We’re just one serious accident away from knee jerk regulations

SINCE TAKING THE HELM AT NATIONAL ROAD CARRIERS, I’VE had numerous conversations with transport operators, officials and industry partners about safety standards in the road transport industry.

Most New Zealand truck drivers set their own high safety standards and consistently meet those standards. Problem is, there is a real gap between operators who do the right thing and those who cut corners. It only takes one serious accident to risk a knee jerk reaction that would bring fast, but not necessarily good, regulation.

This is why National Road Carriers (NRC) and our partners the New Zealand Trucking Association (NTA) are calling on the regulators to work with industry to define good practice for road transport safety.

Our association members have asked for more structure, with clear benchmarks and formal recognition of safety standards. Many want to undertake continuous improvement but need a framework to further promote best practice and safe behaviour. The construction and logging industries are already on this journey, with logging now having an approved framework.

It makes sense to partner with safety regulators and others in industry to implement industry-led work-related road safety programmes that give the transport industry better certainty and direction.

We support a programme that ensures transport operators agree to a code of conduct and are accredited based on industry standards to mitigate risk and improve compliance and safety. This is underway and key freight partners have met with Waka Kotahi to set up a Road Freight Safety Partnership Forum.

The New Zealand transport industry is keen to quickly establish a robust road transport accreditation programme. Fortunately, the industry has high safety and compliance standards, so existing business risk is well managed. But we are very conscious of the duty of care operators have to their drivers, families and other road users and that we need to ensure best practice standards are in place across the board.

An industry-led vehicle accreditation scheme will allow us to have a world class business and risk management system that will give operators recognition, and their customers confidence in their work practices. It satisfies a growing trend for customers to require suppliers to have comprehensive risk management systems in place for tenders and, as members are externally audited by a third party, accreditation is robust evidence of compliance across the business.

It’s not only safety standards that are being regulated. Under the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan, the road transport industry is required to reduce carbon emissions by a massive 41% from 2019 levels by 2035. While individual companies can measure emissions reductions, there is currently no way to measure them across the sector.

Like the safety issue, we need the whole industry ecosystem including Government agencies and industry associations working together to co-ordinate the measurement and management of emission reductions.

As a middle-aged business owner who loves the simplicity, reliability and design maturity of diesel engines, you might think this doesn’t affect you or wish you could turn a blind eye before you exit over the next 10 to 15 years. We get it.

The reality is this is not going away, and it needs to be faced up to before you sell or pass on to the next generation. Corporate boards of directors and executive teams are insisting their operations reduce carbon emissions right through their supply chains.

This is an inescapable sea change and NRC and NTA are working with Government and others in industry so we can help guide you through it with the least possible disruption. It’s natural to yearn for the good old days but there have always been challenges – our associations were founded for that very reason.

Our job these days is to act as a think tank, to understand what the future of freight looks like and to convey that to our members so you can be prepared for it. Our other role when it comes to new regulations is to advocate for the industry through the inevitable changes with Government and the sectors, companies and people you serve.

To learn more about the safety standards we’re working on, or climate change regulations, please give us a call. T&D