New Road Safety Audit Standard Published - 1st April 2015

The long awaited update to HD 19/03 has now been published by the Highways Agency (Highways England). The new Road Safety Audit Standard HD 19/15 describes and mandates the Safety Audit process for use on Trunk Road and Motorway schemes throughout the United Kingdom. It will be up to local highway authorities to decide whether they adopt the standard on the roads for which they have responsibility.

There are a number of changes to the previous standard. Project Sponsors, Designers, Developers and Road Safety Auditors will all need to take note of those changes that affect them directly.

The changes include:

• A broader definition of the collision investigation experience and CPD requirements needed to undertake Safety Audits
• The inclusion of Certificate of Competency requirements for Safety Auditors
• New guidance on maximum numbers of people attending Safety Audit site visits
• New guidance on the scope of audits and which schemes may be exempt from Audit
• New Instructions for when and how Stage 4 Safety Audits should be undertaken
• A tightening up of the requirements for completing the Safety Audit process prior to planning consent on development schemes
• A greater emphasis on describing collision risk within the Safety Audit problem part of the report
• A tightening up on the wording in the Safety Audit Report recommendations
• A requirement that all Safety Audit Team Members sign the Safety Audit Report
• A new requirement for a formal Designers’ Response to the Safety Audit Report
• A new requirement for Project Sponsors to undertake risk assessments on items within the Exception Report
• New Safety Audit process flow charts, sample Audit Brief/ Safety Audit Report/ Audit Response/ Exception Reports

TMS is making changes to its policies and procedures in line with the new Standard and is ready to offer an immediate service to all clients based on the HD 19/15 requirements. We are also making changes to all of our training courses to incorporate the revised procedures so that delegates attending our courses will receive immediate and up to date information.

Steve Proctor, TMS Director said: “We are ready to offer immediate consultancy advice and training to all existing and new clients in respect to these new developments and we look forward to continuing to lead the field with respect to both consultancy and training in Road Safety Audit in the UK”

If you would like more details about our Road Safety Audit service please refer to the relevant section of our website.  There is an option to obtain a Road Safety Audit quote if required.