The current content on this page will change significantly due to changes to the Heavy Vehicle National Law and Regulations that commence on 1 August 2026. The content in this section of the website will be updated soon to reflect the new Safety Management System Standards. For more information, please see Safety Management System Standard 2026.Regardless of the size of your business, having an effective Safety Management System (SMS) can be one of the best ways of ensuring you have a safety-focused business and are complying with your safety duty obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).
Under the HVNL, operators wishing to participate in the Heavy Vehicle Accreditation (HVA) Scheme are required to have an effective SMS that complies with the Safety Management System Standard. This SMS forms the basis of General Safety Accreditation (GSA) and Alternate Compliance Accreditation.
This section of our website provides practical tools and guidance to help you design, implement and improve an SMS that suits your business, whether you are seeking HVA or not, and supports you to meet the five requirements of the HVNL SMS Standard.
Please note that by using this guidance you agree to the following terms of use.
Our SMS Fact Sheet (PDF, 269KB) provides a short overview of an SMS and its benefits to a business. More detailed information is available in the Introduction to Safety Management Systems in the Heavy Vehicle Industry (PDF, 3.4MB). You may also want to refer to the FAQs (frequently asked questions) for answers to common SMS related questions.
The NHVR looks to continually improve our industry SMS guidance materials over time, so make sure you Subscribe to On the Road to keep up to date when new resources become available.
