RISQS Accreditation Guide

Preview: this guide is being reviewed by Harcon Solutions and content may change.

Stage 4 of 8: Build

What does your organisation need in place?

Management arrangements are how your organisation controls its work in practice, not only on paper.

What management arrangements are

Management arrangements are how your organisation actually controls its work: who is responsible, what you do, and how you know it is working. They usually combine policies, procedures, roles, records and routines.

The categories below are a Harcon Solutions framework to help you think about what you may need. Which of them apply, and to what depth, depends on your scope and the requirements that apply to you.

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Harcon's assurance model: from requirement to assurance

  1. RequirementWhat applies to you, based on your scope.
  2. ArrangementHow you will meet it: policies, procedures, roles and records.
  3. ImplementationPeople following those arrangements in day-to-day work.
  4. EvidenceRecords that show the arrangements are being followed.
  5. AssuranceJustified confidence, for you and the organisations you work for, that it all works.

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Management arrangement categories

  • Leadership and governance

    How senior management directs the business, sets policy and takes responsibility for safety, quality and environmental performance.

  • Roles and responsibilities

    Who is responsible for what, including named people for key duties, and how those responsibilities are communicated.

  • Health and safety

    How hazards are identified and controlled, how work is planned safely, and how people are consulted.

  • Environmental management

    How environmental aspects such as waste, pollution prevention and resource use are identified and managed.

  • Quality management

    How you make sure work meets specification and customer requirements, including inspection and the handling of defects.

  • Risk management

    How business and operational risks are assessed, recorded, controlled and reviewed.

  • Competence

    How you decide what competence each role needs, and check that people have it before they work.

  • Training

    How training needs are identified, delivered, recorded and refreshed.

  • Supplier and subcontractor management

    How you select, approve, brief and monitor the suppliers and subcontractors you use.

  • Incident management

    How accidents, incidents and close calls are reported, investigated and learned from.

  • Drugs and alcohol

    Your policy and arrangements for preventing and managing drug and alcohol misuse.

  • Fatigue

    How working hours and fatigue risk are planned, monitored and controlled.

  • Occupational health

    How fitness for work and health surveillance needs are identified and managed.

  • Sentinel arrangements

    Where you sponsor people under Sentinel, the arrangements that support that sponsorship.

  • CDM arrangements

    How you identify and discharge your duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.

  • Safe Work Planning

    Where you plan safe systems of work on or near the line, the arrangements for doing so competently.

  • Document control

    How documents are approved, issued, kept current and withdrawn when superseded.

  • Audit and assurance

    How you check, through internal audit and inspection, that your arrangements are followed.

  • Management review

    How senior management periodically reviews performance and decides what needs to change.

  • Corrective action

    How problems and audit findings are recorded, fixed, and checked to confirm the fix worked.

  • Business continuity

    How you would keep delivering, or recover, if something significant disrupted your business.

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If you already hold certifications

If you hold certifications such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or ISO 45001, or belong to a construction pre-qualification scheme, your existing arrangements are a useful starting point. RISQS is a separate scheme: check with RISQS and your buyers how, if at all, these are taken into account, and what railway-specific arrangements your scope needs.

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Proportionate, not generic

Arrangements should fit your organisation and the work you do. Generic documents that do not reflect how you actually work are hard to follow, hard to evidence and hard to defend at audit.

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Detailed requirements by module

Confirm with RISQS

This guide does not summarise the detailed arrangements each RISQS audit module asks for. They are set out in the current RISQS audit protocols.

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Guidance on this page last reviewed: .