How do changes to the chain of responsibility law affect your business?
- 9 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Chain of responsibility (CoR) is part of Australia's Heavy Vehicle National Law that spreads legal responsibility for heavy vehicle safety across everyone who influences a transport task, not just the driver behind the wheel. If your business consigns, receives, packs, loads, unloads or schedules freight moved by a vehicle over 4.5 tonnes, you're almost certainly part of the chain.
Changes to the Heavy Vehicle National Law
The amended Heavy Vehicle National Law commenced on 1 August 2026, following the passage of the 2025 Amendment Package by the Queensland Parliament in November 2025. It's the most significant update to the law since it was introduced, and brings in a new Heavy Vehicle Accreditation scheme, updated fatigue requirements, simplified work diary record-keeping, and changes to mass, dimension and loading provisions. General mass limits have been lifted and the general vehicle length limit has moved from 19 to 20 metres.
Two things matter more than the detail. First, there's no grace period. Second, the regulator also released an updated 2026 Master Code. This is a registered industry code of practice built around transport activities rather than isolated risk areas like speed or fatigue, and extended to cover off-road parties for the first time.
This is an important point to take in, especially if you are in logistics and distribution. A registered code doesn't create new obligations, but the information within it does gain a "special status". This means information about a hazard or risk, risk assessment, or risk control, to which the code relates, can be used as evidence of what duty holders know, or ought to know about those things. In plainer terms, if the code applies to you, it's assumed that you know (or ought to know) about the information within it with regard to your place of work. In even more simple terms, "Well, I didn't know" is no longer a position that a duty holder can have. (Read more about it on the NHVR site here.)
How do you know if you're part of the chain of responsibility?
The law defines 10 functions that make a business a party in the chain:
Employer: You employ a heavy vehicle driver.
Prime contractor: You engage a self-employed driver under a contract.
Operator: You control or direct the use and operation of a heavy vehicle.
Scheduler: You plan the transport task, routes, or a driver's work and rest hours.
Consignor: You put your name to/send the goods being transported.
Consignee: You receive the goods once they are delivered.
Packer: You pack, wrap, or assemble the goods for transport.
Loading manager: You manage a site where five or more heavy vehicles load or unload daily.
Loader and unloader: You physically place, restrain, or remove items on the vehicle.
You hold a function because of what you do, not what your contract says. Each function carries the same primary duty under section 26C: to ensure the safety of your transport activities so far as is reasonably practicable. The duty is shared, but that doesn't shrink your share of it. Each party remains responsible for the transport activities they can control or influence, and you cannot contract your responsibility to someone else.
This threshold captures nearly every distribution centre, cold store, food and beverage plant, building materials yard and port precinct. If you run a site that takes deliveries, you are in the chain and may well be a consignee, an unloader and a loading manager simultaneously.
What chain of responsibility risks are there at a loading dock?
The regulator is explicit that CoR parties hold the duty because they control training, equipment, the work environment, operational procedures, assurance activities, and the review and updating of processes.
Specific hazards for logistics, cold storage, warehousing or distribution businesses centre around one key issue: people and vehicles sharing space during loading and unloading.
The usual risks (reversing forklifts, pedestrians crossing behind moving plant, exclusion zones that are ignored) are exacerbated by an ongoing stream of delivery drivers who are strangers to your site, under time pressure, and potentially standing in a yard whose rules they've never read.
What does "reasonably practicable" look like in a loading area?
Firstly, it's important to note that under this law, it's possible to establish a breach without an incident happening. This can happen if a party doesn't have measures in place to manage safety, so adopting a safety management system and using it in everyday business is the first control the regulator requires.
That translates to measures such as:
Written yard and dock rules that drivers receive personally, rather than a sign at a gate.
Defined exclusion zones during loading, and a way of knowing whether they are followed.
A spotter or equivalent control for reversing movements.
Safe access to trailer decks, so nobody is climbing or jumping.
Induction that covers your site's specific traffic layout.
Evidence that all of the above is reviewed and changed when it's not working.
The last point is a tricky one. It can be hard to consistently track things like exclusion zone breaches or reversing behaviours (unless you have a system like inviol, more on that later!).
What are the penalties for breaching your safety obligations under the chain of responsibility?
Penalties under the HVNL are indexed on 1 July every year using Australia Bureau of Statistics figures. As at 1 July 2025, a Category 1 primary duty breach carried a maximum of more than AUD $424,794 or five years imprisonment for an individual, with corporate maximums an order of magnitude higher. Check the current schedule rather than relying on this number.
Executives carry a separate due diligence duty on top of the corporate one. Registered codes of practice exist partly to help them discharge it.
A note for our New Zealand readers
CoR is an Australian construct and doesn't apply here. The equivalent exposure sits in section 34 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2025, which requires businesses with overlapping duties to consult, cooperate and coordinate so far as is reasonably practicable. WorkSafe's guidance is clear that duties regularly overlap in shared workplaces such as ports, and that a business cannot transfer or contract out of them.
The same underlying question applies: When a truck is on your site, who is managing the risk?
Is it possible to consistently review your systems accurately (and with evidence)?
No one has the time (or attention span) to sit and watch every loading dock interaction. inviol is built to do this work for you. It runs on CCTV you already have and surfaces the events that matter (pedestrian and forklift interactions, exclusion zone breaches, unsafe access to trailers, missing PPE) as short video clips, and turns them into coaching conversations and trend data your teams can act on. For operations running their own fleets, on-truck cameras extend the same view to loading activity happening at customer sites, where you have duties but no supervisor.
Implementing these videos into weekly toolbox sessions has seen our customers reduce their risk by an average of 67% and a reduction in incidents of up to 42%.
This means three things for you:
You have the ability to gather data on safety incidents in your loading zones. (This includes heatmap data, showing where your pinch points are.)
You have the ability to track whether your safety measures are having the impact you intended them to have.
You can provide evidence that you are implementing and reviewing your safety measures.
Want to see how your CCTV can evidence your loading dock controls? Book a demo and we'll walk through what this looks like on a site like yours.
This article is general information, not legal advice. For guidance on your obligations, refer to the regulator's chain of responsibility resources or seek advice specific to your operation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is chain of responsibility?
Chain of responsibility is the part of Australia's Heavy Vehicle National Law that makes everyone who influences a heavy vehicle transport task legally responsible for its safety, not just the driver. Ten defines functions create a party in the chain, and each holds a primary duty to ensure safety so far as is reasonably practicable.
Am I part of the chain of responsibility if I only receive deliveries?
Very likely, yes. Receiving goods delivered by a heavy vehicle makes you a consignee. If your workers unload the vehicle, you're also an unloader, and if five or more heavy vehicles are loaded or unloaded at your premises each day, you're also a loading manager.
What changed in the HVNL on 1 August 2026??
The amended law introduced a new Heavy Vehicle Accreditation scheme, updated fatigue requirements, simplified work diary record-keeping, and changes to mass, dimension and loading provisions, including higher general mass limits and a 20 metre general length limit. There is no grace period.
Does chain of responsibility apply in New Zealand?
No. CoR is specific to the Australian Heavy Vehicle National Law. New Zealand businesses face a comparable obligation under section 34 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, which requires businesses with overlapping duties to consult, cooperate and coordinate.
