Later this year the ‘Chain of Responsibility’ legislation will come in force.  If you work in the entertainment industry, this will impact on your job and your responsibilities.
Please read on and follow the links to get the lowdown.

What is the Chain of Responsibility?

In mid-2018, the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) will be amended to provide that every party in the heavy vehicle transport supply chain has a duty to ensure the safety of their transport activities – Chain of Responsibility (CoR).

If you consign, pack, load or receive goods as part of your business, you could be held legally liable for breaches of the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) even though you have no direct role in driving or operating a heavy vehicle. In addition, corporate entities, directors, partners and managers are accountable for the actions of people under their control. This is the ‘chain of responsibility’ (CoR).  The aim of CoR is to make sure everyone in the supply chain shares equal responsibility for ensuring breaches of the HVNL do not occur. Under CoR laws if you exercise (or have the capability of exercising) control or influence over any transport task, you are part of the supply chain and therefore have a responsibility to ensure the HVNL is complied with.  The law recognises that multiple parties may be responsible for offences committed by the drivers and operators of heavy vehicles. A person may be a party in the supply chain in more than one way. For example, they may have duties as the employer, the operator and the consigner of goods.

To put this in perspective for the entertainment industry, anybody with a responsibility for the freight will be held accountable.
From the bottom up it works something like this:
Loaders:  If the loading of a truck takes much longer than expected due to slow work, incorrect loading requiring a re-pack or any unreasonable action by loaders is causing the truck to leave much later than expected, forcing the driver to breach the HVNL to arrive in time, the loaders may be held accountable.
Crew Chief: If the crew chief allows the loading to be slow due to insufficient number of loaders, allowing fatigued loaders to work or not supervising properly causing delays, the crew chief can be held responsible for breaches.
Tour / Production / Technical / Account Manager: These people have two levels of responsibility:
1 – Providing sufficient resources for the truck to be loaded in time.  That means booking enough capable crew, booking forklifts and forklift drivers, providing a safe loading dock – well lit and without rubbish.
2 – Realistic schedule.  This may link back to higher up the chain when it comes to tour dates but setting unrealistic travel times is a major breach of HVNL.  Putting pressure on drivers is a big part of the road safety problems.  They also have some responsibility to monitor fatigue levels in drivers before they drive out of the gate.
Venue Manager:  If actions, or inactions, of the venue manager or their staff is hampering the scheduled loading time then they may be breaching the HVNL.  This may include not allowing access to the loading dock when needed and as agreed, not having plant or crew available when needed if booked through the venue.
Touring Crew:  Any delays caused by the touring crew or staff of suppliers providing services causing delays in loading and dispatching trucks can contribute to a breach of the HVNL.  The Tour Manager will have some responsibility if their crew is delaying the departure of the truck by slack crew at a bump-out will be held responsible.  With multiple suppliers on-site that may also roll over to how their actions or inactions affect other suppliers and their trucks.
The extended problem with a touring show is that what comes out last is needed first at the next stop.  So if the lighting crew is slow removing gear from the truss it will impact on the rigging crew and rigging truck.  If the rigging truck breaches the HVNL because of that, the lighting crew may be held responsible.
Performers:  Performers also have a responsibility in this legislation.  Either by stretching the performance beyond reasonable timeframes to being uncooperative when it comes to return instruments, microphones, costumes or whatever needs to get on the truck, they can be part of the problem and be held responsible.
Security: If the actions or inactions of any security personnel causes disruptions in getting trucks in and out of the loading dock as scheduled, they can be implemented in any actions if HVNL are breached as a result.  And that could be anything from delays in opening gates, poor traffic management to allowing cars to park where they cause problems for trucks.

That roughly sums up the ‘on the floor’ responsibilities, but it doesn’t stop there.
Promoter/ Event Manager: At this level the responsibility is for budgets, allowing sufficient resources to load the trucks and planning, allowing sufficient time to safely move from stop to stop in a tour.
Band Manager: Similar to above, demanding unrealistic tour schedules from promoters will bring band management in the sights if HVNL breaches are traced back to their demands.
CEO / Board / Client: Another part of the amendment includes a stricter duty on company executive officers to make sure their company complies with its duties under the new law.  This involves executives proactively ensuring compliance, even if an offence has not been committed.  And if the company is found liable, executives can be held personally liable.

Make yourself familiar with HVNL

National Heavy Vehicle Regulator information

The outline above is only very broad, every show, every tour, every event will be different but the responsibilities under the HVNL remain the same.
The new provisions are similar to the obligations and penalties imposed in workplace health and safety legislation.  Recent decisions in the workplace health and safety area make it clear that the courts will take a robust approach to what is ‘reasonably practicable’ and you can anticipate a similar approach will be taken to the new chain of responsibility provisions.  And penalties are steep:

Penalties

Category 3

Situation: A breach of the safety duty – the discovery of the breach is sufficient, no event needs to have taken place

Penalties: $50,000 for an individual, and $500,00 for a corporation

Category 2

Situation: A breach of the safety duty that creates a risk of injury or death

Penalties: $100,000 for individual and $1 million for a corporation

Category 1

Situation: Recklessness is involved

Penalties: Five years imprisonment and/or $300,000 for an individual, and $3 million for a corporation

For more information about the chain of responsibility, and your role and responsibilities, visit the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator website.