What is the chain of responsibility?

When a customer rings to book a digger for a job they’ve organised at home or for a contracting job we always stress the question about the suitability of their vehicle to tow a digger on a trailer.

“Does your vehicle have a certified towbar rated at 2500kg or greater?”

The reason this is an important question is obviously for the health and safety of the public at large and the driver of the vehicle.

It isn’t good enough for just the driver to make the decision on the towbar suitability. The certification plate must be sighted by us and it should be in a fit state of repair.

For example when driving along, the tow ball or draw bar breaks leaving the trailer with digger attached out of control and careering down the road, which then slams violently into another vehicle or pedestrian.  The crash site is investigated and it is shown that the towbar was not certified, this means everyone involved in the chain of events that led to this accident would be held accountable.

So it would be both the driver of the vehicle and the person or company who attached the trailer in front of the judge trying to explain themselves.

This chain of responsibility is part of the Land Transport Amendment Act 2005. It holds that every person in the road transport operations chain shares the responsibility and is held accountable for influencing driver behaviour and compliance. In the past, enforcement agencies have focused on the drivers and operators as the key party responsible for compliance. The chain of responsibility recognises that breaches of compliance are often caused or influenced by the actions of others within the industry or workplace.

In the case above, Truck & Digger Hire Ltd would have spotted the non compliant towbar and offered to deliver the digger to site for you.  Saving everyone the grief of anything going wrong and making sure we stay safe, insured and out of jail.

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