The daily check and defect record, kept ready for your accreditation audit
Every truck and every trailer gets a daily check when in use, built around the NHVAS minimum items. The driver acknowledges the vehicle to be safe to the limits of the inspection and is identifiable on the record. A fault found on the road is recorded on the phone and lands on the defect board for your maintenance provider, and safety critical faults, such as brakes, steering and suspension, can never be deferred.
Why it matters for truck fleets
The amended Heavy Vehicle National Law commenced on 1 August 2026. Executives now carry an explicit due diligence duty for the primary safety duty, and a safety management system audit is admissible in court. The NHVR says the vehicle owner has the greatest influence over maintenance and continued roadworthiness.
Heavy Vehicle Accreditation progressively replaces NHVAS as accreditations expire. Every accredited operator will take its maintenance records through a new audit. Escudo Fleet keeps the records your NHVAS maintenance audit asks for, with an auditor pack under Standards 1 to 8, and is built around the NHVAS daily check minimum items.
NHVAS asks for a daily check for each vehicle when in use, including trailers, with a documented instruction saying when, by whom and how it is recorded. A deferral must name the decision maker and set a time, distance or hours limit. The repair record must show when the fault was fixed and tested, with brakes tested before return to service. Everything is kept for a minimum of three years.
Defect notices carry real cost: the NHVR reported fines of A$5,000 and A$17,000 in 2026 for using vehicles contrary to uncleared notices, and says operators should have policies for reporting and actioning defect and other statutory notices. Escudo Fleet keeps a defect notice register for you.
Summarised from public sources on 13 October 2026. Not legal advice. Check the current rule with your regulator or adviser.
What gets checked
NHVAS daily check minimum items
- Wheels and tyres
- Lights and reflectors
- Windscreen, mirrors and wipers
- Structure and bodywork
- Fluid and air leaks
- Brakes: failure indicators, pressure or vacuum gauges, draining air tanks
- Tow couplings and drawbars
- NHVAS label
Combination
- Each unit of a B-double checked in one walk
- Fifth wheel and kingpin engagement
- Trailer lights and air lines
- Load restraint as your procedure describes it
Readings
- Odometer with plausibility checks
- Fuel level in eighths
- Driver signs safe to the limits of the inspection
A typical pre-start: Prime mover and semi-trailer pre-start
All starter templatesStarter templates carry your items in your wording. Readings with limits are left blank for you to set from the manufacturer or your procedure: we never invent a limit.
The fuel angle
Line haul fills are large and frequent, which is exactly where a few litres a fill adds up. Each fill carries litres, cost, odometer, a full-tank flag and a stamped photo.
Consumption per truck and per driver by month, litres per 100 km and cost per km, from the truck’s own full-to-full history rather than a factory figure.
Alerts for a fill over the tank, a fill that exceeds the room left in the tank, no distance since the last fill, two fills within an hour, a card on the wrong truck, and an odometer that went backwards.
How fuel tracking worksWhat is kept
- Daily check per vehicle including trailers, with the driver identified and the template version in force that day
- Faults found during a journey, recorded on the phone and on the defect board, ready for the maintenance provider
- Deferral decisions with the named decision maker and a time, distance or hours limit; safety critical faults, such as brakes, steering and suspension, never deferrable
- Repair records showing when a fault was fixed, with the clearer’s qualification and the test for a safety critical fault
- Vehicle register with VIN, GVM, tare and unit type; defect notice register; quarterly statement of checks done and missed per vehicle
Every record is kept while your account is open. Everything exports as PDF or spreadsheet, and the record is yours.
Starter templates
- Refrigerated van pre-start (before every trip, van)
- Light truck pre-start (before every trip, light truck)
- Rigid truck pre-start (before every trip, rigid truck)
- Prime mover pre-start (before every trip, prime mover)
- Semi-trailer and B-double coupling check (when needed, semi-trailer)
- Tipper pre-start (before every trip, tipper)
- Curtainsider and pantech pre-start (before every trip, rigid truck)
- Refrigerated truck pre-start (before every trip, rigid truck)
- Tilt tray and tow truck pre-start (before every trip, tilt tray or tow truck)
- Crane truck pre-start (before every trip, crane truck)
- Concrete agitator pre-start (before every trip, concrete agitator)
- Fuel tanker pre-start (dangerous goods) (before every trip, tanker)
- Car carrier pre-start (before every trip, car carrier)
- B-double pre-trip (before every trip, B-double)
- Livestock crate check (before every trip, semi-trailer)
- Dog trailer and drawbar coupling check (when needed, trailer)
- Road train and converter dolly check (when needed, semi-trailer)
- Forklift pre-start (LPG or diesel) (before use, forklift)
- Electric forklift pre-start (before use, forklift)
- Telehandler pre-start (before use, telehandler)
- Fuel and lube service truck pre-start (before every trip, tanker)
- Dynamic service brake test (monthly, any vehicle)
- Load restraint check (when needed, any vehicle)
- Monthly vehicle inspection (supervisor) (monthly, any vehicle)
- Post-trip check (after every trip, any vehicle)
- Rigid truck pre-start walkaround (before every trip, rigid truck)
- Prime mover and trailer pre-start walkaround (before every trip, prime mover)
- Semi-trailer walkaround (before every trip, semi-trailer)
The rules, in plain words
- HVNL and Chain of Responsibility: The primary duty, executive due diligence and what changed on 1 August 2026.
- NHVAS and Heavy Vehicle Accreditation: The daily check minimum items, fault handling, servicing, the register and retention.
Have the record ready before your accreditation comes up
Create your fleet, paste your registrations, print the tags and send a driver the link. Fourteen days free, no card and no hardware.