6.Safety
The Safety department is heavily involved in implementing CETU’s regulatory missions and producing technical guidelines. The department’s staff also work in the field of research and participate in various international activities and engineering missions.
The Safety department’s scope of activity essentially covers the following three areas:
- risk analysis tunnels in operation
- resources and measures related to safety and security management
- regulatory measures
The department’s main activities in each of these areas are presented below.
The infrastructures concerned by the Safety department’s activities are road and rail tunnels, urban guided transport tunnels, canals and underground spaces.
The Safety department also focuses on the impacts of new propulsion energies in underground environments.
Risk analysis for tunnels in operation
Improving knowledge of recognised or foreseeable risks associated with tunnel operation enables measures to be taken to prevent and manage them in an optimal manner.
To this end, the Safety department strives to consolidate and improve risk analysis and assessment methods, as well as their implementation. This ongoing work is based on feedback, the latest scientific knowledge and international practices.
The main risks studied are associated with transport means (vehicles, rolling stock) passing through tunnels and are essentially linked to fire.
The Safety department conducts studies on regulatory compliance (e.g. ADR, which deals with the transport of dangerous goods by road), as well as studies related to specific tunnel risks (new vehicle propulsion energies for example). It also participates in discussions aimed at supporting the development of new uses of tunnels (for active transport modes) and new technologies (e.g. intelligent transport systems), whilst analysing the new issues this raises for tunnel safety.
In terms of road safety, the department conducts work on the risks associated with lateral obstacles in road tunnels, ranging from the development of a methodology for analysing structural elements in tunnels to the study of effective solutions.
The analysis of security-related risks is also part of the work carried out with the Ministry’s Security network and external partners (INERIS, SDSIE, STRMTG, etc.).
Resources and measures related to safety and security management
The resources and measures implemented to prevent incidents and mitigate their consequences must take all influencing factors into account.
Once the risks have been identified, and in accordance with regulations and best practices in the profession, defining the resources and measures to be implemented requires a systemic vision that encompasses infrastructure, vehicles, users and organisations (operators and emergency services).
The major tunnel fires that occurred in the early 2000s highlighted the limitations of a purely technical approach to safety issues. Since these events, the Safety department has been working on taking human and organisational factors into account, with the support of psychologists and ergonomists, and based on experiments. This work has made it possible to adapt tunnel safety equipment for easier and more intuitive use by tunnel users. It has also improved the manner in which users with reduced mobility are taken into account.
Training users on the specific context of road tunnels has also been reinforced by incorporating it into the obligatory highway code test taken when obtaining a driving licence and into training for professional drivers (Minimum Compulsory Initial Training and Compulsory Continued Training). A support document has been developed for training organisations.
The desire to further structure the continuous safety improvement process, which has been underway for some twenty years, has led the Safety department, in conjunction with the Operations department, to support the implementation of “Tunnel Safety Management Systems”. The regional State highway offices were the first to follow this approach, which is now being rolled out to other operators in a second phase.
The department is finalising the methodological guide on the construction of a Tunnel Safety Management System, the culmination of the CETU’s research activities on this subject.
Finally, all of this work feeds into studies on the management of security-related events (i.e. intentional acts) and benefits from the reflections and results of these studies.
Regulatory measures
The CETU’s Safety department is involved in the development and implementation of regulations and associated procedures, while supporting the stakeholders involved in these procedures.
Road tunnels: continued support for stakeholders
The regulatory context relating to safety in road tunnels is now stable. Safety improvement work is being finalised or has been completed in most existing tunnels. The challenges now focus on maintaining safety levels, and the Safety department continues to mobilise and support the various stakeholders involved in safety (tunnel operators, prefectural services, local State offices, emergency and rescue services, design offices, etc.) in the implementation of day-to-day safety procedures (in particular thanks to feedback) and during periodic safety reviews every six years.
The Safety department provides the technical secretariat for the National Commission for the Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Safety (CNESOR) and participates in binational tunnel safety committees (as technical secretary or expert), on technical aspects and, to a lesser extent, on legal and administrative issues.
At the European level, the department participates in the Committee in charge of monitoring the compliance of European regulations (Directive 2004/54/EC) and transposition texts, the periodic reporting of information to the European Commission and the development of European texts. At the international level, it collaborates with several working groups of the Technical Committee on Road Tunnel Operations of the World Road Association (PIARC).
Rail and guided transport: a rapidly changing regulatory environment and numerous projects
The European regulatory context relating to safety in railway tunnels is undergoing significant change, with the implementation of the railway reform and the five-yearly reviews of the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI) relating to safety in railway tunnels, which led to the publication of the 2014 TSI.
For several years, the Safety department has been working on behalf of the Ministry’s Directorate for Rail, River and Port Transport (DTFFP) to build up knowledge of the railway tunnel infrastructure and the specific safety issues for these tunnels. It is also involved in carrying out safety assessments on existing structures, in conjunction with the Public Railway Safety Establishment (EPSF) and SNCF Réseau.
With regard to guided transport (metro, tramways), the Safety department provides technical support to the Technical Service in charge of the Safety of Ropeways and Guided Transport (STRMTG) in its work to review and develop regulations. The department provides assistance to project owners on regulatory aspects of railway tunnel projects (for example the Lyon-Turin rail link (TELT)) and underground tramway projects.
Supporting stakeholders through training
Each year, the CETU’s Safety department organises, in conjunction with the Operations department, one or two training sessions on road tunnel safety and operations. The aim is to reinforce a shared approach to safety by providing contextual and practical information on procedures, methods and best practices to the various stakeholders: project owners and tunnel operators (the State, concessionaires, departmental councils, towns and inter-municipal cooperation establishments), prefectural services, local State offices, emergency services, design offices, etc.
For specific projects or training requirements, the department works in conjunction with emergency and rescue services for all modes of transport and areas of intervention, both at a central government level (Directorate-General for Civil Security and Crisis Management of the Ministry of the Interior, National Fire Officers Training Establishment) and at a local level (local firefighting services).
Contact us
Secrétariat : (+33) (0)4 72 14 34 10
Courrier : securite.cetu@developpement-durable.gouv.fr