The National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) Mass Management Module encourage Heavy Vehicle Operators to take greater responsibility for loading their trucks correctly ensuring that trucks maintain compliance with their relevant mass limits, leading to improved road safety.
This will assist you to manage your business more efficiently, by providing procedures and methods for Workers/Drivers to assess the loaded weight of the vehicle against Gross & Axle Mass Limits. Initially, by having clear procedures in place, this will assist in ensuring that vehicles and configurations are compliant and reducing the risk of mass breaches
The benefits to operators may include:
• Encouragement of responsibility from all stakeholders;
• More consistent compliance with road safety standards;
• Assisting with administering and control of documents;
• Improvements in productivity and efficiency;
• Improved Worker/Driver safety and wellbeing;
• Improved Worker/Driver morale and attendance;
• Foster better relationships with regulatory agencies;
• Increased customer confidence with better loading of vehicles
• Reduced impact of enforcement
• Complying to Level 2 Mass Limits and network access
• Complying with the requirements of concessional mass and higher mass limits
• Gain commercial advantage through Performance Based Standards (PBS)
Benefits to the community include better and more consistent compliance with road safety standards.
As an accredited operator under Mass Management module, you are required to assess the loaded mass of the vehicle during the loading process, to ensure that the do not exceed the relevant mass limits. The maintaining of trip records is required to occur and be maintained as evidence that correct weight loading of your vehicles is taking place. How you create and monitor these records as evidence is at your own discretion.
The assessing of a vehicles loaded weight can occur through a variety of methods, including if you use a weighbridge, use on-board scales, estimate the weight from the volume of the load, or a combination of methods. It is necessary to document your system you intend to follow and explain how it works. You are required to have documents of vehicle weights that prove your procedures and methods work and your vehicles are not overloaded to maintain accreditation. Bi-Annual verification of the weight of the vehicle and load must occur to prove that your methods are accurate for assessing the weight of vehicle loads.
Your Mass Management System must comply with the requirements outlined in the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS): Business Rules and Standards. As an accredited operator, enrolled in Mass Management, you will be audited periodically by an independent auditor to ensure that you are continuing to meet the standards of the scheme. If your audit is successful, your accreditation will be renewed. Alternatively, you may be asked to improve your system before renewal of your accreditation.
Accreditation does not exempt you from the law. You may be audited at any time, with your vehicles also subject to on-road checks to ensure conformance to the NHVAS. Mass Management Accreditation will ensure you receive preferential treatment from enforcement agencies as you will be subject to fewer on-road checks. In the instance of undergoing a random check, your vehicle will be dealt with as quickly as possible. The NHVAS Accreditation Label on your vehicle will identify this to the inspectors.
The Mass Management Accreditation also provides operators with access to the Performance Based Standards (PBS) Scheme, as PBS Configurations typically require that Mass Management Accreditation must be in force for all motor vehicles listed within a PBS Vehicle Approval.
In effect, having Elite Compliance Consulting (ECC) assist you in implementing a Mass Management System, the following resources and standard forms will be provided within the Mass Management System Manual:
– Monthly Compliance Reports for Mass
– Training Needs Analysis & Register
– Training & Medical Record Forms
– Vehicle Resources Register
– Annual Internal Review for Mass
– Non Conformance Forms and Non Conformance Register
– Vehicle & Configuration Register
– Accident, Incident & Near Miss Report Form
– Incident Investigation Report form
– Truck Service and Trailer Service Forms and Service Scheduling Register
– Record of Competency and Table of Tolerances
– Periodic Weight Verification Register form
– Statement of Compliance Record forms
– Vehicle Permits Register & Axle Mass Limits Register
Safe Operating Procedure (SOP) for:
– Vehicle Inspection & Fault Reporting
– Mass Loading Verification
– Dimensions and Loading
Alternatively, if you already have a Mass Management System implemented, and would like assistance in revising or updating your internal documentation, please contact Elite Compliance Consulting. You are able to purchase your full suite of Mass Management forms – Click here.
Click here to see how easy it is to enrol in NHVAS Mass Management Module.