An expert lawyer in transport safety says the scope of chain of responsibility (COR) laws could be changed by new reforms.

Norton Rose Fulbright senior associate Nicki Milionis says that many of the submissions to the National Transport Commission’s (NTC) Duties Review Discussion Paper support extending COR to match work health and safety (WHS) provisions.

The discussion paper suggests CoR reforms could include an overarching primary duty of care, so that the legislation applies to a wider range of parties

It says this would require a number of legislative adjustments, but also calls for a great, non-legislative, focus on education, guidance material and operational guidelines.

“While the views in the submissions to the NTC Discussion Paper differ, and many are contingent upon further investigation taking place, these initial findings show that there is a willingness for reform to take place similar to what we experienced with WHS,” Milionis says.

“If changes to chain of responsibility laws were to proceed along these lines, it could mean that parties beyond those currently nominated in the legislation will be captured by the legislation and have duties in relation to heavy vehicle safety.”

Milionis says that a majority of groups - including the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) - support changes to COR provisions and “were comfortable with using the WHS approach”.

But she said that the Australian Logistics Council was one of the more conspicuous opponents to the broadening of primary duty of care.

The industry submissions in response to the discussion paper are available here.