Introduction

Slips, trips and falls particularly on Footpaths contribute to a major source of litigation action.

Courts require road agencies to be able to demonstrate a duty of care towards the pedestrian. They also recognise that public authorities with large and variable infrastructure do not often have the funding to maintain their entire network in the 'as new' condition.

Footpaths do not have to be maintained in an 'as new' condition. It is however, important to be able to demonstrate that:

there is a comprehensive inspection protocol.
key performance indicators and maintenance intervention levels are in place.
a decision strategy is in place and has been used to decide the appropriate maintenance
strategy for which “do nothing” is a legitimate option.

These conditions will demonstrate that the footpath owner is aware of their duty of care with respect to pedestrian traffic.

Fugro PMS have developed Footpath Manager which satisfies the above criteria and allows for rating, reporting of footpath condition, asset valuation and management of footpaths.

Features

An independent and comprehensive survey procedure traceable and prepared by
professional and .accredited inspectors.
A programme of works as a function of condition, priority and budget.
Incident Report for Safety Condition 4 and 5 linked to your graphical information system
(GIS).
Incident report for Serviceability Conditions 4 and 5 linked to your GIS.
Asset Valuation Report (AAS27).
Fitness for Purpose rating score for all footpath types by traffic category.
Ability to show duty of care and hence protection from possible litigation.

Footpath Condition Rating

Competent and comprehensive rating of footpaths is fundamental to their management. Rating Condition have been developed to allow for:

Different types of footpaths

- Asphalt
- Asphalt and Concrete
- Pavers
- Natural

Different types of distress

- Levels
- Condition Severity (1 good – 5 very poor)
- Footpath usage
- A system of weightings are applied to these pedestrian types (as a function of
eyesight and agility).

The above parameters are rated for each 10m section of footpath and amalgamated into a Fitness for Purpose Index for each footpath section.

Footpath Management

Repair Evaluation
Decision matrices are prepared by PMS in consultation with the client's officers to ensure that the repairs indicated for each section are realistic, economically viable and achievable.

Priority Selection
A sorting routine permits the user to prioritise work as a function of type, serviceability, safety rating, traffic type (and volume) and footpath category. The sort order is user defined.

AAS27 Valuation
Deterioration profiles for footpaths are consistently being built by PMS. This profile is used to determine the available life of the asset and the depreciated value on a straight line basis.