History
The Roadmarking Industry Association of Australia, (the name formally
adopted in April 1993) currently enjoys a membership base comprising
over 170 members (contractors, suppliers as well as local &
state government) from all sectors of the Roadmarking Industry nationwide,
and has been steadily growing both in membership & influence
within the industry since the inaugural meeting of the New South
Wales Roadmarking Industry Association of Australia in July 1990.
Our mission is to actively promote professionalism in all levels
of the Roadmarking industry through training, development and certification,
as well as to forge close working industry liaisons with all groups
interested in the development of safer roads & road systems.
Current Projects:
Local
Government Seminars/Pavement Marking Workshops: The RIAA regularly conducts a series
of one day seminars, primarily aimed at meeting the needs of Local
Government personnel involved in roadmarking. The program has
been designed to increase awareness in areas such as: current
specifications & standards, material characteristics &
application procedures, performance issues such as life cycle
cost and skid resistance as well as supervision, contract, environmental
& liability issues. Please contact the RIAA for further details.
Retro-reflectivity
Project: With the national trend towards performance based
contracting the RIAA as Project Manager and Industry Principle,
in conjunction with Transport SA who enjoy unique technical expertise
in this area, are well advanced in a project aimed at the development
& implementation of traceable primary standards and secondary
reference plates which are essential in ensuring that the measurements
obtained using reflectometers are accurate and precise for the
purposes of performance based contracting, testing and audit.
Retroreflection (light striking a surface at a given angle and
then reflected back in the direction of the source) is the characteristic
which is used in traffic engineering to provide visibility of
the pavement, kerbing, signs, guide posts and pavement markings
to the road user, and is therefore a critical element in effective
traffic control and delineation.
The measurement of retroreflectivity of horizontal pavement markings
is an important indicator of performance, as this is a limiting
factor in the life of a marking. Retro-reflectivity is measured
for the following reasons:
Audit of Contractor performance.
Testing of materials for compliance with AS or APAS requirements.
Development of deterioration graphs for road markings for the
performance based management.
Performance based contract monitoring.
There are currently
three types of reflectometers in common use in Australia and New
Zealand, namely the Mirolux 7, the MX30 and the Mirolux12. These
instruments are all capable of providing adequate repeatability
when used in accordance with manufacturers' specifications. However,
in order to use these devices as a compliance tool, either for
contracting of testing purposes, they require standardisation
to a traceable reference. This does not currently exist in Australia
(or elsewhere) and it is the aim of this project to develop and
implement a standardisation process.
This project
seeks to develop and implement a national standardisation protocol
for reflectometers. There is total support from road authorities,
industry and associations for this work, throughout Australia
and New Zealand, and this work is essential to the performance-based
management of pavement markings, which is the future of the industry.
Certification:
In order to deliver improved industry professionalism and provide
national accreditation the RIAA in conjunction with the Australian
National Training Authority, Construction Training Australia &
the various State Training Authorities has developed certification
modules relating to Roadmarking Competencies for certificates
1, 2 & 3 in Civil Construction (Roadmarking) and is now confidently
proceeding with negotiations with Registered Training Organisations
in each state and territory, so as to maximise the access of even
the most geographically remote individuals to training & certification,
as well as to maximise the opportunity to benefit from individual
state and territory funding for new apprenticeship training &
employer studies.
Construction Training Australia and the RIAA have also commenced
work on Levels 4,5&6 (Supervisors to Para-Professionals) and
hope to be in a position to submit this package to the Australian
National Training Authority for sign off in the very near future.
The Roadmarking
Industry Association of Australia Ltd. has recently appointed it's
first Chief Executive Officer in order to facilitate initiatives
that will build awareness of the critically important role that
Roadmarking has in road safety. We wish also to develop strong liaisons
with State Roading Authorities, Federal Authorities, private road
owners & builders, research bodies, industry suppliers &
consultants with a view to assisting in the contribution to and
development of improved standards in the Industry and would welcome
any communication from anyone seeking our assistance in this regard.
You can contact
the RIAA by writing to PO Box 2111, Rosebud Plaza, Rosebud, Vic
3939.
Or through the Chief Executive Officer:
Peter Thurston
Tel: 03 5982 3068
Fax: 03 5982 3067
Mobile: 0408 710 610
e-mail: ceo@riaa.com.au
