In New Zealand there appears to be a general acceptance that a safety management system (SMS) approach would be the most appropriate way to ensure providers of public roads deliver an appropriate level of safety on their roading network. This paper gives a brief outline of the major features of the delivery of the roading service before discussing the general features of a SMS and then examining the implications of the accident prevention/accident reduction split for the development of a SMS regime for road controlling authorities (RCAs). The paper than proposes a SMS model for RCAs noting the authorities are required to develop the system indicating the "standards" "expertise" and a road safety strategy to be applied to their roading network. The system also requires the authorities to develop and utilize a management system and independent internal audit regime aimed at ensuring compliance with the SMS. The approval and evaluation procedures are then outlined before the paper concludes by discussing some crucial issues that need to be addressed in the development of a SMS regime. (a)
Samenvatting