Harmonised EU Training for Road Safety Inspectors
Dr Adewole AdesiyunDeputy Secretary-GeneralFEHRL, Brussels
BALTRIS Final ConferencePalanga, Lithuania28-29 August 2012
Contents
¨ Description of FEHRL¨ General overview of RSI¨ PILOT4SAFETY project – training activities¨ Harmonisation of Inspectors training¨ Conclusion
What is FEHRL?
•Formed in 1989 as the organisation of European National Road Research Centres
•Currently consists of >30 member institutes – typically state-owned, but all with a public service orientation – employing over 5,000 staff
•Facilitates cooperative research projects for European Road Directorates, European Commission and other clients
AIT with TUW
ANASwith UNIFI
BRRC
IGH
RWS-DVSwith TNO &TUDDRD
IBDIM
LNEC
CESTRIN
ZAG
KEDEwith NTUA
KTI
ICERA
LAVOC
NRAwith UCD & TCD
CIRTNENS
IFSTTAR
NPRA
VTI
CEDEX
CDV
TRL
Members and Associates of FEHRL
TECER
IP
BAST
LVCELI
VUDwith Univ. of Žilina
Derzhdor
INRC
CSIR
FHWA
National highway research centres
FEHRL’s objectives
Through research collaboration, FEHRL’s statutory objectives are to:
• Provide scientific input to EU and national government policy on highway engineering and road transport matters.
• Create and maintain an efficient and safe road network in Europe.
• Increase innovation in European road construction and road-using industries.
• Improve the energy efficiency of highway engineering and operations.
• Protect the environment and improve quality of life.
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I. DefinitionDirective 2008/96/EC – Road Infrastructure Safety Management
‘safety inspection’ is an ordinary periodical verification of the characteristics and defects that require maintenance work for reasons of safety
General overview of RSI
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Article 6 of Directive (Safety inspections)
Member States shall ensure that safety inspections are undertaken in respect of the roads in operation in order to identify the road safety related features and prevent accidents;
Safety inspections shall comprise of periodic inspections on the road network and surveys on the possible impact of road works on the safety of the traffic flow;
Member States shall ensure that periodic inspections are undertaken by a competent entity. Such inspections should be frequent enough to safeguard adequate safety levels for the road infrastructure in question.
Definition
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According to Phil Allan (2006), an RSI is an on-site systematic review of an existing road or section of road to identify hazardous conditions, faults, deficiencies that may lead to serious accidents.
RiPCORD-iSEREST project definition proposed by Cardoso & al. (2005)
RSI is a
- A preventive tool;
- Consisting of a regular, systematic, on-site inspection of existing roads, covering the whole road network;
- Carried out by trained safety expert teams;
- Resulting in a formal report on detected road hazards and safety issues;
- Requiring a formal response by the relevant road authority.
Other definitions
RSA & RSI in the general road safety management framework
Road Safety Impact
Assessment
Planned sections of the network
Road Safety AuditsSafety ranking
& Network Management
Road Safety Inspections
Feasibility Draft design Detailed design Traffic opening Operations
Existing road network
www.brrc.be
RSA and RSI as part of the Road Safety Management
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¨ Infrastructure is part of the complex system that contributes to the genesis of an accident or the worsening of its consequences
¨ Road authorities must therefore guarantee adequate levels of safety on existing roads. To reach this goal, an advanced road safety management should consider the whole infrastructure life‐cycle itself
¨ RSI, as a preventive measure, play an important role that is reinforced by the Directive 2008/96/EC itself:
“Once road sections with a high accident concentration have been treated and remedial measures have been taken, safety inspections as a preventive measure should assume a more important role. Regular inspections are an essential tool for preventing possible dangers for all road users, including vulnerable users, and also in case of road works”
Why do we need RSIs?
When should RSI be carried out?
¨ Driving reasons to start RSIThere is no unique reason that can lead to the decision to start an RSI on a road. It depends mostly on the national safety policy and the network safety management procedures set up by the road authority or operator.
The main reason to start RSI for a road section is the “RSI time schedule” as a periodical task.
When should RSI be carried out?
In addition, RSI may be started- As part of programmes on specific road or road site facilities or
specific thematic aspects, e.g. RSI on tunnels, level crossings, trees, motorcyclists, night time etc.;
- When a reconstruction or rehabilitation project is planned by the road administration in the near future; in this case, the RSI can identify the specific needs regarding the road safety (baseline);
- In case of relevant structural changes in the adjacent network or land use, e.g. new motorways with new link roads or the building of a new shopping centre.
When should RSI be carried out?
¨ Frequency of inspection and types of RSIThere is no “standard” position for this question. The Directive 2008/96/CE does not impose any obligation or even give any recommendation; it only mentions “periodic inspections of the road network” and stipulates that “inspections shall be sufficiently
frequent to safeguard adequate safety levels”.
Frequency of inspection in some countries:
Germany - 2 years (on major roads)
France - 3 years
Portugal & Hungary – 5 years
Partners in the RSI process
The Client (usually the road authority or private road operating company) and the inspector (or team of inspectors) participate in the inspection process.
Planning/ preparation• Plan the inspection• Select inspection team• Make agreement/contract• Send various data material (maps, AADT,....)• Arrange initial meetingFollow-up• Evaluate inspection report and determine which measures to be implemented• Undertake measures on existing road
Road Safety Inspection team
Road Authority or Road Operator
Order
Road Safety Unit
Regional District
OR
OR
Client
Reporting
Client Responsabilities
Implementation• Plan and carry out the inspection under various conditions.• Prepare final inspection report• Present the inspection findings to the client
RSI team Responsabilities
www.brrc.be
Guidelines for RSI
Practical rules for a successful RSI
¨ Inspection conditions
- Time of inspection
- Frequency of use
- Different weather conditions
- Seasonal variation
¨ Approach from the perspective of all road users¨ Independent and multi-disciplinary approach¨ Fundamental safety elements
Pilot project for common EU Curriculum for road safety experts: training and application on Secondary Roads
DG MOVE project
Start date:1 June 2010 Duration: 24 monthsBudget: € 1.3M
Partners FEHRL – Coordinator ASTRAL Lazio CDV Brno Generalitat de Catalunya Region of Central Macedonia Randers Municipality
PILOT4SAFETY
The “Pillars” of Directive 2008/96/EC
Art. 3 - Road safety impact assessment-RIA
Art. 4 - Road safety audit-RSA
Art. 5 - Safety ranking and management of the road network in operation
Art. 6 - Road safety inspection
Art. 9 - Appointment and training of auditors
Member States shall ensure ….. training curricula for road safety auditors are adopted by 19 December 2011.
When the Directive is adopted by the Member States, it will apply only to TEN-T road network
…. but…..
The highest number of fatalities occurs on the
so-called "secondary roads“
1-Single carriageway, two lanes2-Paved road3-Outside Urban Areas
The limits of the Directive
Concept and Objectives of the Pilot4Safety Project
Pilot4Safety aims to overcome this “barrier”, by using a part of the Directive as a template for safety application on regional roads
• Develop curricula and tools for the auditing and inspections of secondary roads in a group of EU regions
• Reach an agreement between the regions about acceptance of a common training curricula and exchange of safety experts
• Application of RSA, RSI on some road projects and road stretches identified by each regional Authority as a priority in terms of safety
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The aim of this manual is to support the training of road safety auditors and road safety inspectors. Contents:¨ Introduction¨ A general road safety part ¨ Road Safety Audit¨ Road Safety Inspection
Safety Prevention Manual for Secondary Roads
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Consolidated definition of RSI as adopted by PILOT4SAFETY
“A Road Safety Inspection is a systematic field study organised sufficiently frequently on all existing roads or sections of road to safeguard adequate safety levels”, plus other details.
Safety Prevention Manual for Secondary Roads
II. Survey amongst partners
III. Two Curriculum
plans (RSA & RSI)
Highly relevant
Relevant
Interesting
Nice to have
Not relevant
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Curriculumfor Road Safety personnel, mainly based on Road Safety Audit and Inspections
I. Draft Curriculum
plan
Steps:
A structured list of items related to RSA & RSI
To be organised in a comprehensive Training Program
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Curriculumfor the Road Safety personnel, mainly based on Road Safety Audit and Inspections
STEP I. Draft a Curriculum plan (for RSA & RSI courses)
A structured list of items related to RSA & RSI
Relevant EU bibliographic references
e.g. EURO-AUDITS ; RiPCORD-iSEREST
EU national practices
Through experience from FEHRL umbrella partners
e.g. German, Austrian RSA courses
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Curriculumfor the Road Safety personnel, mainly based on Road Safety Audit and Inspections
STEP II. Survey amongst partners
Aims of the topics survey were to:
find out the relevance of specific curriculum topics figure out other (new) relevant topics define the session length (hours)
Highly relevantRelevant
Interesting
Nice to haveNot relevantGrading key for the votes:
RSA/RSI Curriculum PlansStructure
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4 parts/modules: Preliminary Part Basics about RSA / RSI The Audit / Inspection Process Practical Part
Alignment of this EU-based program to the specific regional/national circumstances! Interactive – Practical – Participants contribution Include expectations of the trainees
PARTNERS
STEP III. Two Curriculum plans
RSA/RSI TrainingSelection of the trainees
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Selection of the trainees by the participating region; criteria:− Education level;− Professionnal experience;− English language skills;− Availability for the project.
Invitation of some additional trainees through partner’s contacts (Italy, Greece, Belgium)
7 participants completed the RSA training
12 participants completed the RSI training
(additional trainees included)
Their position
(Traffic) engineers
Road projects auditors
Surveyor engineer
Traffic planner
Environmental engineer
Head of road service
Head of road works Dpt.
Engineer, project manager
Road safety coordinator
Mechanical Engineer in Public Work Services
RSA/RSI TrainingTrainees Profile
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Presentations,Demonstrations, Examples, Discussions
Presentations,Case studies, Discussions
Presentations, Examples, RSA/RSI by group, Discussions
Individual RSA/RSI , Discussion
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Preliminary part
Basics about RSA/RSI
The RSA/RSI process
Practical part
PracticeTheory
RSA/RSI training – summary
4 parts/modules Interaction
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Homework Training @ FEHRL office
RSA training (total: around 100 hours)
Preliminary part 6 hours 38 hours
Basics about RSA 4 hours 10 hours
The audit process - 13 hours
Practical part 16 to 24 hours 9 hours
RSI training (total: around 100 hours)
Preliminary part 6 hours 34 hours
Basics about RSI 4 hours 10 hours
The inspection process
- 17 hours
Practical part 16 to 24 hours 8 hours
45% (5 to 6 days)
15% (2 days)
10% (2 days)
30% (4 days)
RSA/RSI training – summary
Harmonisation of Auditors and Inspectors Training
Why is harmonisation necessary?
EC Communication COM (2010) 389 (Towards a European road Safety area: policy orientation on road safety 2011-2020)
“The Commission will promote the application of the relevant principles on infrastructure safety management to secondary roads of Member States, in particular through the exchange of best practices”
Harmonisation of Auditors and Inspectors Training
A certified European training will comply with EC objective by:¨ Allowing the cross-national sharing of best practices¨ Optimising the outputs, due to the (independent) point
of view of experts coming from different EU areas¨ Being a starting point to implement common road
safety standards for the European road network¨ Underlining that the safety issues should not
stop/change at borders
Harmonisation of Auditors and Inspectors Training
A common/harmonised European training will be the first step to getting a common high level of road safety on all roads across the EU member states. By having safety personnel with a harmonised technical background, similar road safety solutions will be adopted for similar road safety problems
Next steps to common EU training of road safety experts
Next steps to common EU training of road safety experts
Objectives:¨ Provide recommendations to stakeholders to support
their objectives in term of best practice exchange and the continuous improvement of safety management practices
¨ Support member states in their efforts to implement RSA/RSI on the secondary road network
It sets the basis for the establishment of a common training for European road safety auditors and inspectors
Next steps to common EU training of road safety experts
The report contains:¨ Recommendations regarding RSA/RSI training¨ Recommendations regarding practical RSA/RSI
on secondary roads¨ Conclusions and open issues
Recommendations regarding RSA/RSI training
¨ Length of training
- recommended length = 8 working days in the classroom (including theory and practical exercises), plus some homework - in total, about 100 hours including homework, which is consistent with the extent of training organised in PILOT4SAFETY
Number of trainees - optimal size of the training class = 8-10 trainees - a mixture of different nationalities within the course
Recommendations regarding RSA/RSI training
¨ Skills and knowledge of the trainees
The trainees should have some kind of Europe-wide homologated engineering training (e.g. equivalent of university degree) and at least three years of experience in road design and/or road safety engineering and/or accident analysis.
Structure of the training
Recommendations regarding RSA/RSI training
¨ Final examination
The training should end with the final practical exercise, which should at the very least be in a semi-real situation (meaning the whole audit or inspection process should be covered, i.e. from the ordering of the audit/inspection to the presentation of the results to the client).
Recommendations regarding practical RSI on secondary roads
¨ International composition of the RSI team- The international character of the inspection team does not cause any
serious problems
- The presence of visiting inspectors was considered as beneficial by all involved parties
- There were no general barriers identified; only language and unfamiliarity with local conditions were mentioned as potential issues
- The exchange of knowledge and increased respect from local authorities were the most beneficial factors mentioned
Recommendations regarding practical RSI on secondary roads
¨ Procedures
RSI team
It is strongly recommended that the RSI is carried out by a team of at least two inspectors
Checklists The usage of checklists should not been mandatory during the inspection, but it is recommended to use them, especially after conducting the inspection, to ensure that no safety critical issue has been forgotten
Recommendations regarding practical RSI on secondary roads
¨ Procedures
Safety of the inspection team and other road users When inspecting using a car driving slower than the usual traffic, it is important to use a car equipped with warning signs/marking or a switchable flashing light(s) mounted on the roof Point of view of all road users It is vital that the inspection is not only car-oriented. It is necessary to check the safety issues from the point of view of all road users (e.g. pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and children) as well as to inspect not only the major road, but the crossings or side roads as well.
Recommendations regarding practical RSI on secondary roads
¨ Procedures Recommendations for safety improvements Recommendations should be elaborated in a general way, and should not replace the work of the road operator. The inspector or RSI team must highlight the potential road safety deficiencies and risks and may give recommendations if necessary, but the solutions must be prepared by the client
Ranking The RSI report could indicate the relative importance of each deficiency and therefore assist the client in making appropriate decisions. This is done using language forms such as “must”, “should” or “consideration should be given to” within the recommendations, or by adding expressions like “highly recommended”, “potential high impact”, “suggestions to consider”
Recommendations regarding practical RSI on secondary roads
¨ Procedures Client’s formal response The responsible road authority shall prepare a written statement outlining the actions taken and the justification for the decision if no actions were taken. Both the inspection report and the formal response together form the documentation for conducting the inspection
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Conclusions
Objective achieved (Training of at least two road safety personnel from each participating Region)
Effective structure of the training in 4 consecutive modules− Module 1: complete review of the necessary basics
− Modules 2 & 3: appropriate and progressive practical training of the RSA and RSI procedures
− Module 4: Check & consolidation of knowledge
Mixed learning method (theoretical/practical)
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Conclusions
About the interest of a common training at EU level:− unique opportunity to exchange about rules, practices &
experiences
− step towards a common high level of road safety in EU
Acknowledgements
The PILOT4SAFETY team