Industry
Chain of Responsibility you can evidence, not just assert
Every party in the supply chain carries the duty, and the one asked to prove it is usually the one with the paperwork spread across a yard office, a driver's cab and a maintenance shed.
What does a transport operator have to be able to show under Chain of Responsibility?
Chain of Responsibility puts the duty on every party who influences a transport task, and the test is whether you took reasonable steps - which means being able to show what you checked, when, and what you did when something was wrong. That evidence is normally a driver's diary in a cab, a maintenance sheet in a shed and a fatigue policy in a folder. Frontline holds the checks, the defects, the incidents and the training in one register, with each record carrying its date, its owner and its evidence.
- Vehicle defects and pre-starts against the asset, not a paper book
- Fatigue and induction records per driver, with expiry surfaced early
- Subcontracted operators tracked with insurances and accreditation
- Every number links back to the record that produced it
The reality
The evidence is in the cab, the shed and the yard office
A transport business already does the checks. What it usually cannot do is produce them in one shape when a prime contractor audits it.
Pre-starts are on paper in the cab. Defects get called in and fixed, but the fix is in the mechanic's head and the invoice. Fatigue records sit in the diary. When a customer's compliance team asks for six months of evidence, someone spends a week with a photocopier.
None of that is a discipline problem, it is a capture problem. A driver will not open a laptop, so the capture has to be a phone, and the structure has to come afterwards.
- Pre-starts and defects captured from the cab in seconds
- Records held against the vehicle so history travels with it
- Works offline and syncs when the truck gets signal
What it handles
The work that fills a compliance manager's week
Vehicle registers
Pre-starts, servicing and defects against each asset, with history that travels between depots.
Driver records
Licences, inductions and competencies per person, flagged before they lapse.
Fatigue records
Work and rest records held with the driver and the trip, and exceptions surfaced rather than filed.
Incidents and damage
Reported from the cab, investigated, and closed into an owned action.
Injury and return to work
Every case with its restrictions, suitable duties and review dates.
Subcontracted operators
Insurances, accreditation and safety performance per operator, visible before allocation.
Dangerous goods
Loads, placarding and segregation checks held against the movement.
Customer and audit reporting
The prime contractor's evidence pack generated from live records.
Obligation mapping
Where each obligation lives
The question every safety manager asks before a demo: does this cover what we are actually required to do?
| Obligation | What it requires | Where it lives in Frontline |
|---|---|---|
| HVNL - Chain of Responsibility | Take reasonable steps to prevent a breach, and be able to show them | Checks, defects and actions held as dated records with owners and evidence |
| HVNL - fatigue management | Work and rest hours recorded, exceptions identified and managed | Fatigue records against the driver and the trip, with exceptions surfaced |
| HVNL - vehicle standards and maintenance | Vehicles maintained and roadworthy, defects rectified | Asset register with pre-starts, defects and servicing history per vehicle |
| HVNL - mass, dimension and loading | Loads within limits and restrained, with the checks evidenced | Load checks recorded against the movement, with photos attached |
| WHS Act - primary duty of care | Identify hazards, assess and control risk, review the controls | Risk register covering yards, depots and driving, with controls owned and verified |
| ADG Code - dangerous goods | Correct classification, segregation, placarding and documentation | Dangerous goods records against the load, with the checks held as evidence |
Mapping is indicative and reflects the Australian model WHS laws and the national schemes named. Requirements vary by jurisdiction. We'll walk your specific obligations on the call.
Questions we get asked
Will drivers use it?
It has to work from a phone in under a minute or it will not be used, so that is the constraint it is built to. Voice, photo or a few words, and no login ceremony at the start of a shift.
What happens with no signal?
Capture works offline and syncs when the device reconnects, so a run through a dead zone does not mean a lost record.
Does it replace our telematics?
No. Telematics tells you where the vehicle was and how it was driven. Frontline holds the checks, defects, incidents and training, and links them to the same vehicle and driver.
Can a customer see our evidence directly?
You export the pack rather than giving them a login. What they get is generated from the live records, not retyped for them.
See it on your fleet, your depots, your obligations.
We'll load a slice of your real data when your spot comes up so you're reacting to your own operation, not a sample one.
- We take a few teams at a time
- Configured to your framework
- No IT project