7Review of a traffic controller's accreditation#
7.1Amending, suspending, and cancelling an accreditation#
The Act provides the following are grounds for amending, suspending, or cancelling a traffic controller's accreditation:
- if the traffic controller commits an offence of a serious nature where public safety has been endangered or is likely to be endangered; or it is in the public interest
- if the traffic controller breaches their statutory conditions of accreditation, or
- if an accreditation was issued by the department because of a document or statement that is false and misleading.
The department follows the procedures set out in the Act for amending, suspending and/or cancelling approvals, including issuing show cause notices.
7.2Suitability checks and disqualifying offences#
The department may review the suitability of a traffic controller to remain accredited at any time throughout the period of their accreditation.
Offence and incident reports and information received from the Queensland Police Service (QPS); registered traffic management organisations; employers; local governments; authorised officers; and departmental roadwork inspectors can be taken into consideration by the department in evaluating a person's suitability for ongoing accreditation.
If, during the period of accreditation, the traffic controller is charged or convicted with a disqualifying offence, the traffic controller must give written notification of the matter to the Chief Executive within 14 days of the charge or conviction occurring. Notification to the Chief Executive should be directed to the attention of the department's customer service centre at which the traffic controller normally makes application for accreditation.
When applying for accreditation as a traffic controller, the person must provide information about their relevant traffic and criminal offence history. For new Scheme entrants, a national criminal history report is obtained from the QPS.
In determining a person's suitability for accreditation as a traffic controller, the department takes the following offence history factors into consideration:
- nature of the offence(s)
- the relevance of the offence(s) to the role requirements
- when the offence(s) occurred, and
- nature of the penalty applied.
The purpose of taking into consideration criminal history when deciding a person's suitability, is not to re-penalise the person, but instead to look objectively at the associated risk implications to the public and other road workers, should the person be granted traffic controller accreditation.
Disqualifying offences that would generally make a person unsuitable for traffic controller accreditation include:
- offences of a violent nature such as assault, rape, attempted homicide, homicide, manslaughter, burglary, and major drug offences
- offences such as fraud, assault, drug possession, theft and break and enter, and
- relevant offences under the Act.
7.3Compliance and enforcement#
Authorised officers are authorised by law to issue a penalty infringement notice (on-the-spot fine) or initiate prosecution action by way of complaint and summons:
- to a traffic controller for failing to comply with a statutory conditions of their accreditation
- to a person found performing traffic control duties while not being the holder of a current traffic controller accreditation, and
- to an employer of a traffic controller for failing to ensure that the traffic controller complies with a statutory condition of their accreditation.
A police officer has the power to shut down a worksite if it is deemed unsafe, or the actions of a traffic controller make it unsafe. A WH&S Queensland Inspector also has the power to shut down a worksite.
