Dairy carriers and processors have signed on to a new safety initiative, launched after research found milk tankers were at a higher risk of crashing than other freight transport.
Spilt Milk: A National Crash Reduction Program for the Dairy Industry, found tankers were 2.4 times more likely to be involved in a major crash than other heavy vehicles.
Key stakeholders, including consignors, carriers and processors, joined the program, which is funded through the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator's (NHVR) Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative, supported by the federal government and specialist insurer, NTI.
NTI chief sustainability officer Chris Hogarty said four of the largest dairy carriers and three of the largest processors had signed on.
"While the dairy industry has a history of excellent, but isolated, initiatives to improve the safety performance of milk tankers, the aim of the 'Spilt Milk' project is to bring together key stakeholders, expertise, and initiatives, to deliver whole-of-industry solutions to this whole-of-industry issue," Mr Hogarty said.
"The goal is to reduce dairy tanker rollovers and improve road safety by working with drivers, fleet managers and consignors," he said.
Read more:
A similar education program in Victoria's forestry industry resulted in a 65 per cent reduction in rollovers, from 29 in a year to the 2020 financial year being rollover free.
Mr Hogarty said dairy tankers had unique engineering and physical attributes and worked in an operating environment that made them particularly susceptible to rollovers.
"This is about protecting drivers and protecting the environment because dairy tanker crashes not only put those behind the wheel and road users at risk but can cause milk and diesel spills," Mr Hogarty said.
"We need to improve education and training resources to better share knowledge about the best and safest ways for the dairy transport industry to operate.
"In the past, traditional rollover training has been difficult to access or too expensive and we know reaching drivers is critical to effectively address this safety issue".
WorkSafe Victoria announced last week that the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector recorded eight deaths in the sector last year, which is the equal second highest amount of workplace deaths in 2022.
NHVR chief executive Sal Petroccitto said keeping the Australian industry moving toward a safer and more sustainable future was the organisation's priority.
The program was another example of NTI working with industry to achieve that
Mr Pettroccitto said the project had benefits for the entire dairy transport supply chain.
"Through Spilt Milk, drivers, fleet managers and maintenance providers across the dairy transport supply chain will receive targeted education to prevent rollovers and keep our industry and our roads safe."
Training materials, including templates and instructional videos, were now being developed as Phase 2 of Spilt Milk began, headed by NTI Transport Research Manager Adam Gibson, and Australian Trucking Safety Services & Solutions Director, Alan Pincott.
Mr Gibson said the key was making sure everyone is part of the process and understands how the project is going to be impactful for them.
"A lot of people are doing great things in the dairy space, " Mr Gibson said.
The opportunity is to find individual pockets of brilliance and share them more widely," he said.
"There is a net benefit to all participants to share things they don't compete on such as safety."
Materials, and sharing of best practice, could be rolled out to front-line staff, including drivers, as early as June this year.
Subscribers have access to download our free app today from the App Store or Google Play
