An ISO Standard for Road Safety

(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Organization for Standardization recently approved the creation of a new project committee to develop an international standard for road traffic safety management systems.

                                                                                                        

The secretariat of the project committee, ISO/PC 241—“Road safety management,” has been assigned to SIS Swedish Standards Institute, and its first meeting is expected to be held in Stockholm, June 16–19, 2008.

ISO/PC 241 will bring together stakeholders, including representatives of organizations responsible for road traffic infrastructure, public authorities, government departments, the transport sector, manufacturers, emergency services, health services, and the variety of associations concerned by aspects of road safety (e.g., prevention of accidents, protection of children, and care and rights of accident victims).

The committee’s job will be to develop a standard following the generic management system approach pioneered by ISO 9001 for quality management and since applied to other objectives, including ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 28000 (supply-chain security).

“As was highlighted at the Second United Nations Stakeholder Forum on Global Road Safety, in which ISO participated, in April 2007, road crashes kill more than 1.2 million a year, and for every single death there are 20 to 50 serious injuries,” comments Alan Bryden, ISO secretary-general. “Road traffic injuries also impede economic development, with costs to emerging economies from fatalities and disabling injuries estimated at 1 to 2 percent of GNP.”

The standard will be applicable to all actors with an influence on road safety, including companies and organizations involved in:

• The design, building, and maintenance of roads and streets
• The design and production of cars, trucks, and other road vehicles, including parts and equipment
• The transport of goods and people
• Generating significant flows of goods and people
• Having personnel working in road transport systems
• Responding to road traffic accidents (emergency and first aid services)
• Rehabilitation of accident victims

Potential users of the standard include transport and haulage companies, rental car companies, and local government organizations responsible for the transport of goods and people.

The standard’s intention is to help organizations:

• Improve their performance in relation to road safety
• Contribute to reducing accidents
• Better meet regulatory requirements and societal expectations regarding road safety
• Employ a process approach, including the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and continual improvement, to set and achieve road safety objectives

In addition, the standard may provide an internationally harmonized tool useful for organizations involved in:

• Auditing the effectiveness of road safety programs
• Analyzing accident black spots
• Providing funding or awarding prizes for road safety

ISO/PC 241 will work in the area of management system standards only. It won’t encroach on regulatory responsibilities, and it will seek to be complementary to the road safety work of intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the World Health Organization. In particular, it will work in close collaboration with the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, of which ISO is a member.

For more information, visit www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1113.                         

 

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