Why We Ask These Questions:

• To ensure everyone in your supply chain understands and fulfils their legal obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).  
• Strong CoR policies and training prevent breaches that can lead to severe fines, reputational damage and safety risks. 

What It’s Based On:

• Heavy Vehicle National Law (Cth) ch 6 – establishes Chain of Responsibility obligations on parties who influence heavy-vehicle safety, fatigue, speed, maintenance and loading. 
• Heavy Vehicle (Fatigue, Mass and Dimension, Loading) National Regulations – detail specific requirements for fatigue management, load restraint, mass limits and vehicle standards. 
• National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) CoR Guidelines – practical guidance on policy development and training. 
• AFRA Code of Conduct cl 7 – requires members to maintain CoR policies and complete relevant training. 

What We’re Looking For: 

Question	Why It Matters	What You Need to Show
General CoR policy in place	Documents how your business identifies and manages its CoR obligations across all activities.	Written Chain of Responsibility policy, signed off by senior management.
Fatigue management policy	Ensures drivers and schedulers plan work/rest to comply with HVNL fatigue rules and protect safety.	Policy document detailing work/rest schedules, monitoring and breach protocols.
Speed management policy	Controls how you set speed limits, monitor compliance and address breaches to reduce crash risk.	Policy outlining speed limits and reporting steps.
Vehicle maintenance policy	Specifies how and when vehicles are serviced to meet HVNL vehicle standards and prevent failures.	Maintenance schedule, service intervals and record-keeping procedures.
Load restraint, mass & dimension policy	Ensures consignments are secured, weighed and dimensioned correctly; avoids load shifts and fines.	Policy covering load restraint methods, mass/dimension checking and audit logs.
AFRA CoR training completed by applicable staff	Demonstrates your team has the knowledge to implement CoR policies and recognise breaches.	AFRA’s COR Training module completed by all staff.

Chain of Responsibility (CoR) – Legal Framework by Jurisdiction 

Jurisdiction	CoR Regime Source	Key Provisions (ss)	Notes
NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, TAS, ACT	Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) ch 6	65–78 (fatigue); 79–90 (mass/dim); 91–101 (load restraint); 102–108 (speed); 109–115 (vehicle standards)	Uniform across all adopting jurisdictions.
WA	Road Traffic (Vehicles) Regulations 1997 (WA)	s 71(3) (fatigue); s 70 (mass/dim); rr 237–239 (load restraint); ss 47–50 (speed); Ch 2 (standards)	No formal CoR; uses road-traffic laws.
NT	Motor Vehicles Act (NT) & Regulations	Licensing regs (fatigue); s 114 (mass/dim); rr 23–25 (load restraint); s 61 (speed); Sch 1 (standards)	No formal CoR; governed by NT vehicle laws.

Summary: 

• Adopting jurisdictions (NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, TAS, ACT) all use the HVNL ch 6 (ss 65–115) for CoR. 

• WA and NT don’t have a dedicated CoR regime and rely on their road-traffic legislation to cover the same topics.