Compliance

1. Rail Safety

Accreditation

The organisation demonstrated continuing compliance with the requirements of the Rail Safety Act 1998 and rail safety accreditation as an owner and operator of a railway.

Safety Standards and Measures

The safety management plan addressing the requirements of Australian Standard AS 4292.1 Railway safety management - Part 1: General and interstate requirements was revised to take account of ongoing changes made to the organisation, the responsibilities and authorities. The revised document was submitted to the Director Rail Safety in accordance with the Rail Safety Act section 10(2).

The rail safety and occupational safety and health plans were combined into one PTA safety plan in 2004. This has facilitated the development of one safety system, enabling processes to be streamlined, avoiding duplication of documentation and assisting the organisation in working towards achieving accreditation to AS/NZ 4801:2000. This work is ongoing.

Compliance Inspections and Reporting

The annual rail safety compliance audit was conducted by the Office of Rail Safety in November 2004 and a report was issued on 15 December 2004. The Rail Safety Audit found eleven non-compliances and 23 observations, of which all but two were closed out at 30 June 2005. There were no directions issued to undertake remedial safety work as a result of a safety compliance inspection.

The PTA Annual Safety Report to the Director Rail Safety dealing with the general conduct of the railway operations for the year ended June 2004 showed there were 435 notifiable occurrences reported (Category A and Category B). Notifiable occurrences are defined in the Rail Safety Regulations 1999 as Category A (serious injury, death, or significant damage) or Category B (potential to cause a serious accident) and National Definitions under instructions issued on 15 December 2004.

There was a sharp rise in the number of notifiable occurrences as a result of the change to reporting in accordance with the National Definitions which include a much broader reporting requirement.