Friday, July 26, 2024
Safety Message: Safety Assurance of Contracted Maintenance
ONRSR wants Rail Transport Operators to renew their focus on the quality assurance processes they have in place to ensure contracted maintenance work is carried out safely and effectively.
The call comes following an ONRSR investigation into how a number of metropolitan passenger trains were returned to service with incorrectly installed electrical components that presented a potential threat to safety.
When conducting scheduled maintenance inspections on passenger rolling stock Alstom Transport Australia (ATA) maintainers identified damage to the internal components of a wheelset axle box. It was found critical components were installed in the incorrect order which had the potential to impede the train's electrical circuit continuity. The work had been undertaken by a third-party contractor.
In conducting a series of enquiries with ATA to investigate how the error led to the damaged rollingstock, the national regulator is using the incident to spread an important message to the broader industry.
RTOs must ensure that safety management system documentation, inspection and supervisory processes and procedures as they relate to the contracting of maintenance contain the level of detail and sufficient clarity to allow the work to be performed correctly.
In the case of ATA and its contractor, the ONRSR investigation found that the initial information provided by ATA, in some areas, was unclear and insufficient. As the accredited entity, ATA did not provide all the relevant supporting documentation including manuals to its contractor.
For its part, the contractor did not conduct a thorough enough review of the documentation that was initially provided, in addition the investigation found the workforce assigned to the overhaul tasks did not have all required competencies, at the time, for the tasks they were undertaking on the wheelsets.
ONRSR is reminding all operators and those with safety duties under Rail Safety National Law that when outsourcing maintenance, it is imperative that effective quality assurance processes are in place to guarantee safety of the activities SFAIRP.
Quality inspections, or hold points, are critical steps in ensuring quality standards are met prior to proceeding to the next step in a process. In this case the ONRSR investigation concluded that “it is likely that an inspection…would have identified the incorrect installation…”
While the failures of ATA and its contractor in this particular scenario are of concern, ONRSR is satisfied that the actions taken to address the immediate risk at the time of the incident and the preventative measures taken since, demonstrate a commitment to ensuring safety SFAIRP. It is considered that sharing the lessons from this incident by bringing the issue of quality assurance of maintenance contracting to the attention of RTOs around the country will deliver a better overall safety outcome.ONRSR will follow up the distribution of this safety message with an in-field focus on the issue when conducting regulatory activities around the country.
For further information or to discuss, please contact your local ONRSR office.