A new government body will investigate the links between road safety and pay conditions of Australia’s truck drivers in a world first.
The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) released its first annual work programme on Monday, with the framework of the inquiry to look at conditions in the industry, pay and safety, SMH reported.
The RSRT have selected a number of sectors for investigation including retail, livestock, bulk grain and long distance.
A spokeswoman for RSRT said the inquiry was a world-first.
"It is a world first on a national scale," she said.
"Australia is really leading the way in this sort of tribunal to really look at the link between remuneration and safety in the road transport industry."
The Transport Workers Union said the investigation would help with road safety in the retail sector.
"We think this has got the real potential to change behaviour in really key supply chains in the industry," TWU assistant national secretary Michael Kaine said.
"Importantly the tribunal resisted the temptation to just deal discreetly with particular issues like waiting time or rates and have decided to take a sector by sector approach.
"The important thing is by taking a sector approach they're focusing on the entire supply chain and the pressures that lead to these issues in the first place."
Kaine pointed to the retail sector supply chain as setting unrealistic deadlines and said road safety issues around driver fatigue and the use of substances to stay awake was more prevalent in the sector.
"In the retail sector they will have squarely in their sights the commercial pressures put on the trucking industry by the likes of Coles and how to address those," he said.
The Australian Logistics Council said major retailers were supporting the program.
"The major retailers, like all parties in the supply chain, are committed to achieving positive road safety outcomes and to meeting their Chain of Responsibility obligations," ALC managing director Michael Kilgariff said.
"This is demonstrated by the retailers' participation in the ALC Retail Logistics Supply Chain Code of Practice.
"It should be noted there has been encouraging progress in recent years to reduce the number of heavy vehicle fatalities in Australia against the backdrop of an increasing freight task."