TruckSafe issues reminder to members about speed limiters in response to the investigation into Lennons Transport
By Brad Gardner | February 24, 2012
The industry safety accreditation scheme TruckSafe has fired off a missive to its members on speed limiters in response to the investigation into Lennons Transport.
The notice reminds accredited companies of their obligations, including training staff to ensure they understand speed limiting technology and taking steps to address non-compliant vehicles.
Lennons, which has been a TruckSafe-accredited company since 1999, was this week raided by police and Roads and Maritime Services following a crash involving one of its trucks that killed three people.
Officers allegedly found evidence of speed tampering and falsified work diaries, while an individual driver has been charged with possessing cannabis and breaching fatigue rules. The RMS has now launched a chain of responsibility investigation.
“All TruckSafe accredited businesses are required to comply with stringent speed management rules,” the notice reads.
“TruckSafe is the only trucking industry accreditation program that audits compliance with speed management and speed limiter maintenance requirements. We do this because speeding is a major cause of truck accidents.”
Speed management obligations for TruckSafe-accredited companies extend to the owners, managers, drivers and maintenance workers.
Workers must undergo induction and training programmes on speed limiters and companies are required to implement policies and procedures to ensure standards are followed.
TruckSafe requires accredited companies to defect non-compliant vehicles, determine the cause and make sure the problem is rectified.
“All TruckSafe audits since June 2011 have examined compliance with these rules. All future TruckSafe audits will cover them too,” the memo reads.
“Having an effective speed management policy is essential to running a safe trucking business.”
The Australian Trucking Association, which runs TruckSafe, has also called for police to adopt a harder line on speed enforcement. It wants any truck found to be exceeding 100km/h on a flat road to be defected.
“The ATA has also called for stronger chain of responsibility enforcement against customers that demand unrealistic and unsafe schedules, and for trucking businesses to be notified when an employee commit a traffic offence in a company vehicle,” the TruckSafe notice says.
“These changes would create a more level playing field for businesses that are serious about safety and businesses that are not.”
ATA CEO Stuart St Clair says companies enrolled in TruckSafe are twice as safe as non-accredited ones. TruckSafe says companies are subjected to a compliance audit when they join and then every two years.
The programme includes some of the most well-known and respected trucking companies in the game, including Nolan’s Interstate Transport, 1st Fleet, Abletts Transport, NQX, Simon National Carriers, Ron Finemore Transport and Toll.