Bus Safety Act - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Bus Safety Act 2009 (the Act or BSA) is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

and is the prime statute

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

regulating the safety of bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

operations across the State.

The Act is aimed at preventing deaths and injuries arising from bus operations and establishes a modern "best practice" regulatory framework to assist in maintaining and improving the Victorian bus industry's good safety record.

The Bus Safety Act continued regulatory control over the operation of large buses and introduced safety standards for the small or mini-bus sector which comprises 40% of the Victorian bus fleet. Controls over large and small buses comprise permissions such as accreditation and registration. In addition, the BSA introduced broad based "safety duties" for bus operators and all others who have a significant role in providing both commercial and non-commercial bus services. The BSA also extended the range of enforcement powers and sanctions available to the safety regulator - the Director, Transport Safety

Director, Transport Safety

The Director, Transport Safety is the independent Government agency responsible for rail, bus and marine safety in the State of Victoria, Australia. The position was created as a statutory office by the Transport Integration Act 2010...

or Transport Safety Victoria

Director, Transport Safety

- and operates to encourage greater safety awareness across all types of bus operations.

Overall, the Act established a modern regulatory framework to assist the bus industry, which has a good safety record in Victoria, to adapt to the changing safety requirements of busier and more complex bus services.

The BSA was developed as part of the Transport Legislation Review

Transport Legislation Review

The Transport Legislation Review was a policy and legislation review project conducted by the Department of Transport in the State of Victoria, Australia between 2004 and 2010....

conducted by the Department of Transport

Department of Transport (Victoria, Australia)

The Department of Transport or DOT is the central Government agency responsible for the coordination, integration and regulation of the transport system in the State of Victoria, Australia...

between 2004 and late 2010. The Act was passed in late March 2009 and commenced on 31 December 2010.

The Bus Safety Act was the State's first dedicated statute

Statute

on the subject having replaced provisions in the former Public Transport Competition Act 1995.

The Act forms part of the transport

Transport

Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...

policy

Policy

A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...

and legislation

Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...

framework in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

headed by the Transport Integration Act

Transport Integration Act

The Transport Integration Act 2010 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the former Transport Act 1983....

. As a result, the application of the Bus Safety Act is subject to the overarching transport system vision, transport system objectives and decision making principles set out in the Transport Integration Act

Transport Integration Act

.

The responsible Minister

Minister (government)

A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....

for the Bus Safety Act is the Minister for Public Transport.

Outline

The stated purpose of the Bus Safety Act Act is "...to provide for the safe operation of bus services in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

". The objects of the Act center on the safety of bus operations, management of safety risks, continuous improvement in bus safety

Safety

Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...

management, public confidence in the safety of bus transport, appropriate stakeholder involvement and the existence of a safety culture among bus service providers.

The Act also contains a number of overarching policy principles relating to shared responsibility for safety, accountability for managing safety risks, enforcement, transparency, consistency and stakeholder involvement

Stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder engagement is the process by which an organisation involves people who may be affected by the decisions it makes or can influence the implementation of its decisions...

.
The Act establishes a regulatory scheme with the following key elements -

a number of performance-based safety duties which apply to the broad range of parties who can affect bus safety
Safety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...

outcomes
an accreditation scheme concentrating on key commercial bus industry operators and operators of local bus services
a registration scheme for operators of small buses (mini buses) and large non commercial buses
a broad range of sanctions
Sanctions (law)
Sanctions are penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the law, or with rules and regulations. Criminal sanctions can take the form of serious punishment, such as corporal or capital punishment, incarceration, or severe fines...

and penalties
cost benefit
Cost-benefit analysis
Cost–benefit analysis , sometimes called benefit–cost analysis , is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project for two purposes: to determine if it is a sound investment , to see how it compares with alternate projects...

protections against excessive action by the regulator which affect industry participants
alcohol and drug management controls on bus safety workers through a requirement for operators to develop and implement an alcohol and drug management policy
provision for the making of codes of practice to provide guidance on compliance to regulated rail industry parties.

The case for a new regulatory scheme

The Bus Safety Act was developed as a response to growing bus operations and the emergence of a greater safety risks and in recognition of the deficiencies of the previous regulatory scheme.

Before the BSA, bus safety in Victoria was regulated by an operator accreditation

Accreditation

Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.Organizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies ; hence they are sometimes known as "accredited...

scheme in the former Public Transport Competition Act 1995 and by miscellaneous prescriptive offences in the Transport (Passenger Vehicles) Regulations 2005. Compared with best practice regimes, the previous scheme was outmoded and inadequate.

Some of the problems with the previous regime were -

it focused almost solely on the bus operator and ignored the safety role of other key industry participants who can affect safety outcomes. In essence, the scheme ignored the bus safety chain of responsibility
Chain of Responsibility
The chain of responsibility is a policy concept used in Australian transport legislation to place legal obligations on parties in the transport supply chain or across transport industries generally. The concept was initially developed to apply in the heavy vehicle industry in regulated areas such...

bus accreditation
Accreditation
Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.Organizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies ; hence they are sometimes known as "accredited...

tends to focus on the ability to operate rather than on safety outcomes more generally

conditions of accreditation and the passenger vehicles regulations tend to be prescriptive rather than performance-based, and do not result in the general safety awareness and proactive risk management required to develop a safety culture

the regulator had limited sanctions available when safety breaches occurred and was often forced to choose between sanctions that were either too strong or too weak

the scheme did not apply to all 'buses'. The previous legislative definition of 'bus' was a passenger vehicle with more than 12 seating positions, including the driver. This missed mini buses and was inconsistent, not only with the requirements in most Australian jurisdictions, but also with the relevant Australian Design Rules which regulated vehicle construction in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Parts

.
The Bus Safety Act is divided into nine parts -

Preliminary
Principles of Bus Safety
Bus Safety Duties
Accreditation and Registration
Alcohol and Drug Management Policy
Review of Decisions
Codes of Practice
General
Amendments to Other Acts and Repeal of Part

Coverage

The Bus Safety Act regulates the safety

Safety

compliance

Regulatory compliance

In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. Regulatory compliance describes the goal that corporations or public agencies aspire to in their efforts to ensure that personnel are aware of and take steps to comply with relevant laws and...

of most bus transport in Victoria including buses operated both commercially and non commercially. A major change made by the Act was the extension of coverage to small buses.

The former Public Transport Competition Act regime focused exclusively on large buses. The BSA extended the definition of 'bus' in line with the Australian Design Rules, which define a bus as a passenger vehicle with 10 or more seating positions including the driver. The definition refers to buses 'as built'. This means that if a vehicle is built as a bus, subsequent modifications, including reducing the number of seats, will not alter its status under the scheme.

Accordingly, a bus built with 10 seats remains a bus even if some of those seats are removed. This ensures that safety regulation is not avoided by making alterations to the vehicle. Some flexibility is provided by allowing for vehicles and services to be opted in or out of the definition.

For example, a vehicle that would otherwise be a bus, but is licensed as a taxi, is excluded so that the operator is not subject to double regulation.

Chain of responsibility

In order to foster more proactive risk management in the bus industry, Part 3 of the BSA imposes performance-based duties of care on all industry participants who are in a position to influence the safety of the operation - what is called the 'chain of responsibility

Chain of Responsibility

The chain of responsibility is a policy concept used in Australian transport legislation to place legal obligations on parties in the transport supply chain or across transport industries generally. The concept was initially developed to apply in the heavy vehicle industry in regulated areas such...

'.

Safety duties apply to all bus services, both commercial and non-commercial, and to all buses regardless of seating capacity. The primary duty holder under the Bus Safety Act is the operator of the bus service, as the person who has effective responsibility and control over the whole operation.

Safety duties are also imposed on a range of other people including -

bus safety workers including drivers, schedulers who set bus timetables, and mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....

and testers who repair or assess vehicle safety

procurers - that is, people who procure the bus service, known as the customer in the commercial charter sector

people with responsibility for bus stops including people who design, build or maintain the stop and who decide on its location. This was a response to research showing that the most serious hazard associated with bus travel occurs when passengers, especially children, are crossing the road after alighting from the bus. The location and layout of a bus stop
Bus stop
A bus stop is a designated place where buses stop for passengers to board or leave a bus. These are normally positioned on the highway and are distinct from off-highway facilities such as bus stations. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage...

is therefore a factor in the level of risk.

All of these persons can clearly affect bus safety. They are required to ensure that, in carrying out their activities, they eliminate risks to health and safety if 'practicable' - or work to reduce those risks 'so far as is reasonably practicable'.

This familiar practicability formula is borrowed from Victoria's Rail Safety Act

Rail Safety Act

The Rail Safety Act 2006 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in the State...

(and the subsequent national model Rail Safety Bill) and the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.

Safety culture

Duties of this kind are a key aspect of modern safety regulation and tend to create a shared safety awareness, a proactive approach to safety management and adaptability to new circumstances - in other words, a safety culture

Safety culture

Safety culture is a term used to describe the way in which safety is managed in the workplace, and often reflects "the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values that employees share in relation to safety" .-Defining safety culture:...

.

The framework of safety duties in the Act seeks to give practical effect to the so-called "chain of responsibility

Chain of Responsibility

" concept in the bus safety

Safety

sector. It seeks to identify the parties who are in a sufficient position of control over risks, in this case to safety

Safety

, and to allocate responsibility by law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

accordingly.

Penalties for a breach of safety duties are potentially high, with maximum penalties reflecting those that can be imposed on duty holders in the rail sector and in the OH and S Act. Penalties vary among natural person

Natural person

Variously, in jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being, as opposed to an artificial, legal or juristic person, i.e., an organization that the law treats for some purposes as if it were a person distinct from its members or owner...

and body corporate

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

offenders.

The general approach taken in the Act - to encourage a safety culture by imposing safety duties and risk management obligations on persons in a chain of responsibility

Chain of Responsibility

- is strongly supported by the report on transport safety regulation released in October 2008 by the NSW Efficient Transportation Marketplace Working Group. The report effectively endorsed Victoria's and the nation's rail safety regime directions and suggested that a similar approach, particularly focusing on performance-based duties, be taken with all road transport.

Nature of duties

The typical formulation of a safety duty specifies that persons covered by Part 3 of the Act must satisfy in this category is that they must "so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the safety of the bus service".

The formulation of the duty can, however, vary according to the party covered. For example, a bus safety worker is required to take "...reasonable measures to ensure the safety of persons who may be affected by the acts or omissions of the bus safety worker."

Permissioning

Part 4 of the Bus Safety Act contains provision for two permissioning schemes - an accreditation

Accreditation

scheme and a registration

Vehicle registration

Vehicle registration is the compulsory registration of a vehicle with a government authority. Vehicle registration's purpose is to establish clear ownership and to tax motorists or vehicle owners....

scheme. These schemes apply according to whether the operator runs a commercial service for profit or a local bus service or a not for profit service such as those typically offered by clubs and associations.

The BSA seeks to strike a balance between the need to ensure that non commercial bus services are operated safely without requiring onerous requirements and therefore threatening the viability of community services, such as buses provided by local councils, clubs or community organisations.

This led to the requirement in the Act for the most risky bus services - commercial services and local services - to be subject to accreditation requires while less risky not for profit services were subject to a lesser registration obligation.

Accreditation

The key party responsible for the direct operation of commercial bus services in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

, the bus operator, is not permitted to operate under the Act unless granted accreditation

Accreditation

under the BSA by the regulator.

The purpose of accreditation

Accreditation

is to attest that a person who operates a commercial bus service or a local bus service has demonstrated the competence and capacity to manage the risks to safety

Safety

associated with their bus operations.

The matters applicants are required to demonstrate under the scheme are that they have, "...and will continue to have, the competence and capacity to operate a commercial bus service or local bus service safely.".

Matters relevant to satisfying that test include whether the applicant has completed an approved training

Training

The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...

course and any other matters prescribed by regulations or declared by the Safety Director.

Reduced reliance on accreditation

In addition to safety duties, the requirement to be accredited was continued by the BSA for operators of commercial services which use medium to large buses, as well as local councils which use medium to large buses to provide a local service that is available to the general public.

The accreditation scheme under previous legislation was streamlined and strengthened by the Bus Safety Act to focus more clearly on safety. It no longer focuses on business competence, and reduced the regulatory burden by relieving accredited operators of the need to obtain periodic renewal of their accreditation.

New probity standards were also introduced by the BSA, with the inclusion of disqualification offences - essentially past criminal convictions which, depending on their seriousness, may disqualify an applicant from obtaining accreditation thereby excluding the person from operating a bus.

Additional effort required in demonstrating safety competence to the regulator, and the additional regulator vigilance involved in accreditation, are reasonably required for commercial and local services that include medium to large buses - those services that are the most visible are spending the most time on the road, carrying the largest number of passengers and usually serving the general public.

These services intrinsically have a higher safety risk. Therefore it was important that the new accreditation scheme promotes and maintains public confidence in these services.

Significantly, the BSA makes it clear that the concept of 'commercial' includes so-called 'courtesy services' - that is, where the passenger is carried free because they have paid for a service to which the transport is ancillary - with hotel shuttles the most familiar example.

Registration

The Bus Safety Act does not require accreditation

Accreditation

for operators of non-commercial bus services, or services that rely exclusively on minibuses - buses with 10-12 seats. These services are, however, subject to the same range of safety duties as applies to other bus services.

They are also required by the Act to be registered with the safety regulator

Director, Transport Safety

, enabling the regulator to take proactive compliance steps or responsive action as necessary. In addition, the specific guidance contained in codes of practice can enhance compliance by operators of these services.

Compliance

The BSA enables the safety director to apply to the bus sector the wide array of enforcement powers and sanctions

Sanctions

Sanctions, plural of sanction, permission depending on context; contronym; may also refer to:Involving countries:* Economic sanctions, typically a ban on trade, possibly limited to certain sectors such as armaments, or with certain exceptions .*Trade sanctions, a type of economic sanction applied...

, consistent with modern safety schemes.

These provisions give the safety director

Director, Transport Safety

regulatory tools including improvement notices (which require a duty holder to remedy a safety breach) and, in more critical circumstances, prohibition notices (which enable the safety director to prohibit the duty holder from carrying out an unsafe activity until the situation is remedied).

In each case, failure to comply with the notice is an offence. The Rail Safety Act

Rail Safety Act

The Rail Safety Act 2006 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in the State...

and Road Safety Act 1986 give courts a wide range of sentencing options after a finding of guilt is made in relation to a safety offence. These, too, were made available by the BSA in relation to bus safety offences.

The compliance

Regulatory compliance

-related provisions to support the Bus Safety Act were not included in that Act. Instead, they were included in the Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983

Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983

The 'Transport Act 1983' is a prime statute regulating transport activities in the State of Victoria, Australia...

as part of the holistic restructuring of Victorian transport legislation driven by the Transport Legislation Review

Transport Legislation Review

The Transport Legislation Review was a policy and legislation review project conducted by the Department of Transport in the State of Victoria, Australia between 2004 and 2010....

.

The compliance support scheme centres on provisions which enable the appointment of authorised officers, the conferral of coercive powers and the availability of a range of administrative and court-based sanctions.

The key elements are -

appointment of transport safety officers
powers relating to entry to railway premises, inspection
Inspection
An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity...

, securing sites, use of force
Use of force
The term use of force describes a right of an individual or authority to settle conflicts or prevent certain actions by applying measures to either: a) dissuade another party from a particular course of action, or b) physically intervene to stop them...

and seizure
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...

of things
powers to search
Search and seizure
Search and seizure is a legal procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems whereby police or other authorities and their agents, who suspect that a crime has been committed, do a search of a person's property and confiscate any relevant evidence to the crime.Some countries have...

, enter and require production of documents and information and to require name and address details
sanctions
Sanctions (law)
Sanctions are penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the law, or with rules and regulations. Criminal sanctions can take the form of serious punishment, such as corporal or capital punishment, incarceration, or severe fines...

and penalties such as improvement notices, prohibition notices and infringement notices
powers to initiate prosecutions
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...

, receive safety undertakings and impose commercial benefits penalty orders, supervisory intervention orders, exclusion orders and adverse publicity orders.

Responsible regulator

The responsible regulator

Regulator

Regulator may refer to:*Regulator , a device that maintains a designated characteristic**Battery regulator**Pressure regulator**Diving regulator**Voltage regulator...

for the application and enforcement of the Bus Safety Act, and therefore the regulation of the safety

Safety

performance of the bus sector in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

, is the Director, Transport Safety

Director, Transport Safety

.

The Director operates under the trading name, Transport Safety Victoria

Director, Transport Safety

. The office of the Director is established under the Transport Integration Act 2010

Transport Integration Act

and is independent of the Department of Transport

Department of Transport (Victoria, Australia)

The Department of Transport or DOT is the central Government agency responsible for the coordination, integration and regulation of the transport system in the State of Victoria, Australia...

and responsible Ministers, except in limited circumstances.

Regulatory scheme

The development of the proposal for the Bus Safety Act was managed by the Department of Transport

Department of Transport (Victoria, Australia)

The Department of Transport or DOT is the central Government agency responsible for the coordination, integration and regulation of the transport system in the State of Victoria, Australia...

in Victoria as part of its broader Transport Legislation Review

Transport Legislation Review

The Transport Legislation Review was a policy and legislation review project conducted by the Department of Transport in the State of Victoria, Australia between 2004 and 2010....

project.

The Department released a discussion paper - Improving Bus Safety in Victoria - outlining the broad policy framework for a bus safety

Safety

regulation scheme legislation

Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...

in May 2008.

The paper outlined a series of concerns about the former bus safety

Safety

regulation

Regulation

Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...

framework in Victoria including concerns about safety

Safety

trends and outcomes and comparisons with schemes in overseas jurisdictions.

Comments on the discussion paper were requested from industry

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

parties and other interested stakeholders. 37 comments were received on the paper. Comments received from industry

Industry

, government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

and other stakeholders resulted in the refinement of the proposal and changes to its design.

Ultimately, the proposals for a new bus safety

Safety

regulation

Regulation

scheme was presented to the Victorian Parliament as proposed legislation

Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...

in early December 2008.

Introduction

The Bus Safety Act was introduced into the lower house

Lower house

A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...

of the Victorian Parliament, the Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its branch.The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a number of Latin American countries....

, as the Bus Safety Bill, on 2 December 2008. The responsible Minister

Minister (government)

A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....

for the Bill proposal was the then Minister for Public Transport, the Hon Lynne Kosky

Lynne Kosky

Lynne Janice Kosky is a former Australian politician and senior minister in the Parliament of Victoria. She represented the electoral district of Altona in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Australian Labor Party from 1996 to 2010...

MP.

The Minister moved the second reading of the Bus Safety Bill on 4 December 2008 and set the context for the Bill in her speech in support as follows -

"This Bill provides a new 'best practice' safety regulation regime for Victoria's growing bus industry. It is a major step in the modernisation of transport safety regulation that began with the Rail Safety Act 2006

Rail Safety Act

The Rail Safety Act 2006 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in the State...

and will be completed with the forthcoming review of marine safety regulation. It is also a critical component of the government's wider program of transport legislation reform, which represents the most extensive overhaul of Victoria's transport legislation in 25 years.

Foreshadowed earlier this year in the Premier's Annual Statement of Government Intentions, the introduction of this Bill is timely, as it coincides with the largest expansion of the bus network in decades and significant patronage growth on both metropolitan and regional buses.

The Bill is by no means a response to failure in the safety performance of Victoria's bus sector - the industry in fact compares well with Australian and international trends. But serious incidents, while rare, do occur. Members might recall the dreadful 1989 Kempsey bus crash when two full tourist coaches, each travelling at 100 km/h, collided head-on near Kempsey, New South Wales, claiming 35 lives and injuring 41 others. Closer to home, in July this year, 17 people were injured in a collision between a bus and a truck in Traralgon.

We must do all we can to avoid these sorts of tragedies and this Bill aims to ensure that the bus industry's good safety record in this state is maintained and improved into the future."

Debate

The Bus Safety Bill was supported by opposition members and was the subject of minimal negative comment during its passage. The then Opposition shadow Transport Minister and the Minister for Public Transport, Terry Mulder

Terry Mulder

Terence Wynne "Terry" Mulder is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 1999, representing the Colac-based electorate of Polwarth. He is currently Minister for Transport and Roads.Mulder was born in Colac, and attended Trinity College, but...

MP, commented that -

"I know the Bill focuses very much on safety, but certainly the experience that I have had over the years working with businesses - putting in place accredited systems and business management systems - is that really at the end of the day you should make money. A business should function a hell of a lot better if it has an accreditation scheme in place.

As to this issue dealing with safety, it may well be that a company's buses are maintained at a higher level and that it does not then suffer the risk of breakdown, maintenance failures and a loss of reputation because of the failure of its equipment.

I believe accreditation has a great place in a lot of businesses and a lot of operations, providing it does one of two things: one, today you look at the safety regime, because a safety regime is very important; and two, you have to make sure you get a financial benefit out of it, because when you get a business that is being screwed or under enormous financial pressure, it tends to start to drift away from putting money into areas where it should, such as safety.

What I would say to Bus Association Victoria members is, firstly, embrace the issue of safety, and secondly, make sure your accreditation schemes provide you with the opportunity to enhance your business, improve your bottom line and become a better operation as a result of it.

As I say, the opposition will not oppose the Bill before the House. I have raised a couple of concerns that we have in relation to the Bill and trust that the Minister will pick those up."

The then Parliamentary Secretary for Public Transport, Rob Hudson MP

Rob Hudson

Rob Hudson is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Australian Labor Party. He holds honours degrees in Social Work and Law. Hudson is a supporter of the Hawthorn Hawks football club.Hudson was elected to the Bentleigh electorate in the 2002...

, observed that -

"This Bill is really all about improving the safety of bus operations in Victoria.

I think we need to recognise that there is already a high level of bus safety and bus safety standards that apply to buses in Victoria, and this Bill enhances those and takes them to a new level.

Buses are playing an increasingly important role in our public transport system. For the 2008 calendar year there were nearly 98 million passengers on our buses, which is an increase of 12.9 per cent. They are experiencing the highest growth in patronage since 1949-50. We have a huge increase in bus use at the moment. With the increasing role that buses are playing in the transport network, it is important for us to ensure that we have included all buses that are out there providing commercial bus services.

The problem with the current regime is that it is prescriptive, it is limited in its scope and it is unclear. It focuses only on the operator of the bus service.

This legislation extends that to all the players in the bus sector. The part of the industry that has been regulated to date, the part that has been accredited really in many respects, is going to face a reduced regulatory burden as a result of this Bill because those companies will not be required, as they are now, to renew their accreditation every three years. Instead what they will find is their accreditation will be ongoing and will be subject to audit.

The real impact of the Bill is going to be felt mainly in the case of minibuses, which are currently completely unregulated - they are, typically, buses with 10 to 12 seats.

There are about 5500 of those buses out there, and they are going to be brought within the scope of bus safety regulation for the first time. That represents about 40 per cent of all the buses that are out there in the bus sector, so I think that is where this Bill is going to have the biggest impact, bringing those buses into the bus safety regime. They are going to do that principally, depending on whether they are a commercial bus or not, through the registration scheme."

In reply, the Minister indicated that -

"The Bill provides a new best practice safety regulation regime for Victoria's growing bus industry. ...

The introduction of this Bill is very timely because it coincides with the largest expansion of the bus network in decades and significant patronage growth on both metropolitan and regional buses.

In short, this Bill will do for the bus sector what the groundbreaking Rail Safety Act

Rail Safety Act

The Rail Safety Act 2006 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in the State...

did for the rail sector - it will maintain Victoria's position as the national leader in transport policy and legislative reform."

Legislative Council debate

The Bus Safety Bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly

on 12 March 2009. The Bill was introduced into the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...

on the same day and second reading was moved immediately. Debate took place in the upper house

Legislative Council

in late March 2009.

The lead speaker in the upper house debate, David Koch

David Koch (Australian politician)

David Koch is an Australian politician. Born in Coleraine, Victoria, he was a farmer from 1973 to 2001, when he became a real estate agent. He held numerous local positions, and was a Wannon Shire Councillor from 1987–1994, serving as President in 1991. In 2002, he was elected to the...

MLC, observed that -

"This is not a large Bill, but it is a common-sense Bill that obviously will see greater safety afforded to our public users, especially smaller volunteer groups, church groups, our elderly, our young and what have you.

This is a transport opportunity we should be supporting. We acknowledge a possible shortcoming in relation to accreditation; that is a concern of ours, and I am sure that as time goes on it will be picked up.

In many ways the Bill mirrors the Rail Safety Act

Rail Safety Act

The Rail Safety Act 2006 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in the State...

. It is important to have stand-alone Bills in our transport industry, especially given the accidents that occur. We want to have powers to investigate those on an individual basis, not only on a total transport sector basis.

It is important we have the opportunity to recognise and investigate accidents on the grounds of the individual transport mode, be it rail, bus, tramway or whatever. This Bill opens up that opportunity in terms of buses and those who choose to use buses as a mode of transport.

In closing, like Bus Association Victoria we think accreditation across the board may protect users to a greater extent in terms of driver competency, although I am not saying for a second that our volunteer drivers are not competent bus drivers. But further thought should be given at a later date to offering the opportunity for volunteer drivers to become accredited so all parts of the bus industry travel forward as one. I do not think there is one volunteer driver who would not qualify for accreditation, and it is possible that many would wish to be involved in that process.

In closing, we will be supporting the Bill; we will not be opposing the Bill. As I said, this is a good common-sense Bill, and I hope the house supports it as presented.

Lead speaker for the Greens, Colleen Hartland MLC

Colleen Hartland

Colleen Hartland is an Australian politician, and a Greens member of the Victorian Legislative Council.-Early career:...

, commented that -

"As has already been stated, the Bus Safety Bill is a sensible and long-overdue piece of legislation. The Bill promotes safety and introduces reasonable and achievable practices and procedures into the bus industry.

It contains a wide range of new provisions, overhauls the accreditation system and addresses problems in the existing system. All those things are good."

The Bus Safety Bill was passed by the Legislative Council on 31 March 2009.

Assent and commencement

The Bus Safety Bill received the Royal Assent

Royal Assent

The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...

on 7 April 2009 to become the Bus Safety Act 2009. The Act was ultimately permitted to commence on its default commencement date of 31 December 2010.

The Bus Safety Regulations 2010 which were required to support the operation of the Act also operated from the same date thereby formally commencing Victoria's new bus safety regulation scheme.

Changes to the Act

The Act has been subject to some significant changes since it was passed in 2009. In particular, the Bus Safety Act, like other Victorian transport statutes, was brought under the portfolio scheme in the Transport Integration Act

Transport Integration Act

and the high level policy and institutional framework set out in that statute.

External links

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Outline

The case for a new regulatory scheme

Parts

Coverage

Chain of responsibility

Safety culture

Nature of duties

Permissioning

Accreditation

Reduced reliance on accreditation

Registration

Compliance

Responsible regulator

Regulatory scheme

Introduction

Debate

Legislative Council debate

Assent and commencement

Changes to the Act

See also

External links