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1 INTRODUCTION

Public transport can only replace private transport

when better qualitative parameters and a robust state,

region and city environmental policy that promotes

public transport is achieved, and finally when the

current road systems become overcrowded and

paralysed. In practice, people switch from private to

public transport when:

− paid parking zones become expanded,

− parking spots in paid parking zones become

severely limited to the point bordering with

inability to find available spots,

− paid parking fees are regularly increased to

achieve increasingly more competitive public

transport ticket prices,

− alternative public transport systems become

established on separate traffic lanes,

− public transport becomes faster than private

transport at a “door-to-door” section

− widespread accessibility is ensured.

With the current development of our society, the

above criteria will be achieved very quickly and it is

only up to us to prevent the exclusion of large groups

of people by these changes. The future customer of

public transport must have the following aspects

ensured:

− quick and frequent public or mixed transport,

− quick and simple interchanges (enabling intuitive

and, in time, automatic navigation from stop to

stop, navigation in motion, and preventing the

customer from being slowed down by other users),

− a well-designed interchange with high capacity,

− safe travel,

− high aesthetic value of travel.

Accessibility Management System for Integrated

nterchanges

. Chruzik, I. Krzyżewska & P. Uchroński

WSB University, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland

ABSTRACT: Architectural, digital and information and communication accessibility is, according to the Law [1],

accessibility that meets the requirements of universal design and reasonable accommodation within the

meaning of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. According to the law, providing

accessibility to persons with special needs is the responsibility of public transport entities including maritime

operators. Persons with special needs are those who, due to their characteristics or the circumstances in which

they find themselves, need to take additional measures to overcome barriers that prevent or hinder their

participation in various spheres of life on an equal footing with others. Thus, these are not only people with

disabilities, but also, as the explanatory memorandum to the law indicates, other dependents, the elderly or

parents with children. The publication, within the framework of the methodology of the process approach to

the management of transport organizations, defines a proposal for the basic criteria of the Accessibility

Management System for Integrated Interchanges (AMSII), which will ensure compliance with all the

requirements of the Law and related acts.

http://www.transnav.eu

the

International Journal

on Marine Navi

gation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 18

Number 3

September 2024

DOI: 10.12716/1001.18.03.2

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Another step in improving the accessibility is the

correct and efficient management of the available

infrastructure through the establishment of the

Accessibility Management System for Integrated

Interchanges. Unfortunately, the available legal

requirements and good practices do not provide

indications of specific criteria, but only the required

objectives that should be achieved by organisations.

2 ACCESSIBILITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR

INTEGRATED INTERCHANGES

The purpose of the Accessibility Management System

for Integrated Interchanges is to ensure that carriers

and transport infrastructure managers achieve their

economic targets in an optimal, safe and widely

available manner. The current management system

are often integrated with other systems to improve an

organisation’s overall results on activity and to reduce

the costs, with efforts spread out to all levels in the

organisation. For this purpose, the proposed

requirements for a functional grouping of AMSII

requirements utilise the ISO High Level Structure

common framework [2-4]. This framework also

facilitates the carriers’ and infrastructure managers’

understanding and use of a process-based approach

during the establishment, implementation,

maintenance and continuous improvement of their

optional quality or safety management systems.

According to the new requirements, human

behaviour plays a crucial role in ensuring safe and

efficient functioning of transport. Whenever it is

determined that human behaviour was a factor that

limited accessibility, the behaviour could have been

affected by organisational factors, such as work load

or work organisation, resulting in deteriorated result

on activity and worse effects of the given non-

compliance. Due to the above, it is of fundamental

importance that carriers and infrastructure managers

have a systemic concept for supporting human

activities and managing human and organisational

factors within a management system. The manner in

which the issue of accessibility is viewed, appreciated

and taken into account in an organisation’s priorities

reflects its actual commitment to the development of

public transport at all of its levels [5]. Due to the

above, it is also important for carriers and transport

infrastructure managers to determine the activities

and behaviours that can shape a positive accessibility

culture and to support a culture of mutual trust,

certainty and learning via their management system

in which employees are encouraged to make a

contribution to the development of universal

designing by reporting non-compliances and

difficulties, and provide information related to

accessibility.

The new criteria should be reflected in the

declarations of carriers and transport infrastructure

managers. An organisation should implement criteria

according to the declared specification of the scope,

type and field of activity. In addition, it is necessary to

verify that an organisation ensures the following

during the planning, establishment, implementation

and review of its operational processes:

− application of the criteria for the acceptance of risk

and accessibility means (corrective actions),

− implementation of plans aimed at achieving the

accessibility objectives,

− collection of information for the purpose of

measuring the correct application and effectiveness

of operational arrangements.

An organisation should continuously improve the

adequacy and effectiveness of its AMSII. The Process

Roadmap/Model should reflect the scope of the

management system by indicating the parts of activity

that are encompassed and the parts that aren’t

encompassed by it, taking into account the legal

requirements. It should specify and describe processes

and actions related to the transport activity

accessibility, taking into account the related

responsibility and the interactions between these

processes. A model proposal, including a reference to

all recommended processes, is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. AMSII processes’ model proposal

An organisation’s accessibility policy should be

adapted to the type of organisation and scope of

transport activity, approved by representative(s) of

higher management and actively implemented,

communicated and made available to all employees. It

should contain a commitment to meet all legal

requirements, control the risk of hazards arising from

own actions and the actions of other entities, and to

continuously improve the AMSII. It should provide a

framework for the establishment of objectives on

transport exclusion and assessment of the

organisation’s accessibility results in relation to these

objectives, and be maintained in accordance with the

business strategy and assessment of the organisation’s

AMSII accessibility results.

It is also necessary to put emphasis on the

promotion of a positive accessibility culture, also in

terms of the integration of human and organisational

factors. This approach:

− encompasses the establishment of a strategy and

the use of expert knowledge and proven methods

in human and organisational factors.

− refers to the risk related to the construction and

use of equipment, tasks, working conditions and

organisational solutions, taking into account

human capabilities and limitations and the impact

on human actions.

An organisation establishes the strategy for the

continuous improvement of its accessibility culture,

relying on the use of expert knowledge and proven

methods to identify behavioural issues that affect

various parts of the AMSII and introduce measures to

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take these issues into account. These provisions

necessitate an expansion of the system’s monitoring

areas - indices. Aside from analysing the results of

accessibility task implementation or the measurement

of the correct use and effectiveness of operational

arrangements, the supervision should encompass the

improvement of the accessibility culture and analysis

of the awareness of the importance, weight and

consequences of actions and the way they contribute

to the correct use and effectiveness of the AMSII,

including the achievement of the accessibility

objectives. This aspect is one of the most difficult

changes present in the new requirements.

The accessibility objectives should be:

− consistent with the organisation’s accessibility

policy and strategic objectives (where appropriate),

− related to the most important risk areas that affect

the organisation’s accessibility results,

− measurable,

− compliant with the current legal and other

requirements,

− reviewed in terms of their achievement and

changed where appropriate,

− communicated.

The Process Risk Management description also

needs to be verified and updated [6]. Until now,

organisations have only applied mandatory

(according to the Labour Code) occupational risk

management. An organisation should specify and

analyse all operational risks (organisational, technical

and environmental risks arising from the human

factor) important for the type, scope and field of

activity conducted by the organisation identify the

need for cooperation, where appropriate, with other

concerned parties, and to communicate them to its

employees and external entities involved. Specify

fields of accessibility risks arising from its transport

activity, regardless of whether the activity is

conducted by the organisation itself, or by its partners

or suppliers controlled by it. Ensure that accessibility

is taken into account when identifying the

organisation’s business risk and risk management,

and clarify the manner of recognition and resolution

of conflicts between exclusion and other business

objectives. Where appropriate, the employees, their

representatives and external parties involved must be

consulted during the establishment, maintenance and

improvement of the AMSII in relation to specific parts

they are responsible for and in relation to accessibility

aspects in operational procedures. Furthermore, an

organisation should manage the risk of hazards

related to technical measures throughout their entire

lifecycle, i.e. starting at the design stage and ending

with the use stage, and meet the requirements on

human factors throughout the entire lifecycle. At least

the following aspects are taken into account to control

the risk in important cases for the provided

maintenance services:

− determination of maintenance needs to maintain

technical measures in a safe operating condition,

− management of the decommissioning of technical

measures for maintenance purposes,

− management of putting technical measures back

into service,

− management of monitoring and measurement

equipment to ensure its adequacy for the intended

purpose.

An organisation should determine and control

accessibility risks arising from activity commissioned

as part of outsourcing, including activity or

cooperation with partners and suppliers, and use

information referring to investigations intended for

risk assessment review, drawing conclusions to

improve accessibility and, where appropriate, use

remedies or improvement measures [7]. It should also

take into account the need to determine, ensure and

maintain a safe working environment compliant with

the requirements of the current rules of law, especially

the Directive 89/391/EEC (Labour Code).

The process of risk assessment and management

may be based on methods commonly used in different

transport modes (e.g., FMEA, FHA, HAZOP), which

guarantee the fulfilment of necessary steps of proper

risk management: identification, estimation,

evaluation, response, communication, and monitoring

[8-9]. The implementation of recommended corrective

and preventive actions should be continuously

supervised, and their effects should be verified. After

a specified deadline for implementing

control/preventive measures, the process should be

evaluated, and a new risk indicator calculated. If the

risk class for a given hazard exceeds the threshold

adopted, it is necessary to define additional risk

control measures following the strategy adopted. A

person responsible for supervising the

implementation of activities was also assigned. Once

the planned scenario has been implemented, the

assessment body re-examines the risk level of the

hazards. If a satisfactory level is reached, the

procedure is completed. Otherwise, additional actions

are taken.

For transport operators’ risk management areas,

the most used method is FMEA (failure mode and

effects analysis) [7, 10]. Valuation of the hazards

identified for the entire hazard area begins with

determining, on a scale of 1–10, the factors affecting

the hazard, where:

W—probability (possibility) of hazard occurrence,

determined in the range from 1 to 10. The probability

of occurrence is a relative rather than absolute value.

The only way to lower the occurrence rank is to

prevent or control the cause of error posing the

hazard by changing the process.

Z—the probability of hazard detection, determined

in the range from 1 to 10, is an assessment (position in

the ranking) associated with the best control tool

given in the process control tool column. Detection is

a relative assessment within a specific FMEA. As a

rule, to achieve lower ranks, the planned control tool

should be improved.

S—possible consequences of an incident resulting

from hazard propagation, a value between 1 and 10, is

the level of ranking assigned to the most severe effect

for a given type of error causing a hazard to the

power industry.

The risk assessment is based on the product [7]:

R = Z × W × S

The R-value for the risk hazard measure ranges

from 1 to 1000. Hazards with the R number above 121

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are significant. The number R above 150 indicates a

critical hazard that seriously threatens the safety of

the entire system. The risk value was identified based

on the risk matrix:

The risk is unacceptable, significantly threatening

the safety of the system, corrective measures should

be taken immediately, risk class = 3

The risk is tolerable; appropriate precautions

should be taken, risk class = 2

The risk is acceptable, no action is required, risk

class = 1

If the risk measure R is in class 3, appropriate

process control measures must be taken immediately

to eliminate the possible hazard or remove the

hazard’s possible effects. However, if the risk R is in

class 2, appropriate corrective actions have to be taken

to prevent the occurrence of a potential hazard. The

preventive/corrective actions assessment should be at

first focused on the high-risk measure R items. Any

corrective action intends to reduce the ranking values

in the following order: effect, occurrence, and

detectability ranking.

As a rule, it is assumed that if the number W, S

reaches the value of 9–10 or Z, the value of 1–2

(extreme), regardless of the value of the R indicator,

special attention is paid to ensuring that the risk of

hazards is reduced using existing control

measures/tools or preventive actions. In all cases,

when the effect of the identified error may pose a

hazard to recipients, preventive/corrective actions

must be taken to prevent the occurrence of a potential

hazard by eliminating or controlling the causes, or a

method to protect the should be developed.

Implementing the recommended corrective and

preventive measures should be continuously

monitored and their effects verified with the FMEA

method. After the specified deadline for

implementing the control/preventive measures, the

process should be assessed, and a new risk indicator R

calculated. If the risk class for a given hazard exceeds

the accepted threshold, it is necessary to specify

additional risk control measures following the

adopted strategy. A person responsible for

supervising the implementation of activities was also

assigned. After deployment of the planned scenario,

the assessment body double-checks the level of risk of

hazards. If a satisfactory level is achieved, the

procedure is terminated. Otherwise, additional

actions are taken. The entire process is recorded in a

dedicated blank.

An organisation should implement and evaluate

changes in the management system (AMSII) to

maintain or improve its accessibility results. This

encompasses decision-making at specific stages of the

change management process and the subsequent risk

review. It is necessary to determine the potential

accessibility risk and adequate corrective measures

prior to implementation.

Another criterion is the obligation to identify

potential emergencies and measures that must be

taken in a timely manner to manage such situations

and restore normal conditions of conducting activity.

In relation to any identified type of emergency, an

organisation should ensure the following:

− the ability of making immediate contact with

emergency services,

− provide all relevant information to the emergency

services, both in advance, to prepare a response to

the emergency, and during the emergency,

− granting first aid with the use of internal resources.

An organisation should ensure that:

− the recommendations of domestic accessibility

management bodies and recommendations

derived from discipline-specific or internal

investigations are evaluated and, where

appropriate, implemented or commissioned for

implementation,

− relevant reports or information derived from other

concerned parties, such as transport enterprises,

infrastructure managers, maintenance entities and

vehicle keepers, are analysed and taken into

account.

An organisation should also use information

referring to investigations intended for risk

assessment review, drawing conclusions to improve

accessibility and safety and, where appropriate, use

remedies or improvement measures.

In terms of Reporting, an organisation should

ensure the submission of a periodical accessibility

report to domestic accessibility management bodies

and the competent Marshal’s Office in a scope

dependent on the Programme of equal opportunities

for persons with disabilities and counteracting their

social exclusion and aid in the implementation of

tasks towards the employment of persons with

disabilities.

Any filed customer complaint concerning a

service’s non-compliance with reference to transport

accessibility should be analysed. A complaint is a

request of the passenger/service recipient addressed

to the service seller arising from unsatisfactory quality

in the field of accessibility. The passenger/service

recipient reports that the agreed service requirements

have not been met. A complaint should be recorded in

a Complaints Register. Then, the transport operator is

obliged to complete the complaint sheet and open the

complaint processing procedure. Relevant

information should be analysed as part of

Management Reviews and constitute the basis for

updating the accessibility policy and building the

System Improvement Programme.

An organisation should also define appropriate

communication channels (Information Flow Process)

to ensure that accessibility information are exchanged

between different levels of the organisation and with

external parties concerned, including partners and

suppliers, but mainly transport process

recipients/customers. In order to control information

and communication in cases important for the

accessibility of operational actions, relevant

employees must be notified about the details of any

infrastructure/transport management conditions,

including any important changes that may lead to

hazards, temporary or permanent operational

restrictions and of any conditions concerning

extraordinary events, where appropriate. As part of

the process description, it is recommended to develop

maps of the flow of evidentiary information within

the organization, and with external entities. The

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structure of these models depends on the nature of the

organization and the type of transport.

In order to control the risk of hazards on Supplier

Qualification, an organisation should define the

criteria for selecting partners and suppliers, as well as

agreement requirements to be met by such entities,

including the following:

− legal and other requirements related to

accessibility,

− level of competence required to implement the

tasks specified in the agreement,

− responsibility for the implemented tasks,

− expected accessibility results that must be

maintained throughout the term of the agreement,

− obligations on accessibility information exchange,

− traceability of agreement documents.

An organisation should ensure that proper formats

and carriers are used in the creation and updating of

documentation concerning the AMSII, and to control

the AMSII documentation, especially its storage,

distribution and changes to ensure its availability,

usefulness and protection, where appropriate.

In terms of the AMSII’s Continuous

Improvement/Management Review, the higher

management should periodically review the ASMII in

terms of its adequacy and effectiveness, at least in

terms of the following aspects:

− detailed information on the progress of

implementation of actions identified as result of

previous management reviews,

− changing internal and external circumstances,

− the organisation’s accessibility results in terms of

its accessibility objectives, its monitoring activity,

including findings from internal audits, complaints

and internal investigations conducted in the

aftermath of accidents and the status of relevant

actions,

− proper results of supervisory actions taken by

domestic bodies,

− improvement recommendations.

Based on the management review results, the

higher management should adopt general

responsibility for the planning and implementation of

the necessary changes in the system (AMSII):

− adoption of general accountability and

responsibility for accessibility,

− ensure the engagement in accessibility of

management at different levels of the organisation

through actions and in its relations with employees

and suppliers,

− ensure that an accessibility policy is established

and that its objectives comply with the

organisation’s strategic direction,

− ensure the integration of the AMSII’s requirements

with the organisation’s business processes,

− ensure the availability of resources required for the

AMSII,

− ensure the AMSII’s effectiveness in controlling the

accessibility risk caused by the organisation,

− encourage employees to support actions intended

to ensure compliance with the AMSII’s

requirements,

− promote the AMSII’s continuous improvement,

− ensure that accessibility is taken into account when

identifying the organisation’s business risk and

risk management, and clarify the manner of

recognition and resolution of conflicts between

accessibility and other business objectives,

− promote a positive accessibility culture.

These objectives should be monitored as part of the

System Improvement Programme.

An organisation should conduct internal audits in

an independent, unbiased and transparent manner to

collect and analyse information for its own

monitoring actions, encompassing the following:

− schedule of planned internal audits that can be

modified depending on the results of previous

audits and monitoring of results,

− identification and selection of auditors with proper

competencies,

− analysis and assessment of audit results,

− determination of the need to use remedies or

improvement measures,

− verification of the implementation and

effectiveness of these measures,

− documentation on carrying out the audit and its

results,

− submission of audit results to the higher

management.

The responsibility, accountability and permissions

of employees performing functions that affect

accessibility are defined for each level of official

hierarchy within the organisation, documented as

well as assigned and communicated to those

employees – description of processes, job sheet. An

organisation also ensures that the employees

responsible for accessibility tasks have the

permissions, competencies and adequate resources to

perform their tasks without being exposed to the

negative impact of the actions of other business

functions. The competence management system

maintained by the organisation must ensure that

employees performing functions that affect

accessibility are competent in terms of tasks related to

limiting mobility for which they are responsible, and

at least encompass the following:

− determine the competencies required for the

objectives of accessibility tasks,

− the rules of selection (minimum education,

required mental and physical fitness),

− minimum training, experience and qualifications,

− on-going trainings and periodical updating of

competencies,

− periodical evaluation of competencies and testing

mental and physical fitness to ensure the

maintenance of qualifications and skills over time,

− specialist trainings concerning the relevant parts of

the AMSII to ensure that they implement the

accessibility tasks.

An organisation should provide a trainings

programme for employees performing accessibility

tasks. The trainings programme must guarantee the

following:

− it is implemented in accordance with the identified

competence requirements and the employees’

individual needs,

− where appropriate, the trainings provide the

employees with the skill to act in any conditions of

activity (in normal conditions, in an emergency

and crisis),

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− the duration of trainings and frequency of

refresher trainings comply with the training

objectives,

− the trainings of all employees are being

documented.

− the trainings programme is regularly reviewed,

audited, and changed where appropriate.

The most important change in this field is the

awareness of the importance, weight and

consequences of the employees’ actions and the way

they contribute to the correct use and effectiveness of

the AMSII, including the achievement of the related

objectives. As part of its organisational learning

processes, an organisation must ensure measures to

incentivise employees and other parties concerned to

act actively to improve accessibility.

In terms of the Maintenance Process, an

organisation should:

− ensure that technical measures are used for their

intended purpose and their safe operating

conditions is maintained,

− manage technical measures in normal conditions

and in an emergency,

− detect as soon as reasonably possible any failure to

comply with the operating requirements prior to

or during the operation of technical measures,

including the application of use restrictions,

− ensure that its arrangements on the technical

measures’ management comply, when

appropriate, with all basic requirements specified

in legal requirements and identified good

practices.

3 SUMMARY

On 19 July 2019, a new, ground-breaking act [1] on

ensuring accessibility to persons with special needs

was adopted into the Polish legal order. The act

identified the legal and organisational framework for

making the concept of accessibility a reality by

imposing obligations to ensure accessibility in terms

of architectural, digital as well as information and

communication aspects on all public entities. Most

rules of this act are in force from 30 September 2019,

while others entered into force gradually over the next

two years. The same year also saw the adoption of the

Directive of the European Parliament and of the

Council (EU) no. 2019/882 [11] on the accessibility

requirements for products and services, which aims to

approximate the laws of the Member States with

regard to accessibility requirements for certain

products and services, in particular by eliminating

and preventing barriers for the free movement of

certain products and services that arise from

diverging accessibility requirements in specific

Member States. The obligations specified in this

Directive, should apply equally, with certain

reservations (especially Article 4 paragraph 1 in

relation to Article 14 paragraph 6 of the Directive no.

2019/882), to economic operators from the public and

private sectors (Recital 57 of Directive no. 2019/882).

Meeting the requirements contained in these sectoral

acts and documents intended for specific transport

types will streamline and systematise operational

activities related to ensuring the accessibility of

interchanges.

The publication proposes a new model for

managing the availability of transport operators in the

area of transport hubs. The methodology for

describing the model's criteria corresponds to the

process approach. Such a model does not currently

exist in practice and cannot be evaluated with the

audit tool available for the methodology. In the next

stages, after the implementation of the proposed

model at the operator, validation studies and analyses

will be carried out.

LITERATURE

[1] Act of 19 July 2019 on ensuring accessibility to persons

with special needs.

[2] Pritchard C.: Risk Management in Projects, Wig–Press,

Warsaw 2001.

[3] PN-EN ISO 9000:2015-10 – Polish version, PKN,

Warszawa 2016.

[4] PN-EN ISO 9001:2015-10 – Polish version, PKN,

Warszawa 2016.

[5] White Paper. Roadmap to a single European transport

area – towards a competitive and resource efficient

transport system.

[6] PN-ISO 31000:2018 – Polish version, PKN, Warszawa

2018.

[7] PN-EN IEC 60812:2018-12 – English version, PKN,

Warszawa 2018.

[8] Wang, W.; Lyu, S.; Zhang, Y.; Ma, S. A Risk Assessment

Model of Coalbed Methane Development Based on the

Matter-Element Extension Method. Energies 2019, 12,

3931

[9] Zhang, P.; Chen, X.; Fan, C. Research on a Safety

Assessment Method for Leakage in a Heavy Oil

Gathering Pipeline. Energies 2020, 13, 1340.

[10] Jamroz, K. Risk assessment in road engineering.

International Scientific Conference The transport of the

21st century, Poland, Stare Jabłonki, 18-21 September

2007

[11] Directive of the European Parliament and of the

Council (EU) no. 2019/882 of 17 April 2019 on the

accessibility requirements for products and services (EU

Official Journal L 151, p. 70) (European Accessibility

Act).