Page 3798 - Week 10 - Thursday, 27 August 2009
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As members will have seen, the bill deals with substances and articles which need to be tightly regulated. The bill also prohibits the transport of goods that are classified as goods too dangerous to be transported. Goods may be too dangerous to be transported because of their inherent instability, for example, nitroglycerine, or their potential to react violently when exposed to other things, including exploding or the dangerous emission of toxic, corrosive or flammable gases or vapours.
One focus of the bill is several key offences with significant penalties for unlicensed or unsafe transport of dangerous goods or the transport of goods too dangerous to be transported. The bill will be underpinned by detailed regulations which relate to the packaging, labelling, placarding and categorisation of dangerous goods. For example, the carriage of dangerous goods that are incompatible with each other will be prohibited or limited in some other way such as to quantities that may be carried. Specific duties will also be put on consignors to ensure that dangerous goods are appropriately contained. Obligations to ensure that dangerous goods are properly stowed will be placed on loaders and drivers. The dangerous goods will have to be accompanied by transport documentation which properly identifies the goods.
Another focus of the bill is the powers for authorised people to give directions to avoid or remedy dangerous situations. For example, a driver may be given a direction to move the vehicle or cause it to be moved to the extent reasonably necessary to avoid a dangerous situation, serious harm or imminent risk of serious harm or an obstruction or likely obstruction to other vehicles or to do anything else reasonably required by an authorised person to avoid the situation, harm or obstruction.
An authorised person may also give directions about how a broken down or otherwise immobilised vehicle and its load are to be dealt with and, if the vehicle is involved in an incident resulting in a dangerous situation, a direction to the driver or person apparently in charge of the vehicle about the transport of any goods in the vehicle from the place of the incident or how otherwise to deal with the goods. Under the bill a dangerous situation is a situation that is causing or likely to cause imminent risk of death or injury to a person, significant harm to the environment or significant damage to property.
As well as the usual penalties of fines and imprisonment for offences against the act, the bill provides for a graduated range of other measures which are designed to assist with compliance with the act or to act as a strong disincentive to profit from non-compliance with the act.
An authorised person may give a person an improvement notice where the person has a belief on reasonable grounds that a person is contravening, has contravened or is likely to contravene a provision of the act. An improvement notice may require the person to whom the notice is issued to remedy the contravention or likely contravention within the period specified in the notice. The notice may state the method to be used to remedy the situation. Alternatively, a formal written warning may be given. Provision is also made for prohibition notices directing people to stop or not engage in an activity that relates to the transport of dangerous goods by road that is happening or may happen in relation to or in the immediate vicinity of the dangerous goods and that creates or could create a dangerous situation or a risk to the safety of anyone.
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