Safety case variations, replacements and change notifications

As a licensed rail participant, you’re required to carry out your activities in compliance with your approved safety case and underlying safety system (Railways Act 2005, Section 11(external link)).

If you’re planning on making a change to your rail activities or a change to your organisation that may affect your rail activities, and the change has an element of safety risk involved with it, then you’ll first need to let Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency know (examples of these types of changes have been provided on the When is a notification required and when is a variation required? page.)

Even if the safety and risk management elements of the change are already consistent with your approved safety case, we need to be able to confirm this.

This section contains the following pages:

Who is this guidance for?

The pages in this section are for all holders of a rail licence and outlines expectations for notifying Waka Kotahi of potential changes within your organisation, which includes applying for a variation to your safety case and submitting a replacement safety case where appropriate.

The scale and nature of your rail activities, along with the current scope of your safety case, will determine the level of variation or notification required for the changes you are planning to make. Following this guidance will enable Waka Kotahi to receive information on your planned changes. However, it does not guarantee approval of all applications, and you should liaise with your licence manager as required.

Please note: Any content updates you want to make to your approved safety case (eg roles, names or contact info) will need to be submitted as a variation regardless of the effect on safety.

Safety case flow chart Change notification form Application for a safety case variation form Application for a safety case replacement form
Download flow chart [PDF, 81 KB]