National Heavy Vehicle Regulator at Port of Brisbane with a portable information centre
While the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) might not be on everyone’s Christmas card list, the regulator isn’t fazed by this seeing these pop-ups as a way to break down ‘us and them’ rivalries.
“We try and position ourselves as an organisation to meet the drivers where they’re at and just have a chat to them and these days are fantastic for that ’cause it really breaks down any tensions,” NHVR stakeholder engagement officer Tim Hansen said.
A range of NHVR employees from various departments of the regulator, along with local police, were on hand to answer questions from drivers and to get a feel for the issues facing the industry as a whole.
“We’ve got representatives in each of the participating jurisdictions, so I normally look after NSW and the ACT, but haven’t been able to get across that dotted line much this year,” Hansen said.
“This site here at the Port of Brisbane is always really good because there’s the long haul drivers – some with grain – going to the port, container transport is coming from the port and a few ‘round towners’ as well, and we’ve got an Amazon warehouse next door so some rigids came in earlier to have a chat.”
While Covid and borders are still regular topics brought up, the focus of conversation has shifted back to the everyday items, according to Hansen.
“Most of the chats are just general inquiries about the rules,” he added.
“Our role is really to provide drivers with information and emphasise that under the chain of responsibility everyone’s got a role to play, so the old days of people going ‘I can’t load you for three hours but if you get on that forklift you can be away quicker’ that kind of thing, we say look, no, that’s not right. You have to allow the drivers to have a good rest.
“Covid has been the conversation the last few months especially with the borders opening up, we’ve got the police here with us today, and so that seems to be going a lot more smoothly than it has been.
“It’s been a source of frustration for drivers throughout the year when rules change so rapidly and we’ve tried to respond by having a dedicated page on our website with information as to which service centers provide meals and so forth, and also the information that we get from the states and territories so they can go to one place and find out what’s happening, because the border rules change so often.”
Another NHVR item on the conversation list is the regulators accessibility for information online and over the phone and also its reporting line.
“If people can’t be here, they can go onto the website or give us a call,” Hansen said.
“I just had a fellow who called me about grain just wanting to know what the mass limit was for concessional mass for his combination.
“The other thing that we’ve been letting people know about is our confidential reporting line,” says Hansen.
“Essentially if anyone is encountering issues in any of the things within the NHVR’s brief; about fatigue management or mass dimensions, if they’re having pressure put on them, if there’s maintenance issues that they think need to be done as a driver and they feel that they’re not being respected, then they can make some enquiries to us.
“It’s all fed into our compliance intel so they can give their details if they want, but if they want to make those enquiries anonymously, that’s certainly helpful and helps us to focus on the people who need attention and leave the people alone who don’t.”
The NHVR has plans for more of these pop-up days around Queensland and NSW with a schedule forthcoming on its website in the new year.