Aust rail industry calls for uniform fatigue regulation with road transport
The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has welcomed the current deliberations over fatigue standards in the rail industry as part of the process to establish the National Rail Safety Regulator in Adelaide by 1 January 2013.
Australia needs a consistent regulatory approach across rail and road in terms of fatigue hours.
The ARA calls on Governments to ensure that the regulatory burden on rail and road is the same so that both modes can contest on a level playing field.
“Fatigue management is a vital component of the rail industry’s safety management systems, and it is critical that we agree on a common national approach to managing fatigue in Australia,” said ARA CEO Bryan Nye.
The rail industry has had a long term commitment to managing fatigue for all rail safety workers, and has had effective safety management systems in place long before fatigue regulations were introduced.
Rail companies employ sophisticated fatigue countermeasures both in terms of control over the nature of working hours as well as education and sleep/work arrangements to ensure rail safety workers are given all the essential support they need to arrive at work fit and not fatigued. Work is arranged to ensure fatigue does not impact on safety.
“All rail companies approach safety as a key business driver which means that it is in industry’s as well as its employees’ interests to have effective fatigue management systems in place” said Mr Nye.
“In fact, the rail industry invests in continuous improvement for this fundamental work safety issue and this includes current research into how to update world class standards for fatigue management,” he said.
Rail is concerned by the imbalance in the transport sector with differing standards for managing fatigue. The rail industry has its fatigue management systems closely scrutinised by regulators on a case-by-case basis. For instance New South Wales has maximum driving hours prescribed at 12 hours, unlike all other states. However, in the heavy vehicle sector, much greater hours are allowed that is up to 16 hours driving, with breaks.
The ARA calls on Australian governments to ensure that there is modal equality in this vital area of transport safety, whilst also allowing for innovation in fatigue management. This will lead to improved operating performance and safety outcomes of both transport modes.
“Establishment of the National Rail Safety Regulator is strongly supported by rail which is committed to ensuring we can operate our railways safely and competitively for the benefit of Australia,” Mr Nye said.
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