Management systems serve to strengthen operating processes in order to ensure safe and cost-effective operation. This involves development of operating concepts, ensuring or increasing the effectiveness of maintenance work and support in the tendering process.
Without a safety certificate, so called railway undertakings are not permitted to participate in standard gauge railway operation.
According to § 7 a, Clause 2 No. 2 of the German Railways Act (Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz), most companies can only obtain this certificate if they can prove that they have installed and operate a safety management system (SMS). The new Article 14a of the amended version of the EC Railway Safety Directive, 2004/49/EC, requires certification of the Entity in Charge of Maintenance (ECM) - including the workshops charged with the maintenance work - as from 2010. In the standard, particular attention is paid to the development of maintenance programmes and assurance and verification of maintenance results.
Both the SMS of the railway undertakings and the certification of the ECM also include review of the agreements with external maintenance companies. This means that the maintenance companies are also directly subject to the requirements of the EC Railway Safety Directive or its transposition into national law.
Experts from TÜV NORD support manufacturers, operators and maintenance companies in the development of management systems - from the point of view of content, description and documentation and internal communication.
Our Services
- Collation of the requirements of the standards
- Structuring of the content of rules and regulations
- Support in development of the necessary control mechanisms demanded by the relevant standards
- Evaluation of the current in-house organisation for effectiveness regarding safety and cost-efficiency
- Development of system documentation
- Internal communication/support during the initial stages
The development of a safety management system should in particular initiate and stimulate opinion formation, decision-making, and process creation. The advisor strengthens and orders these processes in a formal way, renders them target-orientated and initiates and moderates internal discussions.
