HVIA Awards Safety Innovation Category Finalists

Congratulations to the finalists in the Safety Innovation category of the prestigious 2024 HVIA National Awards:

• MAHA Australia
• National Transport Insurance
• WHG Solutions

In addition to the prestigious trophy, presented by category sponsor the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, the winner will receive a prize package valued at over $7,000.

Category finalists and national winners will be honoured at the HVIA National Awards Gala Dinner in Brisbane on Thursday 5 December 2024.

Tickets are available for purchase here.

The HVIA National Awards are made possible through the support of HVIA Principal Partners NTI, Category Sponsors Caltex, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and Wurth, and Event Partners Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre and TAFE Queensland.

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NEXT WEEK: HVIA Will Announce Community Leadership Award Finalists

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MAHA Australia

MAHA Rising Bed load simulation

While current legislation allows brake testing without load, MAHA believes partial or fully loaded testing will increase heavy vehicle safety on our roads.

“We all know a truck and bus doesn’t drive down the road empty,” MAHA point out.

MAHA offers load simulation via lifting roller sets, especially for twin or triple axles.

MAHA Rising Bed applies load to the testing axle, testing heavy vehicle brakes and suspension partially or fully loaded.

It is not always possible to test loaded heavy vehicles, such as in the case of cold storage transporters and containers or dangerous goods vehicles, so a simulation of a load is required for a braking performance test.

This is particularly important for vehicles with significant empty-to-full load mass ratios. Modern braking systems have load proportioning valves, applying more brake force as the load increases.

During the braking performance test the roller set is lifted, increasing the axle load by unloading the other axles and placing the entire weight of the structure on the axle to be tested.

MAHA’s technicians calibrate and service the testing equipment nationwide.

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National Transport Insurance

“Spilt Milk” Project

The “Spilt Milk” project was conceived in response to concerning trends across dairy tanker truck crash claims. NTI collaborated with Australia’s largest dairy processors and dairy tanker operators to contribute their expertise to finding solutions.

The project identified key challenges within dairy tanker operations, evaluating current practices, and comparing pockets of successful innovation against operations with acknowledged shortcomings.

The research team worked with participant senior management, front-line managers and on-road teams, spending full shifts riding with dairy tanker drivers to immerse themselves in the operating environment.

The training resources created within Spilt Milk now form a library of resources, available free of charge.

Through their widespread adoption, the training resources have quickly become an industry standard, so any driver moving between employers within dairy transport would receive consistent messaging and training.

The beneficiaries are not confined to the dairy industry – two of the three training packages are largely agnostic as to the transport occupation and are therefore relevant to most transport activities.

The subject matter of many guidance items in the resource library is equally applicable across the transport industry, including Electronic Stability Control, for example.

“Often safety initiatives focus on external expertise and disregard the knowledge of those who do the task day-in and day-out,” NTI told us. “The Spilt Milk project shows that this knowledge can be used to inform significant safety programs.”

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WHG Solutions

Sleep Advice Technologies FleetPREDICT

WHG and Sleep Advice Technologies (SAT) “FleetPREDICT” provides real-time fatigue analysis based on autonomous nervous system modelling using smart-watch technology.

The WHG-SAT solution involves software that establishes connectivity between a “smart wearable” (i.e. watch) worn by a truck driver, a smart Android or IOS device (phone/tablet/other) installed in the truck cabin, and a Bureau Service Centre (BSC) where monitoring takes place.

The technology detects sleep fatigue in drivers, providing active in-cab early warning and response, before any potential collision or catastrophic event.

WHG’s partnership with SAT has enabled it to acquire a technology algorithm, known as “PredictS”, that they say has been proven to accurately monitor fatigue and drowsiness, and provide timely warnings to drivers.

“The PredictS algorithm has been transformed into a market ready fatigue solution “FleetPREDICT” – an app that runs on a smart device that monitors the alertness status of a driver,” WHG told us.

“There is no need for lengthy training and after an initial 3-minute calibration phase FleetPREDICT builds a fatigue profile while the driver begins to start driving.

“The driver may start, pause or stop the monitoring function of the app according to his working/resting requirements.”

WHG believe FleetPREDICT has the potential to revolutionise road safety in the heavy commercial truck industry and contribute significantly towards reducing road trauma and fatalities.

FleetPREDICT became available for commercial purchase in Australia from September 2024, having been running in Australia in trials since March 2024 and it has been deployed in heavy-duty truck applications in Europe since January 2023.