– By Caroline Falls –
On Monday, August 1, national and state road authorities will start a health check of trucks plying the nation’s roads. The lead authority, the Brisbane-based National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, is billing it as “Australia’s first heavy vehicle check’.
NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto said the National Roadworthiness Baseline Survey would allow the NHVR to properly understand roadworthiness of Australia’s 520,000-strong heavy vehicles.
“For the first time in Australia, we’ll be conducting a national survey of heavy vehicle roadworthiness using trained inspectors to gather consistent safety information,” Petroccitto said. It has ministerial backing in all states and territories.
The sample will comprise about 9,000 randomly selected vehicles, including rigid, semi-trailers, B-doubles, road trains, buses, plant and equipment. NHVR said the research study will extend through to September. It said it will form the base of a longitudinal study, that will likely be updated every three or four years, much like the national population census.
Currently, different data and inspection regimes are undertaken in each state and territory, which means that the roadworthiness of heavy vehicles nationally is unclear. It’s a fundamental roadblock to achieving national consistency.
The national audit will be conducted at roadside check points and will comprise a thorough looking over the vehicle. These visual inspections could take as long as 45 minutes, depending on the age of the vehicle.
TCA’s Petroccitto said he was mindful of the supply chain and promised to minimise disruption to operators. He said the time spent will all be worth it. The aim of the program is to build a more harmonised national heavy vehicle network, which would surely lead to less vehicle downtime for interstate transport operators.
The time taken for the inspection will be counted as working time for the driver of the vehicles. Drivers and operators are best forewarned about this potential time out, as responsibility for fatigue management rests with them.
Another practicality to be aware of for vehicle operators and fleet managers is that being inspected for the research project may still result in defect notices.
As the inspections will be conducted by the authority particular to a jurisdiction, normal defect rules will apply.
The audit follows the release earlier this year of the National Heavy Vehicle Inspection Manual by NHVR. This is the publication that details national standards agreed upon by national and state ministers and authorities. The manual was designed to improve vehicle standards compliance and help reduce vehicle downtime. Heavy vehicle operators need to use this publication to guide the maintenance and operation fit of their heavy vehicle fleets.
The health check along with the updated NHVIM are the first steps of the NHVR’s program to improve the roadworthiness of the national fleet.
For more information go to www.nhvr.gov.au/nrbs
