Australian First LX Code of Practice Released

Webinar

ATHRA hosted a webinar on the evening of Monday 24 February 2025. ONRSR provide a presentation on the Code of Practice and responded to specific concerns and questions raised in advance by you — the members of ATHRA

Supplementary question

You noted our risk assessments as being our defence, but also noted compliance with the Code of Practice (CoP) as also being a legal defence.  Given the CoP mandates use of AS7531, where are we placed if we chose, through risk assessment, to not meet the requirements of AS7531

Peter Doggett (ONRSR) replies…

My answer (longer than I wanted – but hopefully helpful)

Risk assessment and Code compliance are both defences

Section 99 of the RSNL (Rail Safety National Law) requires rail transport operators (RTOs) to have a SMS that identifies any risks to safety and to provide for the comprehensive and systematic assessment of any identified risks. Section 100 then provides further requirements for the conduct of such risk assessments.

So having a robust risk assessment process addressing the risks associated with train visibility at level crossings will help defend any allegation of breaching the RSNL in this regard.

But then that risk assessment should identify various hazards and the ensuing risks presented and then controls for managing those risks. The requirement for RTOs is to document and substantiate how those risks are either eliminated or managed SFAIRP (“so far as is reasonably practicable”).

Complying with the Code of Practice is one way of demonstrating you are managing risks SFAIRP and hence would be seen as a defence. And to comply with the Code you must undertake a risk assessment.

So regardless of which way you look at it – a risk assessment is critical to meet the requirements of the RSNL as well as to comply with the Code.

The Code and AS7531

Page 20 of the Code says:

To comply with the code, hazards impacting the conspicuity of a train that must be considered by the rolling stock operator and rail infrastructure manager when assessing the risk of a road user not seeing a train that is approaching a level crossing….

The code also lists the hazards (and controls) that must be considered in the risk assessment including lighting of the train, poor contrast between the train and the landscape, loss of contrast due to poor cleanliness of the train, time of day impact on the visibility of the train etc. 

Page 21 notes that AS7531 establishes relevant technical standards but notes that compliance with the standard may not be enough to ensure that a road user will see the train. 

Therefore to comply with the code each operator must conduct a risk assessment and determine whether lighting is needed to manage the risk SFAIRP that a road user won’t see the train. It might have to be to a higher standard than AS7531, or to implement alternative lighting and visibility controls than those in AS7531.

The key requirements for an RTO :

• reasons for deviating from the standard or, for or against additional lighting must be documented as part of the risk assessment process along with the supporting evidence to justify the decision
• the controls implemented must achieve equal to or better than what AS7531 provides.