Tuesday, 12 March 2019
In early March Austroads joined with the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA) in Brisbane to launch a new work health and safety guide Vehicles as a Workplace.
Following endorsement by HWSA, the guide was published jointly by Austroads and Workplace Health and Safety regulators from Queensland, NSW, Tasmania, South Australia, Northern Territory, ACT and the Commonwealth.
Vehicles as a Workplace provides practical risk management for individuals and organisations who use vehicles on public roads for work.
Speaking to 90 guests from government and industry, Nita Maynard, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, encouraged organisations to adopt a systematic approach to managing risks where vehicles are used as a workplace.
“Road vehicle use is the most significant contributor to work-related fatal injury,” she said. “This guide seeks to expand organisational thinking to include designing safer work-related travel, using safer and fit for purpose vehicles, and adopting safer routes through systematic journey planning.”
Attendees were briefed on the guide’s contents, heard about high risk roles in high risk sectors, and were asked to provide advice about best ways to communicate the guidance in the future. As part of the guide rollout, Workplace Health and Safety regulators identified six areas of concern for which they will prepare more specific guidance: rural contractors, small transport operations, tradespeople, greyfleet, residential care, and government fleets.
Austroads Chair, Neil Scales, commended the collaborative effort to date and said that Austroads would continue to provide technical support as the Guide is rolled out over the next six months.