For years, Chain of Responsibility (CoR) has been viewed by many transport operators as a compliance framework focused on speed, fatigue, mass, loading and vehicle standards.
But according to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), that interpretation misses the real purpose of the law.
Speaking at the AfMA Summit, Graeme Cooper, Policy Advisor (Safety Duties and Codes) at the NHVR, said the industry needs to move beyond a compliance mindset and start treating CoR as a safety management obligation that extends across the entire organisation.
“The traditional sense of COR that we hear all the time is that COR is about complying with the prescriptive obligations around speed, fatigue, mass dimension loading and vehicle standards. That’s a very narrow view of where safety lives.”
Graeme Cooper, Policy Advisor (Safety Duties and Codes) at the NHVR
The message comes as the NHVR prepares for the introduction of the new Master Code on 1 August 2026, a document designed to help organisations better understand and meet their primary duty obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law.
Looking Beyond Infringements
One of Cooper’s strongest messages was that many businesses still judge safety by the absence of penalties.
“If I’m not getting tickets or I’m not getting defects, then I must be operating safely,” he said. “Now that’s a very, very, very narrow view of what safety amounts to.”
Instead, the NHVR wants businesses to focus on the systems, decisions and management processes that influence safety outcomes long before a vehicle enters the road network.
Under the primary duty, parties in the Chain of Responsibility are required to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the safety of transport activities involving heavy vehicles.
That obligation extends well beyond operational compliance.
“The law is deliberately broad in scope and creates an obligation for you to focus upon safety in respect of all the many and varied ways that your business can influence how it interacts with heavy vehicles,” Cooper said.
Safety Starts Before the Driver Turns the Key
A recurring theme throughout Cooper’s presentation was that CoR is fundamentally about preparation rather than execution.
“What we’re trying to project, and the understanding we’re trying to create, is that drivers don’t comply with those prescriptive requirements because of CoR,” he said.
“CoR is about the planning and preparation that the business which is undertaking the activity does in advance of the activity commencing.”
According to Cooper, organisations should focus on four key areas of safety management:
- People
- Vehicles
- Technology
- Organisational systems
For fleet operators with heavy vehicles (a vehicle with a GVM greater than 4.5 tonnes), this means ensuring drivers have the right licences, training, experience, inductions and support before they begin work.
For Fleet Managers, it means making informed decisions about vehicle selection, specification, maintenance and safety technology.
“How do you know that you’ve got the right vehicle that’s fit for purpose, has the right equipment, the right safety features, is properly maintained and then is managed in the context of your broader fleet?” Cooper asked.
“That’s a fundamental component of ensuring safety within the heavy vehicle industry.”
Technology Is Not a Set-and-Forget Solution
The NHVR is also urging operators to think differently about telematics, fatigue monitoring systems and other connected vehicle technologies.
Many fleets have invested heavily in technology, but Cooper warned that purchasing systems is only the first step.
“The expectation on you from the perspective of your primary duty is that you are engaging with that data and information, and you are accessing it, you are interrogating it, and you are responding to it,” he said.
“It doesn’t just generate reports that nobody sees.”
Cooper used fatigue and distraction detection systems as an example.
“The decision to install the hardware into the vehicle is excellent,” he said. “But if it’s two o’clock in the morning, your business has to be equipped to receive that alert and respond to it.”
He argued that organisations must invest not only in technology but also in the people, processes and resources needed to manage the information those systems generate.
The Master Code and a New Way of Thinking
The NHVR’s new Master Code reflects this broader safety management approach.
Registered earlier this year and taking effect from 1 August 2026, the code contains guidance across 45 transport activities, more than 70 hazards and over 500 potential controls.
Importantly, Cooper emphasised that the code is not a mandatory checklist. Instead, it is designed to help organisations understand the hazards they face and the controls available to manage them.
“A party can’t say I didn’t know about that risk, I couldn’t know about that control, if it’s published in the code of practice,” he said.
The code also places significant emphasis on what the NHVR calls “foundation activities” — organisational systems and management practices that create the conditions for safe transport operations.
“This is all of the bits and pieces that a business will do that sets it up for success and embed safety in all of the component parts of its operations,” Cooper said.
Use Existing WHS Systems
Rather than creating separate CoR programs, Cooper encouraged businesses to build on their existing Work Health and Safety frameworks.
“There is absolutely no upside in reinventing the wheel,” he said.
“All of you who are operating businesses that have mature and well-established WHS management processes should absolutely leverage those processes to do your safety work in respect of being a party in the Chain of Responsibility.”
“The principles are the same. The risk management process is the same. Eliminating or minimising risk, so far as reasonably practicable, is the same.”
For organisations that already have mature safety management systems, the Master Code provides an opportunity to integrate heavy vehicle safety risks into existing governance structures rather than developing standalone compliance programs.
A Shift From Compliance to Capability
The NHVR’s message is that the future of CoR will be measured less by whether operators receive infringements and more by whether they have robust systems in place to manage risk.
Developing organisational capability, empowering employees to make safety decisions and embedding safety into everyday business practices are becoming central themes of regulatory expectations.
As Cooper explained, the goal is to create workplaces where employees feel empowered to speak up when something is unsafe.
“We want the people on the ground to be able to say, ‘No, that’s a terrible idea’,” he said.
Whether it’s a poorly restrained load, an unsafe vehicle, or a driver who is too fatigued or unwell to continue working, the NHVR wants safety decisions to be supported by organisational systems rather than left to chance.
The arrival of the Master Code on 1 August 2026 signals a significant shift in how the regulator views Chain of Responsibility.
For transport operators, the challenge is no longer simply demonstrating compliance. It is demonstrating that safety is embedded throughout the organisation.
