Safety risk management system
An on-demand service must be operated safely with an appropriate and effective Safety Risk Management System. The Safety Risk Management System will assist in making on-demand travel safer by dealing with risks before they lead to personal injury or death arising from an incident.
When a Booking Service Provider (BSP) is aware of the risks relating to their on-demand service and keeps a Safety Risk Register, they have a better chance of keeping their vehicles roadworthy and ensure their drivers, passengers and other road users will have a safe journey.
What is a Safety Risk Management System?
A BSP or its Responsible Person uses a Safety Risk Management System to identify, record and manage risks.
The complexity of the Safety Risk Management System will depend on the on-demand service such as its size, where it operates, and the level of risk identified.
Who does it apply to?
The BSP and/or their responsible person must develop and maintain a Safety Risk Management System.
The Safety Risk Management System is supported by laws around chain of responsibility that create safety duties and legal requirements to prevent risks which may lead to personal injury or death. The legal requirements attach to the following persons involved with the on-demand service:
- the accredited operator
- the responsible person
- an affiliated operator(s)
- a driver(s)
- a registered operator of a vehicle.
What are the components within the Safety Risk Management System?
A Safety Risk Register including;
- an assessment of known hazards and the risk that the known hazard will lead to an incident
- to identify the likelihood and seriousness that the risk will lead to an incident
- to identify actions to prevent or reduce the risk of an incident and
- a review of those actions to ensure that they are undertaken
- an approach to create awareness and train staff about the procedures
- an approach to keep and maintain procedures and records
- an approach to update, improve and review
Why do I need a Safety Risk Management System ?
It is a requirement under Tasmanian law that a BSP has a Safety Risk Management System for their on-demand service.
The law exists to help every BSP to understand the risks to prevent an incident.
Incident is an event which causes an injury or death of a driver, passenger or other road user, damage to a vehicle or vehicle equipment, or disruption to the service.
A BSP is legally required to be aware of all risks and record them within their Safety Risk Management System.
The Safety Risk Management System will enable an on-demand service;
- to be more efficient and productive with less down time caused by crashes or vehicle breakdowns;
- to have a good safety record enabling a competitive advantage as it builds trust, reputation and brand, instilling passengers with confidence that the service is safe;
- managing its chain of responsibility duties to reduce the risks associated with operating the service, and;
- to train staff so that they understand risks.
What is risk?
Risk is the uncertainty that a hazard will lead to personal injury or death arising out of an incident, in terms of how likely, and how serious if, the incident occurred. Risk can be positive, negative or both. Some examples are listed below:
- a vehicle fault or defect which has been assessed by a driver or other staff as unsafe
- an unrepaired vehicle fault or defect identified by a safety inspection
- a vehicle not meeting vehicle standards when presented for inspection
- a vehicle that has a defect notice or infringement issued, as it did not meet vehicle standards
- a driver with a medical condition effecting the driver’s ability to drive safely
- a driver without sufficient competence to drive the vehicle
- a driver impaired by fatigue, alcohol or other drugs
- passengers getting into or out of the vehicle
- a person or pedestrian on a roadway
- a particular passenger behaviour observed
- an event identified by a customer complaint
- a piece of traffic infrastructure like a road sign, and
- a change to traffic speed or road conditions.
A risk has eventuated if there has been personal injury or death arising out of incident.
How to put together a Safety Risk Register?
There are different ways to develop a Safety Risk Register. The register can be simple and tailored for the on-demand service’s needs. The following six steps can be used as a guide to create your own.
Step 1 What could happen?
When a hazard is identified, work out whether that hazard could lead to an incident.
Example: A vehicle with a bald tyre (hazard) may lead to a person being injured in a crash (incident).
Step 2 How likely?
Consider how likely the hazard would lead to an incident. Use the table below to determine the risk rating (likelihood) that a hazard could lead to the incident:
Risk rating | |
|---|---|
Will happen | The incident will happen in most circumstances (within one year) |
May happen | The incident may happen within the foreseeable future or medium term (between one to five years) |
Won’t happen | The incident may occur at some time but won’t happen in the foreseeable future (within five to 10 years) |
Example: it may happen that a vehicle with a bald tyre will lead to incident (a crash) as the vehicle is unable to stop to avoid contact with another vehicle, it is reasonable to foresee that such a crash would probably occur within one to two years
Step 3 How serious?
Work out the seriousness of the incident relating to the potential level of injury or death. Use the table below to determine the seriousness of the incident:
Seriousness of the incident | |
|---|---|
Facility | Incident with potential to cause death |
Serious injury | Incident with potential to cause serious personal injury involving being admitted to a hospital |
Other injury | Incident with potential to cause personal injury (other than serious injury) |
Vehicle damage | Incident with potential to cause vehicle damage only |
Step 4 Should something be actioned?
For example: a vehicle with a bald tyre may lead to a crash that causes serious injury to the driver or passenger or another road user.
Work out whether something should be done to prevent or reduce the risk, utilising the table below.
Seriousness of the incident | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Risk rating | Vehicle damage | Other injury | Serious injury | Fatality |
Won’t happen | Unnecessary | Unnecessary | Unnecessary | Yes |
May happen | Unnecessary | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Will happen | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
If the hazard is likely to lead to personal injury or death arising out of incident, then something must be done to prevent the risk.
For example: something must be done to a vehicle with a bald tyre to prevent a crash.
Step 5 What could be done?
When something should be actioned to prevent or reduce risk, work out what these actions can be. For each risk there can be a range of ways to prevent or reduce it.
For example, ways to prevent the risk relating to a vehicle with a bald tyre would be to replace the tyre. When the bald tyre should be replaced would be determined by the following factors:
- tyre tread does not meet vehicle standards: replace tyre immediately with the vehicle not used until replaced
- tyre tread almost does not meet vehicle standards: replace tyre within a fortnight but do not use vehicle in wet weather
- tyre tread wearing: reassess tyre in one month time to establish when tyre is to be replaced.
Step 6 What will be done?
When an action has been determined to prevent the risk, ask the following questions:
What will be done? | Action(s) to prevent the hazard becoming incident. |
Who is responsible? | Name of person who will implement the action(s) (Action owner) |
When does it need to done? | When the action(s) are expected to be completed/ reviewed (Action date) |
Status | The action is:
(Action status) |
Step 7 Place assessment into a Safety Risk Register.
When steps one to six are complete, the Safety Risk Register needs to be completed. The register can be formatted in a way that works best for the service. An example template is available and an example of a completed template is available
When to update the Safety Risk Register?
The Safety Risk Register should be updated after
- an incident has occurred or a near miss
- a new risk has been identified
- a risk has changed
- as part of a periodic review.
The Safety Risk Register needs to be provided to a person approved by the Transport Commission and may be assessed by Transport Safety Inspectors when required to do so.