New South Wales witake on repeated suggestions and make it compulsory for all fuel tankers to be fitted with electronic stability control.

The technology to prevent rollovers has been called-for several times in different states, usually prompted by a fatal or otherwise tragic event.

NSW authorities will now take a significant step to cut the amount of lives lost in freight and transport accidents, requiring every single dangerous goods tanker - new and old - to be running with electronic stability control (ESC) by 2019.

The ruling includes all tankers passing through NSW, which will likely force other jurisdictions to change their rules or have to skirt the entire state.

Reports say the announcement was first made at a Sydney forum of the National Bulk Tanker Association (NBTA) last week. It comes after the NBTA called for ESC to be mandatorily included on new heavy vehicles Australia-wide.

The ABC says a public announcement of new protocols will be made within days.

Craig Lamberton, the director of hazardous incidents and environmental health at the NSW Environment Protection Authority, said in an interview that “this will be the catalyst for everyone else in Australia to change as well.”

“Anything that makes the industry safer, being mandated in NSW, will force it to go to other states to ask the same questions as well”, agreed NBTA chair Justin Keast.

“At the moment as a business we do it because we believe it's a good operating decision, we look at it from a safety perspective,” he said.

“The outlay is more expensive but we believe in the longer term that will save us in accident and emergency response costs.

“If it's forced upon us as an industry, it becomes an even playing field.

Many have raised concerns that the safety system with a proven record of improved outcomes has not been mandatory in the past. It has been suggested several times by the families of victims of fatal truck crashes.

Legislation is in the works for all new trucks to include ESC, but rules have so far exempted existing vehicles.