Are our Roads Safe
Are our Roads SAFE!
Anyone making a road has a clear duty to provide infrastructure that is fit for purpose.
Standard Engineering Specifications (SES) would provide a base line for establishing fit for purpose. In the event that there is a serious road accident, for example, the first test would be: did we meet our standard specifications?
Standard Engineering Specifications serve a useful purpose providing a specification for managing, monitoring and assuring the quality of the engineering works. They also define what harvesting and transport contractors should expect to receive in terms of the working infrastructure. It is important that each group confirm that the engineering construction meets the requirements of road users and those would agree on any variations. Finally, the infrastructure built to the agreed standard would always be used in the manner intended, in accord with the design e.g. a transport company would only use the trucking configuration planned for that road.
Are Our People SAFE!
Following construction, PCBUs (including end users) would check and confirm that the road meets the agreed specification. Thereafter, they would sign-off on the road before using it.
Subsequently, if the road would fail (for example due to adverse weather) then the PCBUs would close the road until repairs/maintenance had fixed the issues to everyone's satisfaction.
View this article in Safety Bulletin 101