2.1 – The organisation has a safety policy, signed by a company director or equivalent executive, which includes a commitment to continuous improvement, observes all applicable legal requirements and standards, and considers best practices.

2.2 – The organisation’s safety policy identifies key risks to be managed including speed, fatigue, mass, dimension, loading and load restraint, vehicle maintenance and associated business practices.

2.3 – The organisation’s safety policy includes a statement that the organisation has allocated sufficient resources to manage their policies, processes, and procedures including, but not limited to, competent staff for safety investigation, reviewing, auditing, and promotion.

2.4 – The organisation’s safety policy actively encourages safety reporting.

2.5 – The organisation’s safety objectives, responsibilities and accountabilities are clear, well defined, documented, communicated to all, and positively reinforced within a Just Culture framework.

2.6 – The organisation’s directors and senior management team promote positive safety and Just Culture and demonstrate their commitment to the safety policy through active and visible participation.

2.7 – An appropriately trained and competent accountable director or equivalent senior leader/manager has been appointed with full responsibility and accountability to ensure policies, processes, and procedures are properly implemented and performing effectively.

2.8 – A competent person who is responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the safety management system has been appointed with a direct reporting mechanism to the appointed accountable director or equivalent senior leader/manager in element 2.7.

2.9 – The organisation’s safety management system documentation including their policies, processes, and procedures are readily available to all relevant personnel.

2.10 – The organisation uses version control for all Safety Management System documentation and records, ensuring reviews are up to date, and health and safety archives are retained for 5 years, or longer if relevant to ongoing legal or health claims. Logbook and worktime records must be kept for 12 months from the date of last entry.

2.11 – The organisation has a policy to ensure recorded data is securely maintained, is only accessible to authorised personnel, and that confidential data is securely deleted as soon as possible after the required record retention period has ended.

3.1 – The organisation has a documented risk management strategy to capture incidents, hazards, near misses, and non-conformances that is simple to use, accessible to all staff, and that provides appropriate feedback to the reporter and, where appropriate, to the rest of the organisation.

3.2 – The organisation has a documented process in place to, where necessary, investigate hazards and incidents to ensure causal factors are identified and appropriate controls are implemented to minimise or prevent occurrences and recurrences.

3.3 – The organisation has a process that determines how hazards are identified from multiple sources through reactive and proactive methods (internal and external).

3.4 – The organisation includes health and safety hazards as defined by HSWA and any other NZ legislation or regulatory obligations, including speed, fatigue, mass, dimension, loading and load restraints, vehicle maintenance, and associated business practices in their management of risk.

3.5 – The organisation has a process for the management of risk that includes the analysis and assessment of risk associated with identified hazards expressed in terms of likelihood and consequence.

3.6 – The organisation has criteria for evaluating the level of risk the organisation is willing to tolerate and that risk assessments and ratings are appropriately justified.

3.7 – The organisation has a process in place to make decisions based on the level of each risk and apply appropriate and effective risk controls that are implemented in accordance with the hierarchy of control measures. The process must include consultation with staff and others that the organisation engages with in the supply chain.

3.8 – The organisation ensures senior management have visibility of medium and high-risk hazards, along with their mitigation and controls.

3.9 – The organisation has a transport emergency response plan (TERP) which defines the procedures, roles, responsibilities, activation, and actions of the organisation and key personnel that is appropriate for the transport activities they are engaged in.

3.10 – The organisation’s transport emergency response plan is periodically reviewed to ensure it remains relevant to the transport activities they are engaged in.

4.1 – The organisation has a programme to manage the health and well-being of their staff that includes medical conditions, work-related injury rehabilitation, return to work, and recovery at work. For drivers and other equipment operators it also includes fitness for duty.

4.2 – The organisation’s health and well-being programme includes regular medicals against the Austroads Assessing Fitness to Drive Commercial Vehicle Driver standards (2022) by a registered nurse, or medical practitioner, requiring drivers to undertake a pre-employment medical and then ongoing medicals at least every 3 years for staff aged 49 and under, annually for staff aged 50 or over, or a reduced period if determined by the assessing physician.

4.3 – The organisation has a drug and alcohol policy to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that all staff and contractors are free from the influence of drugs and/or alcohol when reporting for work and whilst at work. The policy includes expectations for staff and ramifications for non-compliance.

4.4 – The organisation has a written procedure for managing and monitoring any non-conformances of relevant New Zealand legislation that occur.

4.5 – The organisation has a written procedure for managing and monitoring speed that includes scheduling, speed limiters and tampering, and over-runs.

4.6 – The organisation has a written procedure for managing and monitoring fatigue that includes scheduling, rostering, delays, contingencies, rest facilities, driver welfare, fatigue awareness training, and fatigue event response.

4.7 – The organisation has a written procedure for managing and monitoring mass, dimension, loading and load restraint that includes overloading, over dimension, and non-conformities.

4.8 – The organisation has a documented vehicle maintenance programme, that includes daily pre-trip checks, fault recording and reporting, regular vehicle and equipment servicing, certification, compliance, Certificate of Fitness (COF) inspections, and speed limiter maintenance.

5.1 – The organisation has a documented training programme for their policies, processes, and procedures that includes induction, ongoing, and recurrent training. This training covers individual safety duties (including roles, responsibilities, accountabilities) and how the organisation’s safety management system operates.

5.2 – The organisation has a process in place to measure the effectiveness of training and to take appropriate action to improve subsequent training.

5.3 – The organisation’s training includes human and organisational factors including a Just Culture with the intent of reducing human error. Just Culture promotes fairness, accountability, and learning, encouraging open reporting of incidents while distinguishing between honest mistakes, risky behaviour, and negligence.

5.4 – The organisation has a documented process that assesses the competency of staff member’s for the task(s) they perform, including ones that relate to relevant NZ legislation, and takes appropriate action when necessary where a worker is deemed not competent.

6.1 – The organisation has a means in place for the consultation and engagement of their safety policy, systems, and processes to ensure all staff and contractors are aware of them and have the opportunity to be involved in their development and review.

6.2 – The organisation has a recorded policy with a set of principles that have been defined and communicated which clearly identifies acceptable and unacceptable behaviours to promote a Just Culture.

6.3 – The organisation has a recorded policy that encourages the reporting of matters that may cause harm to individuals, or loss or damage to property or reputation. The policy must allow for reporting to an external authority where appropriate, such as WorkSafe New Zealand, where required by law.

6.4 – The organisation has a process for recognising and rewarding drivers who demonstrate good behaviours in relation to driving performance, including management of speed and fatigue, mass, and appropriate load restraint practices.

6.5 – The organisation has a documented process in place to ensure, and regularly review, contractors and other companies (PCBUs) that the organisation undertakes work with, consult, co-operate and co-ordinate activities to ensure the shared duties under HSWA are met.

7.1 – The organisation’s safety assurance activities are developed to ensure due diligence obligations are met, and cover risks associated with speed, fatigue, mass, dimension, loading and load restraint, vehicle maintenance, and associated business practices.

7.2 – The organisation has a documented internal review programme including details of the schedule and procedures for regular and triggered reviews, including recording and acquitting findings, reporting, and escalation of outcomes.

7.3 – The organisation has a documented process to identify the impact of changes to policies, processes, or procedures and to identify and manage any risks in accordance with existing safety risk management processes. The process must include consultation with staff and others the organisation engages with in the supply chain that are affected by the changes.

7.4 – The organisation must consider Human Factor (HF) behaviours when changing and implementing policies or procedures, purchasing equipment, designing workplace environments, and analysing hazards and risks.

7.5 – The organisation provides for ongoing monitoring and assessing of their policies, processes, and procedures including following the reporting of an incident, near miss, or non-conformance to maintain or improve the overall effectiveness of their safety management system.

7.6 – The organisation has a documented process in place to analyse safety data, safety information, regulator information and other industry data to look for trends and gain useable safety management information.

7.7 – The organisation must ensure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) linked to the organisation’s safety objectives have been defined, made widely known to all staff and contractors, and are being monitored and analysed for trends and feedback.

7.8 – The organisation’s documented risk mitigations and controls are being routinely validated and reviewed to confirm they are working and effective.