It is a legislative requirement of accreditation that rail transport operators (RTOs) have an appropriate safety management system (SMS) in place.
An SMS is a rail transport operator’s primary means for identifying hazards, recording the risks to safety it has identified within its operations and detailing how those risks are managed and monitored. RTOs are legally obliged to implement and then comply with their SMS (RSNL s101).
The level of detail included in a SMS will be determined by the complexity of the rail operations for which it has been designed.
Safety management is an ongoing process. It is an essential requirement of receiving and maintaining accreditation with ONRSR.
There are five parts to effective rail safety management:
Smaller less-complex operators and Tourist & Heritage operators should ensure that their SMS is consistent with their specific operations. A suite of SMS Modules, together with a number of example tools and templates have been developed to assist with this.
Asset management is an integral element of any rail transport operator's safety management system, used to manage the risks associated with the design, use and disposal of physical assets throughout their lifecycle, ensuring assets are safe to operate and maintain. ONRSR's Asset Management Guideline provides scalable guidance for industry on how to comply with asset management obligations under the Rail Safety National Law.
In developing the guidance, ONRSR aimed to describe ‘good asset management’, focus on asset management specific to safety and align with existing definitions and standards for asset management.
The guidance complements rather than repeats guidance available to industry such as:
Development of the guideline was informed by an Asset Management Industry Reference Group, involving some of Australia’s leading rail transport operators.
Key features of the asset management guideline include:
Rail transport operators must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that rail safety workers (including contractors) who perform rail safety work in relation to their railway operations are of sufficient health and fitness to carry out that work safely.
As part of their safety management system, accredited rail transport operators must prepare and implement a health and fitness program for rail safety workers. This program must comply with the National Transport Commission’s (NTC) National Standard for Health Assessment of Rail Safety Workers. The current edition of the Standard took effect on 11 November 2024.
The Standard provides practical guidance for:
It is the responsibility of the rail transport operator to ensure that health professionals conducting health assessments for their workers are authorised to do so. Only health professionals who are suitably qualified, have completed approved training and are registered with the AHP Program are authorised to complete health assessments for rail safety workers.
For a copy of the Standard and supporting guidance (including fact sheets for rail safety workers and rail transport operators) visit the NTC website.