The head of Australia's peak livestock transport body has moved to reassure welfare agencies the health and welfare of animals is front and centre for all its drivers.
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Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association executive director Rachel Smith said the organisation was currently updating the accreditation module, TruckCare.
The module aims to ensure carriers met requirements around the safe transportation of livestock, she said.
"TruckSafe currently does include a livestock module, that covers everything from 'fit to load' through to load densities, animal welfare and effluent management," Ms Smith said.
"We are currently redesigning the module, in partnership with the Australian Trucking Association, National Transport Insurance and MLA.
"We are revisiting it, to make sure it is fit for purpose and animal welfare standards are maintained."
The RSPCA in South Australia said it was alarmed by the number of livestock being killed and injured in recent road accidents, in the state.
The animal welfare organisation said there had been five serious accidents, involving livestock trucks, in SA in the past six months.
RSPCA SA Chief Inspector Andrew Baker described the number of accidents and reports received by the organisation's inspectorate about careless driving of livestock trucks as "alarming".
He said the situation pointed to an urgent need for drivers to recognise their duty of care towards the welfare of the animals they were transporting.
"These are not inanimate objects being trucked around, these are sentient animals whose welfare should be a top priority for these drivers as they negotiate our roads and traffic," Inspector Baker said.
"We are calling on employers to review their training of livestock truck drivers to ensure animals suffer as little stress as possible and arrive uninjured and calm at their destinations."
Ms Smith described the incidents in SA as "outliers", saying several didn't involve professional transporters.
"ALTRA members nationwide do thousands of movements a day," she said.
"It appears to be alarming, but it's an outlier, in term of incidents, nationally," she said.
"ALRTA works closely with RSPCA Australia and Animal Angels when developing policy and programs directed at animal welfare.
"Drivers can currently do the TruckCare module as part of the TruckSafe program, so this is just a revamp and refresh."
The refreshed module should be available in the first half of the year, she said.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
