB).
Following this, visit the following link to purchase Full COR Policy, Procedure and Tool Implementation Kit and guidance materials with the templates provided.
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COR Policies and Procedures Kit
- Guide: An Introduction to CoR & the legislation
- Case Studies: Chain of Responsibility Prosecutions
- Checklist: CoR Framework – Policies, Procedures and Tools
- Guide: Tips for Implementing CoR Policies and Procedures
- Template: CoR Policy
- Guide: Is Your CoR Training Compliant?
- Guide: CoR Metrics
Safety Management System
Safety Management Systems are an important way of identifying and reporting hazards. It is an important first step in the risk management process and, along with near miss and incident reporting, this information can be used to help develop your businesses risk register. Implement one now.