Thankfully not all months are as manic as what May has been, the following is a snip of just some of the major achievements for this month:

 

28th ARRB Conference: The NRSPP had a booth at the Australian Road Research Board Conference on Next Generation Connectivity. The two key leads of the NRSPP program, Jerome Carslake and Dr Darren Wishart, both presented at conference. Dr Wishart held a presentation that focused on the implications and opportunities of electric vehicle uptake within fleets. Jerome was chair of a panel debate titled “Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) are great for everyone” and held a presentation that focused on challenging the barriers for emergency Drome use.

NRSPP Webinar: On the 3rd of May, NRSPP held a webinar in conjunction with Associate Professor Tania Leiman from Flinders University. The webinar discussed the legal implications on a worker using their own vehicles for work purposes (i.e., Grey Fleet). Such a vehicle is deemed a workplace and as such organisations have a duty of care to its workers to provide a safe working environment. To view the webinar, click here.

Tool Box Talks: Four topics for the NRSPP Tool Box Talks (TBTs) have now been released. These topics include: Low Speed Manoeuvring and Parking, Easter Road Safety, The Dangers of Mobile Phone Use While Driving and, Rear End Crashes and Close Following. The costs of the TBTs packages are charged on a cost recovery basis with everything above that hypothecated back into the program to deliver more free resources, research and supporting elements for the NRSPP program. These packages can now be purchased from the eCommerce section of the NRSPP website.

High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Working Group: On the 8th of May, BHP successfully hosted the first NRSPP High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Working Group. The HOV Working Group has been established to explore the safety management approaches relating to the movement of an organisation’s personnel in buses or people movers. The first initial steps includes developing a Bow Tie for HOVs and understanding the size of the risk with regards to trends to these vehicles over time and number. If you are interested in participating in the group, please contact Dr Darren Wishart or Jerome Carslake.

The APGA Seminar: Dr Darren Wishart was invited to present at the Australian Pipeline and Gas Association Health Safety and Environment Seminar recently in Brisbane on the NRSPP and Changes in legislation: Are you ready? The presentation focussed on recent and anticipated changes in legislation and the implications that these changes may have for fleet safety management across heavy light and Grey Fleet activities. The presentation used a case study approach and challenged current organisational work driving safety risk management processes along with providing solutions and future directions to improve the safety of all work driving activities.

ATIA Conference: ATIA Dr Darren Wishart was also invited to present at the at the Australian Taxi Industry Association (ATIA) Conference on the 27th of May, to showcase the Road Safety Manual for the Taxi Industry which he co-authored. The Manual is specific to the taxi industry and provides a standardised risk management approach and framework that is user friendly to assist the taxi industry in improving safety.

#SafetyScape Conference: The NRSPP held a half day Grey Fleet Safety Management workshop delivered at the inaugural #SafetyScape conference on the 23rd of May. This hands on interactive workshop helped organisations better manage risk associated with their Grey Fleet using strategies from the ‘NRSPP Guide: Grey Fleet Safety Management.  Attendees were able to engage with Associate Professor Tania Leiman who is Dean of Law at Flinders University to really understand the legal implications of Grey Fleet vehicles. Tania engaged the attendees on a series of real life confronting hypothetical scenarios their organisations will face at some stage. As an example, when providing a safe work place what are the implications of a manufacturers defect and recall in relation to a vehicle workers are using? The NRSPP Guide was then utilised to help attendees develop their strategies and action plans to begin managing their grey fleet.

NRSPP Steering Committee: The 16th NRSPP Steering Committee meeting was kindly hosted by BHP Billiton on 24 May with 22 organisations attending. A few notable actions from the meeting include exploring in conjunction with Austroads the issue of people using heavy vehicles as a mechanism for suicide as featured in recent Big Rigs; development of a reporting framework similar to that of Global Carbon Disclosure Project (GDP) and Re:act top three presenting their campaigns.

AfMA ConferenceThe manager of NRSPP, Jerome Carslake, facilitated a workshop at the 2018 Australasian Fleet Management Association (AfMA) on the 17th  of May. This workshop focused on the role fleet managers can play in the next National Road Safety Strategy. The conference provided a unique opportunity to engage fleet managers on how they can share the responsibility for road safety and how government can help them contribute. The workshop engaged attendees by helping them identify actions they can undertake to reduce the risk their drivers pose when on the road and then what approaches government can implement to empower them. As an example, fleet managers can purchase only vehicles with AEB and government could look at applying Chain of Responsibility to light vehicles nationally.

National Road Safety Strategy Action Plan: The NRSPP continues to implement the national road safety strategy action plan to encourage road safety improvements in the workplace. In doing so, the NRSPP has provided free resources, workshops and seminars that actively encourage organisations to implement best practice fleet and workplace safety policies surrounding the vehicle as a workplace.” For instance:

  • Over the past 4 years, the NRSPP has developed a significant number of case studies/webinars that demonstrate substantial improvements in workplace road safety, with 12 webinars featured as part of Safe Work Australia’s Safe Work Virtual Seminar Series, and three provided international insights.
  • In addition, the activities of the NRSPP includes four active Working Groups: The Utilities Forum, the Grey Fleet Working group, Re:act and High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) working group”

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