The Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) and the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) have come together to ensure that railway safety inspectors and engineers have the necessary educational training and continuing professional development (CPD) to perform engineering work in the railway environment.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is aimed at professionalising the work of railway safety inspectors, was signed on 15 September 2017 at ECSA, Bruma in Johannesburg.

RSR CEO, Nkululeko Poya expressed his exhilaration at the signing of the MoU. “The agreement is the beginning of good things, particularly in enhancing the quality of railway operations and engineering thus improving railway safety. This will unlock extraordinary opportunities for collaboration and benchmarking of best practice between the two entities,” said Poya.

Speaking at the ceremony ECSA CEO Sipho Madonsela echoed the sentiments of RSR. “We are truly honoured to be given an opportunity to join forces with the Railway Safety Regulator on this journey of professionalising the work of Railway Safety Inspectors.

“We are optimistic that this joint venture will ensure that the Railway Safety Inspectors acquire the requisite educational training to perform engineering work in the railway environment in order to protect the health and safety of the public”, he said.

Information sharing and benchmarking

This collaboration will include the following:

• Cooperation in efforts to professionalise railway safety inspectors and engineers in order to limit duplication of processes and facilitate the process of professional registration with ECSA.
• Sharing information with the goal of benchmarking best practice from one another’s processes.
• Recognition of qualifications which railway inspectors may complete through the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) or higher education institutions.
• Recognition and accreditation of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses offered by the RSR.
• The establishment of Specified Categories for registration of Inspectors, as needs arise.
• Collaboration on matters of public safety in the railway industry.

The MoU will be in effect for a period of two years starting from 15 September 2017