Initial feedback on road safety remuneration order centres on duplication and talk of using fewer owner-drivers.
Trucking operators in Queensland have raised concerns about life under the newly-implemented road safety remuneration order, with reports it duplicates existing requirements.
The Queensland Trucking Association (QTA) says initial feedback on the order, which took effect on May 1, has centred on claims it increases red tape for companies already meeting their obligations, such as those relating to record keeping and workplace health and safety.
The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) enacted the order, which covers sub-contractors and owner-drivers and stipulates conditions on contracts, safe driving plans, payment times, driver training and drug and alcohol policies.
“The conversations I’ve had is that it is just another layer of bureaucracy,” QTA CEO Peter Garske says.
“There is certainly a duplication in relation to the general duties of an employer or prime contractor under workplace health and safety law and that’s just a nonsense when governments state and federal are seeking to reduce red tape.”
Garske says companies have reported that the requirements in the order covering sub-contractors and owner-drivers are too hard and will lead to many using more employee drivers at the expense of outside hire.
“Whether that happens or not is too early to tell but there has been quite serious feedback of that type,” he says.
Garske’s comments come as the QTA and the Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation (ARTIO) prepare to hold a free industry forum on the order and the legislation underpinning the RSRT.
The June 17 event is scheduled to be held at Morningside, about 10 minutes east of Brisbane’s CBD to detail the work of the tribunal and the requirements the industry must meet under the road safety remuneration order.
The order mandates 30-day payment terms for sub-contractors and owner-drivers along with a host of other conditions all parties in the transport supply chain must meet.
Companies must provide written contracts stipulating the work that will be performed, the period the contract will run for, the amount of work hours and the remuneration to be paid.
Companies must keep records of each contract for at least seven years.