From NHVAS to HVA: What the Transition Actually Means for Your Fleet
BY MICHAEL MILLS, GENERAL MANAGER, HEAVY VEHICLE INNOVATION & ADVOCACY, FLEETGURU. AI
Whether it’ s a sudden audit or a truck stopped at a weigh station, I know the stress of scrambling for records and hoping you ' re compliant. Take it from my experience: this regulatory shift isn ' t a ' future problem.' It demands attention today.
First, a question: does your fleet have even one vehicle over 4.5 tonnes- which includes a situation where the combined weight of what you tow and the towing vehicle exceeds 4.5 tonnes? If you thought ' we ' re mostly a passenger fleet, so probably not us’ that is an assumption that is really going to catch people out in the future. Keep reading.
The change, in plain terms
From 1 August 2026, the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme( NHVAS), the one most of us have worked under for years, started to be progressively replaced by the new Heavy Vehicle Accreditation( HVA) scheme, off the back of the Heavy Vehicle National Law Amendment Bill 2025, which progressed through Queensland Parliament last November. From that date, the NHVR simply can ' t grant new NHVAS accreditations.
This isn ' t a light-switch moment. NHVAS and HVA will run side by side, with a phased transition of up to three years tied to your accreditation ' s expiry date. You didn ' t wake up on August 1st non-compliant. But you can only hold accreditation in one scheme at a time, the moment your NHVAS accreditation expires, you ' re either moving across or no longer accredited.
What actually changes
The old NHVAS model assessed you piece by piece, an audit each for Mass, Maintenance and Fatigue. The new HVA model looks at your whole business through a Safety Management System lens:
Mass becomes Alternative Compliance Accreditation, still essential for Higher Mass Limits or Performance-Based Standards approvals. General Mass Limits have been lifted to align with Concessional Mass limits.
Maintenance folds into General Safety Accreditation, with exemptions from annual vehicle inspections in the states where that applies.
Fatigue is the Basic and Advanced Fatigue Management which merge into one performancebased model, with templated work-and-rest tables for quicker applications.
Unfit to drive, this is a new change and the one people will underestimate. Alongside the existing fatigue rule, a driver must not operate a heavy vehicle while impaired by fatigue, or otherwise unfit to drive due to a physical or mental health condition, illness, injury, or the effects of alcohol or drugs. The surprise is that it applies to every heavy vehicle over 4.5 tonnes, not just those over 12 tonnes that traditional fatigue rules covered. As a Chain of Responsibility party, you ' re accountable for ensuring your business practices don ' t encourage anyone to drive while unfit.
Why this is landing now
This reform didn ' t happen in a vacuum. Last year was the deadliest on Australian roads in over a decade, with 1,300 lives lost, 179 in crashes involving a heavy vehicle. Having managed drivers myself, I don ' t say that lightly.
The NHVR ' s own numbers back the tighter approach. Its 2024 National Roadworthiness Survey found 75 % of units passed inspection, steady with 2021, but units with multiple defects rose to 33 %, from 31 %, with brakes being the most common defect nationally. It ' s showing up in enforcement, too. During Operation Omega, a two-week national operation, 4,524 roadside inspections turned up 742 intercepts with a
14 ISSUE 60 AUGUST 2026 / WWW. AFMA. ORG. AU