It is great to see the NHVR communicating accurately about the upcoming changes to the NHVL in October 2018. A recent newsletter (On The Road August 2018) issued by the NHVR confirmed that “Although the laws will change, they will still only apply to activities that a person or business has control over and could influence. In other words no one will be liable for breaches they cannot control (e.g. a contracted transport operator is responsible for maintaining their own vehicles). If you are doing everything that is reasonably practicable to identify, assess, reduce and wherever possible, remove safety risks related to your transport activities, you are likely to be complying with the changed law.” The previous message – “The aim of COR is to make sure everyone in the supply chain shares responsibility for ensuring breaches of the HVNL do not occur” misrepresented the legal obligations of parties in the chain. The shared obligation is to make you don’t do anything which forces another party in the chain to engage in unsafe practices e.g. overloading a contractors truck.
Let me know if you need any assistance to simplify your transport contractor management.