Eurobodalla Shire Council in New South Wales, has developed a computerised Roads Risk Management System to address the removal of Non-Feasance defence. The May 2001 High Court ruling now imposes on Councils, as road authorities, a widened scope in their duty of care to all road users. Eurobodalla Shire Council’s approach in developing a defendable Roads Risk Management system includes the following.
- Regular routine inspections of the road network to identify defects in the road network
- Additional inspections of issues raised by the community or Council employees through Customer Service Requests
- Recording defects which result in a potential risk to the public
- Assessing the potential risk to road users due to the defects identified
- Prioritising repair of the defects based on the assessment of the risk, taking into account the need to complete work in an efficient and cost effective manner and the need to protect the road asset
- Preparing appropriate work schedules
- Recording and documenting actions taken at the various stages throughout the process
To properly track actions taken as a consequence of the adoption of this system, Council developed a database known as EuroRRMs (Eurobodalla Roads Risk Management System) to manage the large amounts of information generated. The EuroRRMs database provides one of the primary tools for scheduling and tracking work, answering enquiries and if need be, presenting information to the Court in defence of Council.
EuroRRMs is a Roads Risk Management System developed by Local Government Engineers for Local Government Engineers. The database is available for $1,100 including GST. With EuroRRMs there is no annual software maintenance or development contribution. A Council can have as many copies distributed across its network or on stand alone computers as it wishes at no extra cost. All that is required is a one off purchase of the program together with a firm commitment that each purchasing Council will provide its own capable, dedicated staff to learn the moderate skills required to implement and then manage the system.
For further information, contact Council’s Asset Management Officer, Lei Parker on (02) 4474 1317.
