RAMPS COMMITTEE WINS NATIONAL AWARD
The Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA) is pleased to announce that the committee responsible for drafting the Australian Standard for Safe Design of Livestock Ramps and Forcing Yards (AS 5340:2020) has won the ‘Outstanding Committee’ award in 2021 Standards Australia Awards.
ALRTA National President Scott McDonald said the award recognised both the importance of the ramp standard and the significant contribution of committee members.
“The publication of a national ramp standard has been a long-held goal of the ALRTA and or state member associations,” said President McDonald.
“The process commenced more than a decade ago in Victoria with the ALRTA later engaging with the entire supply chain and community representatives to publish a national guide in 2015. Following a coroner’s recommendation in 2017, ALRTA formally asked Standards Australia to develop a national standard, offering our guide as a template.
“Standards Australia accepted our proposal and in 2019 established the committee SF-054 to progress technical drafting and public consultation. The committee included representatives from across the supply chain.
“I would particularly like to recognise the contribution of Mick Debenham, John Beer and Kevin Simmonds who were nominated to the committee by ALRTA and ATA. These representatives brought their considerable road transport and workplace safety expertise to the table and helped to establish strong workable relationships with other supply chain parties.
“We have these individuals to thank for the high quality document and high level of acceptance of the now published standard across the livestock supply chain.
“However, there is still a lot of work to do in raising awareness of the national standard.
“ALRTA has recently acquired 100 copies of the standard to be made available to our members, along with 10,000 promotional brochures for wider distribution. We call on all members and other interested parties to help us make our industry safer by telling others about the standard and where to find more information,” said President McDonald.
Read more about the 2021 Standard Australia Awards here.
For media enquiries, please contact:
ALRTA Executive Director: Mathew Munro – 0421 082 489
Our contact details: T: 02 6247 5434 E: office@alrta.org.au W: www.alrta.org.au