Tunnel Safety Officer
According to German tunnel guidelines (RABT 2006)
VIA Beratende Ingenieure is the tunnel Safety Officer for tunnels on a Bundesautobahn in Nordrhein-Westfalen
(Excerpt from the European tunnel security guideline)
For each tunnel, whether it is in the design, construction or operating stage, the administrative authority shall identify as Tunnel Manager the public or private body responsible for the management of the tunnel at the stage in question. The administrative authority itself may perform this function.
For each tunnel, the Tunnel Manager shall, with the prior approval of the administrative authority, nominate one Safety Officer who shall coordinate all preventive and safeguards measures to ensure the safety of users and operational staff. The Safety Officer may be a member of the tunnel staff or the emergency services, shall be independent in all road tunnel safety issues and shall not be under instructions from an employer in respect of those issues. A Safety Officer may perform his/her tasks and functions at several tunnels in a region.
As a Safety Officer, VIA Beratende Ingenieure performs the following tasks:
- VIA ensures coordination with the emergency services and takes part in the preparation of operational schemes;
- takes part in the planning, implementation and evaluation of emergency operations;
- takes part in the definition of safety plans and the specification of infrastructure installations in tunnels both new and under refurbishment
- verifies that operational staff and emergency services are trained, and takes part in the organisation of exercises held at regular intervals
- gives advice on the commissioning of the structure, equipment and operation of tunnels
- verifies that the tunnel structure and equipment are maintained and repaired
- takes part in the evaluation of any significant incident or accident
VIA is responsible for several road tunnels in Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) on behalf of the provincial road agency of NRW, the autobahn department Krefeld. We supervise seven motorway tunnels in the Düsseldorf area as well as several tunnels located in Bielefeld, Velbert and Aachen.
As a Safety Officer, VIA is also responsible for several tunnels in Berlin
VIA-News: Major exercise in two tunnels in Velbert
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