The Operator Rating System (ORS) is a system that aims to improve the safety of heavy vehicles on our roads, making journeys safer for all.
It is one of the tools that the NZ Transport Agency and New Zealand Police use to identify potentially higher-risk operators for further investigation and assistance to improve their safety practices, and auditing and targeting purposes.
The ORS provides an environment for willing compliance, encouraging transport operators to make their vehicles and driving practices as safe as possible, and to comply with their regulatory obligations that contribute to safety.
Read more about the benefits of the ORS
Who is rated by the ORS
You are rated on your compliance with safety-based legislation if you have at least one certificate of fitness (CoF) in a 24-month rating period and are a:
- goods service and/or a vehicle recovery service operator with a vehicle over 6000kgs
goods service licence holder with a vehicle of 6000kg or over vehicle recovery service operatorpassenger service licence holder with a motor vehicle with more than 12 seats or a heavy motor vehicle with more than nine seats.
passenger service licence holder with a motor vehicle with more than 12 seats or a heavy motor vehicle with more than nine seats.
Approved taxi organisations may be included in the rating system at a later stage.
Rental service licence holders will not be rated as in most cases the vehicles in question will be operated by the person or company renting the vehicle and not the rental company itself. Similarly, drivers of rented vehicles are generally not employed by or influenced by the rental company.
What are ORS ratings?
Similar to a restaurant or hotel rating, the ORS scores range from between one and five stars, based on how you have been assessed in safety-related events over a given 24-month time frame.
Read more about how the ORS is calculated
What is scored?
The ratings are based on your compliance with the following safety-related events:
CoF inspections
roadside inspections
relevant traffic offences and infringements.
The scores are applied based on the types of faults found at CoF and roadside inspections, the types of offences committed, and the impact of those faults and offences on road safety – more dangerous faults and offences will lead to a poor rating.
The ORS takes into account the size of the fleet and the number, nature and age of the events. Crashes involving your vehicles will also be recorded as events in your ORS history, but will not be part of the safety rating calculation.
However, any offences associated with the crash and attributed to your operation, will form part of the safety rating calculation once fault is confirmed. You will also be informed of the number of crashes that have been recorded in your ORS history when you are notified of your proposed safety rating.
Read more about how the ORS is calculated
More resources for transport operators and drivers
Download the Operator Information Pack , which contains helpful information to assist transport operators achieve a good ORS rating.
Read the Commercial Road Transport Toolkit for other useful resources and links for drivers and transport operators.
goods service and/or a vehicle recovery service operator with a vehicle over 6000kgs’