Road Tunnels Manual
Road Tunnels Manual
Tasks entrusted to the operating staff are essential for safety and the overall efficiency of tunnel operation. Moreover, the context is evolving, with operational issues growing in importance and operating systems becoming increasingly complex.
The staff in charge of tunnel operation therefore need to satisfy the following requirements:
During recruitment phases, the qualifications required for the future operators must be defined according to the nature of operational tasks. Even if the tasks are similar in all countries, the people responsible for executing them do not necessarily belong to the same kind of organisation in each country. Nevertheless, the skills and aptitudes required should be similar.
While designing the staff training (initial or permanent), the following two issues need to be addressed:
If there are no national rules on the content of training, the operating body has to adapt its training programme to the specific characteristics and requirements of its tunnels.
The Technical Report 2007R04 "Guide for organizing, recruiting and training road tunnel operating staff" specifies the recruitment and training of personnel in greater detail, chapters 7 "Recruitment of operation staff" and 8 "Training operating staff" .
The operator needs to regularly test procedures and the efficiency of personnel, making sure that staff are familiar with the different equipment installed in the tunnel. Any possible deficiencies in the execution of specific tasks can thus be detected.
In addition to internal exercises, the operator and emergency services need to organise joint rescue exercises with the participation of the traffic police, the operator, medical services and the fire and rescue services. The results of each exercise should be analysed. If lessons drawn from an exercise reveal any shortfalls, the intervention strategies should be reviewed.
For road tunnels, exercises should be regarded as an integral part of the tunnel emergency planning process. In many countries, road tunnel safety regulations specify the time intervals between emergency exercises and sometimes give some indication about the contents of the exercises.
For tunnel operators, organising such exercises represents a considerable task.
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