ATA restructure with a focus on safety

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) is set to restructure to increase its focus on safety, ATA CEO Ben Maguire has announced.
In the restructure, the ATA will combine its TruckSafe, Safety Truck, safety promotion and safety research activities into a single section within the organisation.
The section will be headed by a new Safety, Health and Wellbeing Director. Melissa Weller, currently the ATA’s Safety and Skills Adviser, has been appointed to the role.
“Until now, the ATA has operated TruckSafe as a separate business unit to the rest of the ATA. This has resulted in duplication. We have also missed out on opportunities to cross-promote what we do,” Ben Maguire said.
“The restructure will enable us to leverage more benefits from the expertise of the TruckSafe board and will place safety accreditation and promotion at the centre of the ATA’s work. It will bring TruckSafe into the mainstream of how we work as a team.
“The restructure emphasises our commitment to TruckSafe as an important part of the future of truck safety regulation. TruckSafe accredited operators do not receive the same regulatory concessions as NHVAS operators, even though they need to meet higher standards. This is not just unfair and anti competitive; it discourages operators from being in a higher quality scheme.
“Our first submission to the Heavy Vehicle National Law review proposes that safety-based schemes like TruckSafe should be formally recognised under the law, with the NHVR regulating safety schemes and auditors rather than trying to run one.”
Melissa has managed safety projects for eight years. In 2016, Melissa was recognised by the Institute of Public Works and Engineering Association awards for excellence and was a 3M Diamond Road Safety Awards finalist for a safety project she coordinated across nine local government areas.
Melissa is leading the evidence-based redesign of the Volvo ATA Safety Truck education campaign. Melissa has a MR licence and has completed vocational training in fatigue management, traffic management and road safety auditing.
During her career, Melissa has held senior roles in strategy and policy development, road safety and business development. Melissa was recently elected to the Executive Committee of the Australasian College of Road Safety.