Safety Management System: O Ce of Rail Transport
Safety Management System: O Ce of Rail Transport
Safety Management System: O Ce of Rail Transport
https://utk.gov.pl/en/railway-safety/safety-management-syste/6358,Safety-Management-System.html
2020-08-18, 15:23
The Safety Management System, according to the definition included in the Directive on
railway safety, means the organisation and arrangements established by an infrastructure
manager or a railway undertaking to ensure the safe management of its operations.
The Safety Management System includes all rules developed and implemented for the
purposes of a given entity (i.a. internal regulations, procedures, and workplace instructions)
regulating the operations of the entity with regard to safety (i.a. the division of
responsibilities within the entity, including the responsibility of the management to train staff
in the appropriate skills for carrying out particular tasks, and resources management) and
facilitating the secure arrangement of relationships with other entities, including relations
with the infrastructure manager and other railway undertakings, and with subcontractors.
The solutions adopted within the SMS is an enterprise’s capability to continuously identify
threats in all aspects of its activities, including threats resulting from cooperation with other
entities (e.g. the undertaking’s cooperation with the infrastructure manager), cooperation
with subcontractors (e.g. services in terms of infrastructure or vehicle maintenance, traction
services and staff outsourcing) and managing the risks associated with such threats.
Appropriately developed and efficient SMS procedures, on the one hand, should facilitate the
active implementation of risk management measures (solutions implemented by enterprises
making it possible to reduce the identified risk to an acceptable level), and, on the other
hand, monitoring the effectiveness of the applied solutions and the continuous upgrading of
the adopted procedures, instructions and regulations, in order to maintain the required level
of safety of the performed activities.
Safety management systems are created on an obligatory basis by railway undertakings and
infrastructure managers on the basis of the criteria stipulated in the common safety method
for assessing conformity (Commission Regulations (EU) Nos 1158/2010 and 1169/2010) and
the Regulation of the Minister of Transport of 19 March 2007 on safety management systems
in rail transport.
Risk management procedures for all risk factors associated with the performed
activities, provided maintenance services and supplied materials, the involvement of
contractors and suppliers, and third-party actions;
Procedures for the division of responsibilities and for control measures at various
levels of management;
Procedures aimed at meeting the requirements of existing and new technical and
operating standards and other requirements;
Procedures for reporting, investigating and analysing accidents, incidents and events
which can potentially lead to accidents, and procedures for implementing the
guidelines issued by relevant entities (event investigation commissions, the National
Railway Accident Investigation Committee, the President of UTK);
Creating and implementing a safety management system is a key requirement for obtaining
safety authorisation by the railway infrastructure manager and of the safety certificate by
the railway undertaking. The continuous application of SMS procedures and their upgrading
is a prerequisite for maintaining the validity of the issued certificates and authorisations.
The system of safety certification for railway undertakings and safety authorisation for
railway infrastructure managers assumes a continuous exchange of information reporting
remarks and irregularities on the function of a given entity between the certification and the
supervision process. Information collected within the certification process constitutes one of
the elements with an impact on the range of supervisory measures, while remarks gathered
within the supervision process influence the process of renewing safety certificates and
authorisations.