## Section 4

## Strengthening Safety Measures in the Transport Sector

Ensuring safety is a central and fundamental issue in the transport sector and once an accident occurs, not only can it cause significant damage, but also has an enormous impact on society so various measures are being undertaken to prevent accidents from occurring.

## Building and improving the safety management system in public transportation

In October 2006, Transport Safety Management System was introduced in the wake of frequently occurring troubles and accidents, which was seen to be caused by human error in each transportation mode. This is to build and strengthen the safety management system, which will be united with the organization, including the fields, which are under the proactive involvement of the top management, in the transportation business, coupled with election system of safety managers and creation of safety management regulations. The country has to check the system through advice and evaluation, which is intended to continuously improve the safety management system using the PDCA cycle.

In FY 2015, 534 parties (77 railway parties, 198 automobile parties, 244 shipping parties, and 15 airline parties) were subject to a transport safety management evaluation.

In light of the fact that the mandate to carry out the same system was expanded to cover all chartered bus business operators (approximately 4,200 parties) in October 2013, efficient and effective evaluation techniques to be applied to what has been to date a large number of small chartered bus businesses were newly investigated. Upon implementing these techniques on a trial basis, small chartered bus business operators will be subject to full-fledged evaluations through the use of these efficient and effective evaluation techniques beginning in FY 2016.

## Outline of the transportation safety management system

Introduced in 2006 to prevent efforts to ensure transportation safety from losing their substance

Business operators are evaluated during normal times on an irregular basis irrespective of whether accidents have occurred.

The prevention of accidents while establishing a PDCA cycle for the entire organization (including job sites) under the leadership of top management is the ultimate goal.

Transportation safety management system

Transportation business operators shall promote the establishment and improvement of safety management systems under the leadership of top management.

(i) Formulate and promulgate safety policies (iv) Collect and use information on accidents and near-miss events

(ii) Formulate and review priority safety measures (v) Implement education and training

(iii) Ensure communication (vi) Conduct internal audits

## Transport Safety Management Evaluation

Preventive safety-type support system implemented through interviews and other measures directed at a business operator's management division, including top management executives

Verify and evaluate the state of the establishment and improvement of a business operator's safety management system and provide advice (designed to stimulate self-motivation);

O Expect that an autonomous safety management system will be established and improved ('spiral up') with the proactive involvement of top management;

O Expect that medium- to long-term results will be generated as they would be with the use of herbal medicine (foundational improvements).

Source) MLIT

Evaluation of transport safety management by the MLIT

An evaluation team belonging to the MLIT/District Transport Bureau will visit the business operator and conduct a positive evaluation and provide advice to promote continuous improvements.

## Security audit

After-the-fact supervisory system implemented through checks of the status of the implementation of on-site operations of the business operator

○ Verify the status of the compliance of the business operator with laws, ordinances, and orders and issue an improvement order accordingly (for remediation);

○ Conformity to laws and ordinances of on-site facilities and the contents of initiatives;

○ Intent to generate short-term results as one might attain with surgical remedies and antibiotics (immediate results).

Figure II-7-4-2

Differences in terms of the status of initiatives between major business operators and other business operators (FY 2014)

(Note) Numbers (1) through (14) in the radar chart correspond to item numbers in the "Guidelines for Promoting Safety Management by Transport Operators: Further Improving Transportation Safety", which were formulated and publicly released in March 2010, and indicate the extent to which initiatives for each item have been fulfilled. Source) MLIT

In FY 2015, a transportation safety management seminar hosted for transportation operators by the national government in order to deepen understanding of this system was attended by 2,468 persons. In FY 2015, 6,874 persons attended seminars as part of an accredited seminar program established in July 2013 for the purpose of further disseminating and shedding light on this system for small to medium-sized business operators (a program through which transportation safety management seminars organized by private-sector organizations are accredited by the MLIT).

For the transportation safety management system, the MLIT will improve the effectiveness of the system and