ABN 49 988 413 308

112 Whitelaw Ave

Delacombe. Victoria, 3356

Contents

Speed Management Policy ........................................................................................................................... 3

•  Purpose.................................................................................................................................................... 3

•  Background ....................................................................................................................... .................... 3 

• Statement and policy ............................................................................................................................. 3 

• Other References ................................................................................................................................... 3 

• Procedures ............................................................................................................. ............................... 3 

• Identifying speed limit breaches.......................................................................................................... 4 

• Reporting and investigating speed limit breaches............................................................................ 4 

• Consequences of speed breaches ...................................................................................................... 6 

• Tampering......................................................................................................................................... 6
  

Speed Management Policy

Purpose

To document the Company’s policy to ensure that there is a system in place to manage the company’s heavy vehicle speeds to ensure we do all we can to prevent speeding.

Background

The Company is engaged, by many organisations in the transport of refrigerated products and general freight both within Victoria and interstate. This includes the scheduling of drivers to deliver goods on time to customers. The ‘Chain of Responsibility’ for the management of heavy vehicle speeds is now in place in most Australian states and there is a legal obligation on the company to ensure:

• work practices do not contribute to or cause on-road breaches of speed limits by drivers;

• training of staff to make sure they understand their obligations under the Chain of Responsibility;

• audits/spot-checks to make sure of compliance (for example, monitoring of on-board speed devices, checking schedules and loading arrangements);

• reviewing contracts and commercial arrangements to make sure they do not directly or indirectly encourage breaches of speed limits, and;

• having documented contingency plans to manage operational issues (like loading/ unloading or traffic delays).

Statement and policy

Sargeant Transport is committed to driver’s compliance to all speed limits and will not condone any employee:

• exceeding the speed limit, or;

• requiring, encouraging or directing a driver to exceed the speed limit.

Appropriate remedial action is to be taken where an individual person is identified exceeding the speed limit or any member of our chain of responsibility requires, encourages or directs a driver to do so.

Other References

• the Sargeant Transport Services Pty Ltd Enterprise Bargaining Agreement 2021, particularly pg 11, Clause 8D which specifies “It is agreed that all employees will work in accordance with the Driver’s Manual, as varied from time to time, applying at Sargeant Transport Services Pty Ltd; and

• the Drivers Manual no. 6, particularly pg. 13, Vehicle Speed which specifies “Company vehicles shall not be driven at speeds in excess of those nominated by legislation or by road signs.  Speeding breaches will be dealt with severely.  Repeated offences will result in the dismissal of the employee.”

Procedures

Identification and investigation of speed limit breaches:

• It is important that all information relating to speed events and breaches is gathered and investigated in a consistent manner. The minimum standard required to effectively identify, investigate and respond to breaches of the speed limit is outlined in the below procedures.

There is a specific speed regulation relating to South Australia.

• All of our drivers are to obey the signs on the descent of the Mt Barker Rd, (Bottom of the South Eastern Freeway). Any vehicle with a GVM > 4.5tonne must not exceed 60km/hr loaded or empty. In addition, that vehicle is not allowed to be seen to be relying on their primary brake system. They must use the correct gear and retarder (Engine / exhaust) to control vehicle speed.
  

Identifying speed limit breaches

Wherever possible, breaches of the speed limit must be identified and recorded, where the speed limit is defined as the lesser of:

1. The posted speed limit at the location the vehicle is travelling in, including time-based variable speed limits and school and construction area speed zones, and

2. The regulated speed limit for the heavy vehicle being driven, for example 100km/hr for heavy vehicles and 90km/hr for road trains[i]

Speed limit breaches are to be identified and recorded by the following means:

1. Any externally-recorded breach of the speed limit (for example from an infringement notice or “Notice to Produce” request from enforcement agencies) must be recorded against the driver and, where applicable, subcontracted operator in an auditable records system for report and investigation as per the below sub-section.

2. When utilising electronic monitoring they are to record and report as speed events any incident at or above 7km/hr over the vehicle’s regulated speed limit for 8 seconds or longer and showing the total time and location for each incident.

Reporting and investigating speed limit breaches

Speed limit breaches shall be reported and investigated in accordance with the following categorisation:

1. A Critical speed breach is classified as a speed 15km/hr or more over the speed limit.  In this instance, the incident is to be investigated, with the details of the incident and outcomes of the investigation recorded in an auditable records system.  Speed limit breaches of this nature, which are proven to be the fault of the driver via the investigation, are to be dealt with in accordance with the Consequence Table in the below sub-section.

2. A Major speed breach is classified as a speed of 10km/hr or more over the speed limit and less than 15km/hr over the speed limit.  In this instance, the incident is to be investigated, with the details of the incident and outcomes of the investigation recorded in an auditable records system.  Speed limit breaches of this nature, which are proven to be the fault of the driver via the investigation, are to be dealt with in accordance with the Consequence Table in the below sub-section.

3. A Moderate speed breach is classified as a breach that is less than 10km/hr over the speed limit.  Such breaches shall be recorded against the driver in an auditable records system and are to be assessed on a case-by-case basis according to their duration and frequency (i.e. breaches per trip and per driver).  Where this investigation shows that the driver has failed to act responsibly in managing such events, e.g. by not reducing speed immediately upon alarm or by breaching the speed limit repeatedly, the breach is to be handled in accordance with the Consequence Table in the below sub-section.

4. Summaries of Divisional speed event information and key actions are reported in the Sargeant Transport Driver Compliance Report, which is circulated to the Group Senior Management Committee on a quarterly basis.

Non-Compliance

Non-Compliance Sargeant Transport monitors speed compliance through the telemetry tracking of Sargeant Transport owned vehicles. Speeding events are reviewed against the Sargeant Transport Speed Management Policy & events that have been identified as a breach are reviewed for accuracy & cause. With information gathered a Non-Conformance Report is generated with event details & corrective actions, this report is registered into the Sargeant Transport Speed Management Register & escalated to appropriate parties for action. These documents are held within accordance of the Sargeant Transport Document Control and Records Management Policy

Consequences of speed breaches

Reported and investigated speed breaches shall be subjected to the performance management procedures and practices of the Sargeant Transport.  As noted above, where the corresponding investigation demonstrates that the speed breach is the fault of the driver, such performance management practices shall incorporate corrective actions on the individual driver as per the below Consequence Table 1[i]  Where an investigation determines that the below consequences are not be to implemented, the associated reasoning and alternative course of action shall be clearly documented in the investigation report.

Tampering

• Any evidence of tampering or disconnected safety equipment including GPS systems or speed monitoring will be treated as severe wilful misconduct and persons involved will be subject to a disciplinary hearing and if conclusive evidence is provided will be subject to termination of employment.

[1] The regulated speed limits stated for heavy vehicles and road trains are examples only based on typical State and Territory legislation. The specific State or Territory legislation applicable to the place of operation shall be consulted to confirm the regulated speed limits of heavy vehicles operated by Sargeant Transport and their subcontractors.

[1] Consequences of speed breaches shall also be implemented and managed in accordance with the driver’s employment agreement. Sargeant Transport shall review such agreements before taking any associated corrective or disciplinary actions. Sargeant Transport human resources and/or legal representative should be consulted where the implications of such agreements on the consequences outlined in Table 1 are unclear.