Safety Management System (SMS) Guidelines
New NSW Rail Safety Act guidelines for the content of accredited operator safety management systems came into effect on 1 July 2006 for commercial railway operators and on 1 January 2007 for mainline and higher risk isolated line heritage operators. For lower risk isolated line operators, compliance with the SMS guideline was deferred until 1 July 2008.
Why were the new guidelines introduced?
In November 2004, the Australian Rail Safety Regulators Panel (RSRP) endorsed the National Accreditation Package (NAP) to promote national consistency in accreditation standards and administrative processes.
As well, the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Waterfall Rail Accident recommended that enforceable requirements for accredited railway operator safety management systems should be introduced (Recommendation 120).
As a result, the NSW Rail Safety Act (s48A) was amended to require accredited operators to implement and maintain a SMS which complies with guidelines issued by ITSRR.
The NAP SMS guidelines were issued as a guideline under the NSW Rail Safety Act and became effective on 1 July 2006.
How are the NAP SMS guidelines different from AS4292?
The RSRP developed the NAP SMS guidelines due to concerns that AS4292.1:1995 Railway Safety Management did not reflect best practice in SMS standards.
Subsequently, Standards Australia revised AS4292.1 to incorporate key elements of the NAP SMS guidelines, and it was re-published as AS4292.1:2006 in January 2006.
RSRP subsequently made minor changes to the NAP SMS guidelines in November 2005 to ensure that both documents contain the same mandatory requirements for SMS.
RSRP has also published a rail SMS Audit Checklist to promote a consistent approach to auditing accredited operator SMSs. The Audit Checklist indicates relevant references to mandatory elements of NAP and AS4292.1:2006.
What will happen to the NAP SMS guidelines when national model rail safety legislation is implemented?
All States and Territories have agreed to implement model rail safety legislation developed by the National Transport Commission (NTC).
Supporting national model regulations have now been developed and include provisions for railway operator SMSs, based on the mandatory elements of NAP and the revised AS4292.1.
These national model regulations will replace references to the NAP SMS guidelines and AS4292 in current State and Territory rail safety legislation.
What do accredited operators need to do?
Accredited operators should review their SMS to ensure that it complies with the mandatory elements in the NAP SMS guidelines.
The explanatory material in the NAP SMS guidelines, the Rail SMS Audit Checklist, and AS4292.1:2006 provide useful guidance in achieving compliance with the NAP SMS guidelines.
If ITSRR identifies non-compliance with the NAP SMS guidelines during an audit, ITSRR may require the operator to improve their SMS to achieve compliance with the NAP SMS guidelines within specified timeframe(s).
In the event of serious deficiencies in an operator’s SMS, ITSRR may issue improvement or prohibition notices which may include specific directions for improving the operator’s SMS.
Failure to comply with an improvement or prohibition notice is an offence under the Rail Safety Act and may result in prosecution.
Why do the NAP SMS guidelines not apply to lower risk isolated line and other operators until 1 July 2008?
To ensure SMS requirements reflect the level of risk posed by individual heritage operators, ITSRR has implemented a two-stage process for the application of the SMS Guideline to those operators.
Mainline and higher risk isolated line operators (those with more complex operations carrying larger numbers of passengers) were required to comply with the SMS Guideline from 1 January 2007. The commencement date for lower risk isolated line and other operators has been deferred until 1 July 2008 after which these operators will be required to:
- have in place relevant aspects of an SMS; and/or
- comply with conditions of accreditation.
Because of lower risk isolated line and other operators' unique circumstances and limited resources, more time is required to determine the SMS requirements and/or conditions of accreditation which will apply.
While these accredited operators will not be required to comply with the SMS Guideline from 1 January 2007, they must still comply with relevant provisions of the Rail Safety Act, including s48A which requires an accredited person to have a system for identifying, managing and controlling the risks of carrying out the railway operations for which that person is accredited; guidelines relating to drug and alcohol programs, fatigue, health assessments, rail safety worker competencies and the notification of occurrences; and any conditions of accreditation.