Heavy construction, logistics, and transport vehicles have been a longstanding risk on Australia’s roads. In New South Wales alone, construction and gravel-carrying vehicles were involved in approximately 27.5% of heavy-vehicle incidents resulting in fatal or serious injury over a 10-year span to 2022.
That high proportion underpins why CLOCS-A (Construction Logistics & Community Safety – Australia) is being increasingly adopted and mandated: to manage and reduce those risks to both workers and vulnerable road users.
CLOCS-A is a national road safety initiative designed to raise the standards of safety for construction logistics projects through improved vehicle safety, better route planning, and increased accountability.
It draws on lessons from the UK’s successful CLOCS programme and adapts them for Australia’s regulatory, geographic, and logistical contexts.
By doing so, it aims to significantly lower the incidence of accidents involving heavy vehicles in construction settings, particularly those that pose dangers to pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users.
Key Elements of CLOCS-A
- Vehicle Safety Standards
CLOCS-A includes tiered vehicle safety requirements (often Bronze, Silver, Gold) with progressively more stringent safety technologies: blind-spot cameras or sensors, audible alarms (especially for vulnerable road user interactions like left turns), telematics, and crash avoidance systems. These aren’t just nice-to-have features—they’re becoming part of formal requirements in many government tenders. - Mandatory Requirements in Government Projects
Governments are playing a big role in driving CLOCS-A adoption. For example, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has committed to applying minimum requirements for contractor vehicles from August 2025, requiring compliance with at least the Bronze level of CLOCS-A in all heavy vehicles under NSW government contracts. This means more projects will no longer consider bids from contractors unless their vehicles and logistics plans meet particular safety benchmarks. - Protecting Vulnerable Road Users
One of CLOCS-A’s focuses is reducing harm to road users who are most at risk: cyclists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists. Case studies show that measures like left-turn audible alarms in large trucks (such as those used in the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project) are helping to alert vulnerable users of danger in blind-spot situations. - Operational & Community Safety Integration
CLOCS-A isn’t only about vehicle specs—it also involves route safety planning, stakeholder engagement (including community and local councils), traffic management, and operational practices to reduce risk (e.g. safe loading-and-unloading practices, scheduling to avoid peak times, etc.). The program seeks to integrate all these elements.
Impacts & Benefits
- Reduced accidents, injuries, fatalities: As compliance spreads, the expectation is a drop in serious incidents involving construction logistics, especially in areas with high vehicle movement.
- Clearer accountability: Contractors, transport operators, and government agencies have more defined safety standards to meet. No more ambiguity about who is responsible for what.
- Improved community confidence: Since heavy vehicles on construction sites are often a source of concern for locals (noise, safety, emissions), adhering to higher standards reassures surrounding communities.
- Procurement alignment: Government tenders that require CLOCS-A compliance help ensure consistency across projects, reduce risk, and lift safety outcomes overall.
Challenges & the Path Forward
Implementing CLOCS-A isn’t without hurdles: upgrading vehicle fleets, verifying compliance, coordinating across agencies, and ensuring smaller contractors have the resources to meet requirements.
However, the momentum is strong, and legislated—or tender-mandated—requirements are accelerating adoption.
In summary, CLOCS-A is more than a safety guideline—it’s rapidly becoming part of the infrastructure of construction across Australia.
For the future, this means safer roads, fewer tragic accidents, and logistics operations that better protect both workers and the communities through which they pass.
If you like, I can pull together some recent CLOCS-A projects in your region (or state) to illustrate the impact locally.