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Weller to head restructured ATA safety arm

Amalgamated division incorporates TruckSafe and related safety promotion

 

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) is undergoing a restructure to combine its TruckSafe, Safety Truck, safety promotion and safety research activities into a single section within the organisation.

It will be headed by new safety, health and wellbeing director Melissa Weller, who steps up from her previous role as the ATA’s safety and skills adviser.

ATA CEO Ben Maguire says TruckSafe operated as a separate business unit to the rest of the ATA.

“This has resulted in duplication. We have also missed out on opportunities to cross-promote what we do,” Maguire says.

“The restructure will enable us to leverage more benefits from the expertise of the TruckSafe board and will place safety accreditation and promotion at the centre of the ATA’s work.

“It will bring TruckSafe into the mainstream of how we work as a team.

“The restructure emphasises our commitment to TruckSafe as an important part of the future of truck safety regulation.”

Weller has held senior roles in strategy and policy development, road safety and business development, and was recently elected to the executive committee of the Australasian College of Road Safety.

She has managed safety projects for eight years, ATA notes, and is leading the evidence-based redesign of the Volvo ATA Safety Truck education campaign.


Read Weller’s column on addressing road safety, here


“Safety links to every aspect of business. You simply can’t have a productive and viable business if it is not a safe business,” Weller says.

“I am very excited to have this opportunity to lead the ATA’s safety communication, TruckSafe safety management system and safety, health and wellbeing education.

“We have started vital actions in these areas, and I am looking forward to getting results with our very motivated and safety focused ATA community.”

The restructure follows TruckSafe general manager Justin Fleming’s departure after 10 years with the organisation.

“I am leaving TruckSafe in a wonderful pair of capable hands, in Melissa Weller. I know that Melissa will take the business forward into the future,” Fleming says.

He was thanked by ATA chair Geoff Crouch and TruckSafe chair Ferdie Kroon for his contribution.

The ATA notes that TruckSafe accredited operators still do not receive the same regulatory concessions as National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) operators, even though they need to meet higher standards. Its first submission to the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) review proposes that safety-based schemes like TruckSafe should be formally recognised under the law, “with the NHVR regulating safety schemes and auditors rather than trying to run one”.

 

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