Photo: Courtesy of NHVR 2019.

Most wine grapes crushed at wineries are transported by heavy vehicles using public roads. During the vintage season, this means a lot of trucks are moving from vineyards to wineries.

A key hazard to proactively manage this vintage is the issue of grape spillages on public roads and South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA) said they were aware that grape spillages have occurred across the industry in the past.

A spillage is a breach of the Chain of Responsibilities obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has warned of potential prosecutions of parties responsible for grape spillages.

Grape spillages pose a hazard to the public – vehicles can lose traction on a grape spill, spills are difficult to clean up, residue can make roads sticky and gluey and many of the spills are happening at night or in the early morning when they are more difficult to see.

To ensure a consistent approach to Chain of Responsibility across wine growing regions of Australia and assist wineries, wine grape growers, vineyard contractors, transporters and other participants to meet their obligations, a Registered Industry Code of Practice is being developed by the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA) in partnership with Australian Grape & Wine Inc (AGW).

Development of the code is possible thanks to funding from the 2020-21 Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative, supported by the Federal Government and administered by the NHVR.

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