Why You Need Good Engineering Standards

Asset intensive industries such as railroads need to maintain good engineering control over their operations to demonstrate to themselves, funders, regulators, the public and other stakeholders that they can manage risk to the lowest practicable level.

Traditionally, much of this control came from employing a hierarchy of staff in front line positions with extensive experience and long-standing tenure to mentor junior team members and embed the same high standards. Over time, this approach has become harder to achieve as staff became more mobile between organizations, technology evolved, investment in training reduced and expectations for safety and reliability became greater.

The maintenance landscape has shifted from relying on skilled individuals acting on their own judgement. Businesses now require formal control over how and when assets are maintained and managed to maximize safety, performance, and asset life in a way that meets the objectives of the business.

As an example, when boarding an aircraft we expect that its engines have been maintained according to tasks defined by experts who understand their mechanics and potential failure points. These tasks should be practical, achievable, and designed to avoid introducing additional risks. Furthermore, the maintenance team must be thoroughly trained and assessed to ensure they are fully competent to carry out the work correctly.

There must be clear oversight - someone responsible for identifying the services required, monitoring their completion and intervening if anything is missed. A layer of assurance would ensure this is happening, that it was achieving the outcomes and acting to change something if it isn’t.

Engineering control begins with clearly documented standards. Good standards provide consistency across the organization, ensuring everyone understands how we are going to achieve business objectives. They provide a baseline for improvement from which we can make changes to reduce costs, optimize performance and capture new actions arising from risks identified from an incident. They are the basis of continuous improvement, and they provide the mechanism for communicating those changes across the organization.

Good standards also support frontline and supervisory staff by removing the burden of decision making about maintenance interventions. Experienced railroad technicians and engineers have the ability to differentiate the critical from the non-critical, but these decisions can be influenced by management direction, availability of spares, staff, or funding to complete the repair or just by a lack of applicable experience. Where there is no guidance, the staff making these decisions become personally accountable, and the organization has no way to be sure the decision is right.

Beyond communicating the organization’s chosen way to manage risk, standards provide the baseline for audit and assurance. With documented processes, procedures and tasks in place, assurance becomes an assessment of whether those involved are compliant and carrying out their part of the system. Auditors are no longer debating whether their view of how things should be done is better than the view of those who are doing it. Different parts of the organization can be objectively compared, and common issues can be addressed through changes to the standards.

When implemented effectively, standards serve as the framework for managing collective organizational knowledge, embedding lessons learned, driving consistency, and enabling continuous improvement.

At Network Rail Consulting, we have proven expertise in supporting railroad organizations with engineering control to help strengthen their standards, assurance processes, and risk management frameworks. We work closely with clients to develop and embed clear engineering standards that reduce risk and deliver consistency across all levels of the business. Our approach ensures organizations achieve compliance and build resilience in today’s increasingly complex operating environment.

Don’t wait to strengthen your operations, get in touch with us today and let’s build safer, smarter and more reliable railroads together.