27 Mar Enabling Safety on Irish Rail
In June 2017, Rail Safety & Systems Assurance was appointed by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) to review the Safety Management Systems (SMSs) of its Infrastructure Manager and Railway Undertaking arms. The review was prompted by the need to perform an external audit of the SMSs every four years, but IÉ also saw it as an opportunity to develop the SMSs now that they are embedded into the two organisations. The aspiration was to create SMSs based on international best practice that were more closely integrated with other company systems and enabled staff to continuously improve safety in cost-effective ways.
The review found many examples of good practice and produced a number of recommendations to extend these across both organisations, make the SMSs easier to navigate and maintain, and simplify key processes. IÉ is currently applying, to Ireland’s Commission for Railway Regulation, to renew its Safety Authorisation and Safety Certificate. The applications detail how IÉ plans to develop the SMSs over the next four-year cycle and include a number of recommendations from our review. In the meantime, our team is supporting IÉ by developing new high-level standards in key areas.
If you need help with reviewing or developing your Safety Management System, please contact us.