Chain of Responsibility

Drivers and operators of heavy vehicles have traditionally been the focus of road transport law breaches.  However, breaches can be caused by the decisions and actions of others in the transport supply chain.  Under the chain of responsibility legislation the general liability for breaches can extend to any party in the transport supply chain.

This means that everyone in the supply chain is responsible for the safe transport of goods and preventing a breach of road transport mass, dimension and load restraint laws in the ACT.  Those responsible for making decisions and taking actions relating to activities that affect compliance with road transport laws can be legally accountable if they do not meet their obligations.

Chain of responsibility is similar to the legal concept of 'duty of care' that underpins Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) law.  The law requires that a person takes reasonable steps to prevent contributing to a breach.  Penalties and sanctions range from formal warnings to court-imposed fines and penalties relating to commercial benefit derived from offences.  Supervisory intervention orders and prohibition orders banning individuals from the industry can be applied to 'persistent and systematic' offenders.

Parties in the Chain of Responsibility

Parties in the chain of responsibility include any person or entity that influences the transport task, including:

• Driver;
• Employer of a driver;
• Prime contractor of a driver;
• Operator of a vehicle;
• Scheduler of goods or passengers for transport by the vehicle and also the scheduler of its driver;
• Consignor and consignee of the goods transported by the vehicle;
• Loading manager; and
• Loader or unloader of goods, such as packers and receivers.

Heavy Vehicles and Chain of Responsibility Legislation in the ACT

Chain of responsibility legislation for heavy vehicles was introduced in the ACT on 3 March 2010 with the commencement of new laws covering mass and dimension limits and load restraint requirements.  On 2 April 2010 chain of responsibility extended to the transport of dangerous goods on the ACT road network with the commencement of new dangerous goods legislation.

Road Transport (Mass, Dimensions and Loading) Act 2009

Road Transport (Mass, Dimensions and Loading) Regulation 2010

Dangerous Goods (Road Transport) Act 2009

Fact Sheets

A number of fact sheets providing general information on the chain of responsibility for specific parties in the transport supply chain are provided below:

Operator/Manager/Scheduler ( PDF 70Kb)

Consignor ( PDF 68Kb)

Driver ( PDF 71Kb)

Loader/Packer ( PDF 72Kb)

A number of fact sheets providing general information on the operation of the Mass, Dimensions and Loading laws in the ACT are provided below:

Container Weight Declarations ( PDF 80Kb)

Categories of Risk for Breaches ( PDF 85Kb)

Other Links

National Transport Commission - Road Freight User's Guide