There has been unprecedented feedback following my article last week “Systemic failure killed Johnathon Walters” which explored a needless death of a roadworker by an unroadworthy truck. And rightly so, this issue strikes at the heart of safety and compliance in our industry. 

The NRC Board convened a special session this week to review the feedback and discuss what NRC as industry leaders are doing to get this litany of system failures addressed.

For our own part, NRC experts are reviewing the publicly available timeline of events, compliance touch points from the operator, what the missed opportunities were for getting this truck off the road, and where the holes in the system are. We will be looking across the system players in the policy, regulatory, health & safety, policing, customer and other realms, exploring where interceptions were missed. As we said in the article, a major missed opportunity has been cross-agency cooperation. We want this surfaced.

We have been in touch with the Director of Land Transport to share the level of concern across the industry, and have asked for a response from NZTA to questions being raised.

 Deaths caused by operators neglecting their duties cast a shadow well beyond the tragedy of the accident itself.

 In the public’s mind they can also call into question the integrity of the road freight industry.

The vast majority of transport operators work exceptionally hard to keep their people safe and operations compliant. They follow the compliance procedures for their trucks, pay their RUC, maintain their vehicles and get their certificates of fitness. They pay in time, dollars and more than a little sweat, day in and day out.

But there is no question that there are some operators in this industry who flagrantly ignore their legal and regulatory obligations, committing fraud and having no duty of care to their employees or colleagues.

Sadly every industry has them. 

NRC and all of the compliant operators want the full force of the law thrown at them. They do not define our great industry. We do not want to see a single other needless death or injury like this.

I never met Jonathan, and had no reason to. But I can’t help thinking about him and his family.  He went to work in Remuera on a May evening last year to help with resurfacing a road, and never went home again. 

My heartfelt condolences go to his family.

Justin Tighe-Umbers, Chief Executive, National Road Carriers Assn