Trucking is Australia’s deadliest job

Australia’s transport union is calling for official action to improve safety standards in the “deadly” trucking industry. Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) assistant national secretary Michael Kaine said a new study by Life Insurance Finder confirmed trucking is Australia’s deadliest job with one in three workplace deaths occurring in the transport industry.

Australia’s transport union is calling for official action to improve safety standards in the “deadly” trucking industry. Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) assistant national secretary Michael Kaine said a new study by Life Insurance Finder confirmed trucking is Australia’s deadliest job with one in three workplace deaths occurring in the transport industry.
“The TWU have been campaigning for a safer road transport industry for more than 20 years,” Mr Kaine said. “Road transport workers are 15 times more likely to be killed at work than any other worker in Australia and 330 people are killed every year in truck crashes on our roads.” He said companies put “deadly economic pressures” on drivers and operators.
The union said new national polling by Essential Research showed 90 per cent of Australians say it is important the government takes action to make the trucking industry safer.
It is urging the government to retain a Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT). The RSRT is the national watchdog with the power to intervene when transport industry clients use economic pressure to force drivers to speed, skip rest breaks or illegally overload their vehicles in order to meet unrealistic delivery conditions.
“We need a greater focus on road safety in this country, not a weaker one. The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal needs to be preserved,” TWU’s Michael Kaine said of the under-threat agency. The tribunal system was created in the wake of a TWU ‘safe rates’ campaign.