UK: The Midland Metro Alliance which is expanding the West Midlands Metro light rail network has used BowTieXP software to develop a comprehensive database of risk assessments on the Edgbaston Village and Wolverhampton station extensions.
Developed for the Light Rail Safety Standards Board, the software is named after the shape of the graphics used to illustrate its core principles. BowTie contains eight elements: hazard, top event, threats, consequences, preventive barriers, recovery barriers, escalation factors and escalation factor barriers.
The Midland Metro Alliance brings together the West Midlands Combined Authority, which owns West Midlands Metro; a consortium of Egis, Tony Gee and Pell Frischmann, and construction contractor Colas Rail with its sub-alliance partners Colas Ltd, Barhale, Bouygues UK and Auctus Management Group.
MMA and Transport for West Midlands invited LRSSB to conduct a compliance review of their processes against the Railways & Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations to help ensure a safe and smooth handover to the operator.
‘MMA is one of the first light rail constructors to adopt the BowTie approach in this way since its introduction to the sector’, said LRSSB Safety & Assurance Manager Mark Ashmore on April 12.
‘We have organised a series of workshops for the team at the alliance to help them make the most of the approach that draws on best practice from all stakeholders involved in the project to ascertain the maturity and robustness of the processes in delivering the expansion projects.’
The BowTie risk assessment database is one of several projects currently being developed by LRSSB that aim to build a central resource and comprehensive framework for management and mitigation of risk.
