Assessing the risks associated with railway construction sites

SBB’s Infrastructure Division and the Swiss Public Transportation Association are drafting a new set of guidelines for railway development projects. This work includes the introduction of an entirely new approach to risk assessment. In the context of completing its assignment, EBP helped the project management streamline the process it uses to assess risks at railway construction sites and also developed a new instrument that can be used by the safety management team.

The instrument supports safety management teams when it comes to assessing the risks associated with planned construction sites and specifying appropriate safety measures. The risk assessments are based on a catalogue of standard track situations that are accounted for by predefined checklists that are to be completed by the safety management team. Those responsible can then use the results of the checklist procedure to ascertain appropriate safety measures. The resulting evaluation will contribute towards a basis for safety-related decision-making at railway construction sites.

Given that the tool developed by EBP needed to dovetail with existing standard operating procedures and be compatible with previous instruments, it was realized in Microsoft Excel and augmented with additional VBA functions.

Picture Credits: EBP