We live in a world of compliance, compliance, compliance. Without compliance, I wouldn’t have a job. Most of the time, compliance is a good thing. It helps us manage our work and our team and puts people on a level playing field. I know not everyone complies, so it’s not always fair. However, people who do so stand a better chance of winning contracts, particularly in today’s uncertain economic environment.

If your truck is driven by an unlicensed driver and the driver is stopped by the police, the truck and its load will likely be impounded for 28 days. This is not the best way to run a business. In addition, there will be no insurance if there is an accident. Regardless of who is at fault, the unlicensed driver will be held accountable.

The four main reasons a driver is not licensed are:

• the driver has never held the licence
• the driver has accrued too many demerit points
• the driver has been DIC-ed
• the driver’s licence has reached the 10-year expiry and needs to be renewed.

Several licences and qualifications may be required. The most obvious is the appropriate licence for the truck – Class 2, 3, 4 or 5. This needs to be a full license. Otherwise, the driver is only able to drive with a supervisor.

Depending on the load, a D endorsement may be required. This indicates that the driver has attended and passed a course on transporting dangerous goods on the road. The driver is expected to know how the load must be carried, secured and placarded. This endorsement expires every five years and must be renewed before the driver can carry dangerous goods.

Often, a driver will use the client’s forklift to load or unload the truck. There are two qualifications for this. The first is the F endorsement on the driver’s licence. This will expire when the driver licence does and can be renewed by ticking the box. The other is the operator certificate. This certificate shows that an approved provider has trained and assessed the driver in forklift operation. The client should be provided with a copy of the certificate before the driver uses the forklift.

There is a straightforward system for managing workers’ driver licences. NZTA provides a web-based system called TORO for organisations with a transport service licence (TSL), or Driver Check for other organisations. The organisation applies to NZTA, gets permission from its drivers and loads the information onto the website. The nominated administrator will be emailed when a driver’s licence status changes.

Check nzta.govt.nz and search TORO or Driver Check to access the application information.