Free self-assessment

SMS gap check for heavy vehicle operators

Answer 30 questions across the five areas of the SMS Standard 2026. The quick check takes about 8 minutes. You'll see where your system is in place and where the gaps are, and we'll email you a copy.

Change to the full check

This is an indicative self-assessment, not an audit or an NHVR assessment.

Your details
Your operation

These questions set your operator profile (OP1, OP2 or OP3), using the NHVR's HVA Audit Matrix. Your profile decides which evidence we show you for each gap.

Operational scale

Organisational structure

System implementation

Administrative capacity

Your accreditation

Which NHVAS modules do you hold or are you applying for?

If you tick a module, we'll ask the module questions below. Leave unticked modules unanswered.

Leadership and commitment

L1. Do you have a signed safety policy that commits the business to safety?

L2. Are safety roles and responsibilities documented, and are the people in them competent?

L4. Is everyone clear about their safety duties as a party in the chain of responsibility?

L8. Do you have a chain of responsibility policy that says the business accepts its primary duty?

L9. Is your SMS documentation practical and in proportion to what you actually do?

L11. Do your procedures cover the public risks linked to your legal obligations (HVNL and any accreditation conditions)?

L13. Have you appointed a safety manager, or someone responsible for running and promoting the SMS?

L17. Does management actively make safety a top priority?

Risk management

R1. Do you have a process for identifying and recording hazards?

R2. Do you keep a hazard register or equivalent?

R6. Do you have a documented risk assessment process?

R7. Do you keep a risk register or an equivalent documented method?

R14. Is the risk register reviewed and updated regularly?

R15. Do your controls eliminate risks, or minimise them, so far as is reasonably practicable?

R19. Do you have a formal process for reporting incidents and near misses?

R21. Do you investigate incidents to find the factors that contributed to them?

People

P1. Do you confirm that drivers hold the right licence for the vehicle and the task?

P2. Have you told drivers what fitness to drive means, covering health, fatigue, and alcohol or drugs?

P9. Have you identified the training and competence each role needs?

P10. Do new staff, and staff starting new tasks, vehicles or sites, get induction and role-specific training?

P12. Do you keep current training and competency records for all staff?

P15. Is safety-critical information passed on clearly and promptly?

Assurance, monitoring and improvement

A1. Have you set safety objectives or indicators that show whether safety is improving or getting worse?

A4. Do you monitor and review how well the SMS is working?

A8. Do you make improvements to the SMS from risk and assurance results?

A11. Are records stored securely, kept current and easy to access?

A13. Do your records show the SMS working as the law requires?

Safety systems

S1. Is safety considered in planning, decisions and the way tasks are carried out?

S3. Do the procedures people actually use match the documented SMS?

S6. Are SMS requirements built into daily operations?

Mass management module

Answer these only if you ticked this module above.

M1. Have you nominated the trucks or hauling units that run under mass management?

M2. Do you keep mass and load records for each nominated vehicle?

Maintenance management module

Answer these only if you ticked this module above.

M3. Are the trucks, trailers and hauling units in your maintenance module listed with the NHVR?

M4. Do you keep maintenance records for each listed vehicle?

Fatigue management module

Answer these only if you ticked this module above.

F1. Do drivers have records showing competency in the fatigue management course (TLIF0005)?

F2. Do schedulers have records showing competency in the scheduling course (TLIF0006)?

F3. Do drivers have current medicals that follow the Assessing Fitness to Drive guidance?