RHA audits help safeguard O-licences
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) offers a compliance audit for operator licence holders, which it says can help ensure fleets have confidence in the systems and procedures they have in place to satisfy their legal obligations.
“The role of a transport is to ensure their company/organisation are meeting safety and legal compliance obligations; in the main it would be around the 11 important undertakings that the traffic commissioner demands you maintain and satisfy at all times,” said the association.
“In order to ensure your company retains their operator licence you must remain compliant at all times; should anything happen within your operation, you must inform the traffic commissioner.”
It’s not an easy task staying compliant, says the RHA, especially in recent times.
“Transport managers have become all things to everyone in some organisations; gone are the days where your job was purely to just manage the O-licence,” it said.
“It’s important to ensure you and your team keep up to date with legislation and any changes. Ensure your superiors play an active role in what’s going on at your level and that the operator licence is treated as an important asset….
“There are membership organisations out there such as the RHA that can help.”
Suitable for operators large and small in either the transport or coach sectors, the RHA’s Operators Licence Compliance Audit is designed to measure the performance of an operator’s systems and procedures against the legal undertakings listed on the operator licence and the best practice measures applied to the industry.
The audit will provide the operator with a comprehensive report of its findings, says the RHA, together with easy-to-understand guidance on how to deal with any shortcomings identified – with ongoing support available to help fleets implement any necessary improvements.
