In the transport and logistics industries, it’s crucial for all workflows to be structured around ensuring employees, contractors and all other staff aren’t being pushed too hard or requested to overlook safety in favour of getting work done.
Of course, the transportation of goods often requires long hours and demands truck drivers and other staff to travel long distances over short periods. However, there are a set of guidelines set out by the Government’s Chain of Responsibility or Chain of Responsibility (CoR) rules that restrict specific workflows and require strong focuses on safety and accountability.
Throughout this post, we will take a look at how Chain of Responsibility works to improve logistics safety and how your business or HR teams can utilise visitor management systems to implement better CoR guidelines to enhance efficiency and employee wellbeing.
The Chain of Responsibility is a set of regulations throughout Australia and other parts of the world that govern the treatment and responsibility of truck drivers who drive vehicles over 4.5 tonnes in the logistics industry.
The CoR law makes it known that any problems that happen throughout the movement of goods aren’t always or only the fault of the driver.
Australia’s Chain of Responsibility guide recognises that a company who manipulates, forces or coerces an employee or truck driver to undertake unsustainable and unlawful levels of work could be equally as liable as a truck driver for any accidents, poor work results, on-road events and more.
You’ll also note that businesses can be persecuted in the event they are found to have not taken all steps necessary to prevent an issue from occurring. As a business in logistics, you’re primarily liable for an accident or problem happening if your safety and managerial staff didn’t take the following into account before a workflow being undertaken:
There have also been a variety of changes to the CoR regulations which also hold executives responsible in certain situations. As an executive, you can’t merely delegate all safety and operational safety procedures to other staff. There must be standalone due diligence procedures exercised by executive members of a corporation in logistics in order to meet new CoR requirements.
Chain of Responsibility was first introduced in Australia following the notion that unlawful behaviour by truck drivers was often not a behaviour of their own doing but as a result of employer influence.
The motivation behind the introduction of CoR was to ensure all employees and employers, managers and HR staff working within a business’s supply chain shared all accountability for the safety and informing of staff members of risks and requirements.
These laws encouraged and required all parties within a workflow be responsible, or partly responsible where relevant, for offences or accidents that occur in a heavy vehicle accident. If followed correctly, CoR regulations work to create workflows that aren’t only safe for drivers but also the general public.
For companies in logistics, looking to make the adherence to the Chain of Responsibility guidelines a lot easier for everyone, then Sine Workflows may be the answer you’ve been looking for.
When it comes to logistics safety, we all understand that information sharing, realistic expectations and tracking of employee movements reign supreme.
Utilising visitor management systems, like Sine, and in particular, the Sine Workflows feature, you’re able to stop wondering what truck drivers and other employees are doing - or even wondering about what assignment information they know.
In a glance, logistics managers and safety managers can get an insight into a driver’s location, their assignment, induction information and a whole lot more, making compliance with CoR a breeze. You’ll also have the peace of mind that your drivers are taking the rests and breaks needed to reduce fatigue and accident risk. And if they’re not, you have a direct line of communication to share an updated break schedule.
Driver Insights Provided to HR and Safety Managers by Sine & Sine Workflows;
All of these insights make it much easier to tell whether truck drivers are following their guidelines, but also whether they’re aware of company procedures or assignment information through Sine’s document upload features.
Through the use of Sine Workflows, you’re essentially keeping your staff safe and assuring your logistics company remains legally compliant with Chain of Responsibility guidelines. You will also notice that employee productivity levels could improve when less stress or fewer unsustainable workloads are being undertaken. As we know, well-rested employees do far more in less time.
Manager and HR Insights Provided to Truck Drivers by Sine & Sine Workflows;
As you can see, with Sine Workflows, you’re also able to keep all drivers in the loop with company changes while they’re on the road, but also ensure they know exactly what is expected of them throughout a delivery or transport assignment.
By requiring regular breaks, offering dock check-in and emergency information and more you can ensure the risk of an accident is reduced and also safeguard compliance with CoR from both a truck driver and company standpoint.
Sine’s platform also allows for more effective site and workflow induction procedures for both drivers and managerial staff.
You can showcase data and inform all staff of emergency procedures, equipment handling requirements, and so much more in an all-digital way that makes it easier for all staff to be present. There’s no schedule conflict, no need to hold new inductions for updated information or even to spend a cent on the induction facilities.
Aside from the myriad of document sharing and real-time updates provided with Sine Workflows, the function of Sine Core allows for businesses in logistics to automate a suite of their procedures, including check-in and safety-focused reminders.
By integrating the Sine platform into your daily workflow and your employee's smart devices, you'll primarily be keeping drivers reminded of safety methods as well as preventing them from inadvertently breaking the law.
With a truck driver's smart devices connected by Sine to geofenced locations, you can virtually automate all check-in processes from the cloud. When a driver enters a specific area, they're automatically checked in without needing to touch their smartphone at all, keeping them from illegally using their phone while driving.
In doing this, you're not only reducing the risk of an accident but also notifying both your own workplace and the delivery point your driver is heading too, allowing everyone to prepare better and manage deliveries effectively.
A second significant benefit of the Sine program is the ability to share Checkout Checklists which appear on smart devices at a particular location or time. These checklists can be utilised specifically for Chain of Responsibility requirements by asking questions such as;
These reminders keep your truck drivers well-informed of their part in staying safe while on the job and also reduce your business’s risk of dealing with an accident and reducing the chance of a CoR breach.
In the logistics industry, communication and real-time information sharing is key to enhancing profitability and productivity. It's in everyone's best interests to know where your staff members are, what they're doing, and whether they have the training, documentation and directions to undertake workflows correctly.
Utilising both Sine Workflows and Visitor Management enables businesses to effortlessly track employee movements, share crucial task-specific information as well as track assets and offer inductions to staff members on the fly. There is also the ability to check employees in and out of zones when they enter specific zones based on geofencing, which allows for better management of assets and offers insight for compliance.
The Sine Workflows feature assists in safety guide and document sharing to employees. You can gather detailed insights into how long employees have been at work for, and even have the power to block contractors or employees from a worksite unless they have completed a specific task or requirement – such as taking a break from driving or preventing early delivery of an asset.
All in all, Sine enables businesses of all sizes, in all industries to have the power to comply with laws outlined within the Chain of Responsibility act.
