01.11.06
How to win approval from those who matter
The Rail Safety and Standards Board recently introduced a sweeping new scheme, RISAB, to govern the approval process for rail industry suppliers. Here Colin Turpin, technical director of CORREL Rail, tells us why the scheme was introduced – and what it takes to become an approved supplier
CORREL Rail Limited has been accredited by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) as a Railway Industry Supplier Approval Body (RISAB) under the new Railway Industry Supplier Approval Scheme (RISAS). This new scheme has been developed by RSSB and industry partners to encourage quality, safety and reliability improvement in the railway industry supply chain.
The scheme is the brainchild of a cross-industry working group in the UK, led by the Railway Industry Association (RIA) and the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) under the banner of "ATOC and RIA - Transforming Trains Together." RISAS aims to provide economies of scale to the railway industry by reducing duplication in the auditing and assessment of suppliers of critical materials and services. It also aims to provide a consistency of approach from the audit assessment team by accrediting the organisations undertaking the assessments against known and published standards. These are maintained on the RISAS website.
Initially RISAS is focused on the market for the overhaul of assets and components for traction and rolling stock - although it is expected that this will be expanded to include the supply of new equipment and an increased scope other than rolling stock. RISAS will help to ensure that suppliers of critical products to the railway industry have the right systems, processes, competencies, resources, and procedures and that they apply these assets in order to provide a consistent product or service.
However it is hoped that the scheme might also provide a robust structure for the certification of other critical services, including persons or organisations who wish to be considered an ‘Independent Competent Person’ as required for safety verification under the new Railways and Other Guided Systems Safety Regulations 2006 (ROGS).
As the effectiveness of the scheme is dependent on the involvement of experienced people with the appropriate skills, background and attitude, the accreditation process has to be exhaustive and thorough. To meet these requirements, the RISAS scheme demands a comprehensive assessment, and focuses on the specialised nature of the rail industry’s requirements.
Why Correl Rail was chosen
CORREL Rail Limited is a totally independent Notified Body and Certification Body, with a customer base that includes rolling stock manufacturers, ROSCOs, Train Operating Companies and component and service suppliers. The company is firmly committed to innovation, having issued the first Notified Body certification in the UK allowing the tilting Class 390 Pendolino to enter 125mph passenger service.
The core business of CORREL Rail is what is often referred to as Independent Verification and Validation, or IV&V. This involves the independent scrutiny and assessment of traction and rolling stock design and maintenance instructions (the verification), and the independent assurance that a product has been built to an identified and verified design (the validation).
At the very heart of the CORREL Rail process is a unique and effective Vehicle Breakdown Structure against which requirements (be they customer, UK, European or other recognised standards) can be disseminated into system or sub system requirement packages. The CORREL Rail processes were developed to be rigorous, user friendly but not requirement specific, to ensure that the process works for any given set of requirement criteria.
CORREL Rail has a full complement of Assessment and Certification signatories, experienced in providing world-class service. CORREL Rail offers a wide range of experience, associated with all the major acceptance processes, including Notified Body (Interoperability), Engineering Acceptance and Route Acceptance. It is CORREL Rail’s established processes and competencies that were fundamental to attaining accreditation as a RISAB.
As a leading player in the IV&V market it was not surprising that CORREL Rail Limited should be chosen as one of two companies to help the Rail Safety and Standards Board develop and trial the processes that lay behind the RISAS Scheme.
Rigorous RISAS
The rigours of RISAS required CORREL Rail to demonstrate a detailed understanding of risk in the railway environment, with particular emphasis on the product and process, and to show correct application of the appropriate technical and assessment competencies. To this end RSSB experts conducted full and frank interviews of CORREL staff, and evaluated the new and existing CORREL procedures developed for the task. This was followed up by an “assessed audit” of a supplier, effectively an RSSB audit of a CORREL Rail supplier assessment. Accreditation can be renewed annually, following a surveillance audit and ongoing demonstration of compliance with the scheme requirements.
CORREL Rail is now accredited for the full scope of product groups currently available under the RISAS scheme. This includes all major train systems and equipment packages supplied to the traction and rolling stock industry.
Nigel Bean, managing director of CORREL Rail Ltd, said: “Independence, competency and rigour are the three highest priority requirements to the success of any industry wide assurance scheme such as RISAS.
“We were pleased to be a partner in developing the scheme, for these are watchwords in all the certification and assurance roles we undertake in the industry. I am particularly delighted at the initial response from TOCs and ROSCOs and believe that this scheme can make a difference to the industry.”
When handing over the CORREL Rail Accreditation certificate Ian Papworth, chair of the RISAS Board, commented: “I am delighted to announce the accreditation of CORREL Rail Limited as one of the very first RISABs. This demonstrates that [CORREL Rail] has true commitment to quality, safety and reliability within the rail industry and [they] are giving their total support to the Railway Industry Supplier Approval Scheme.”
CORREL’s approval
The first company to be approved under the Scheme by CORREL Rail Limited was Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems UK Limited, which is now a RISAS Approved Supplier for the overhaul of rail braking equipment. CORREL Rail has subsequently received a similar contract from Wabtec Rail of Doncaster and is currently in negotiation with other key suppliers to the industry to approve them for their particular scope of supply.
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