What are the differences between an ISA, a DeBo, an AsBo and a NoBo?

In railway industry and, particularly, in terms of its approval, accreditation, risk management and safety assessment processes, more types of qualified bodies are increasingly defined, categorized and emerge in order to be able to assess impartially and independently a process, a project, a product or a railway installation.

Our company Leedeo Engineering has found out that many of our clients have doubts in identifying and deciphering the compendium of acronyms that characterize each of these organizations and allowing them to carry out such impartial and independent analysis.

In this sense, we explain below and in a very summarized way what are each of the actors or bodies being currently regulated in railway industry:

• DeBo: Designated Body.

• AsBo: Risk Assessment Body.

• ISA: Independent Safety Assessor.

• NoBo: Notified Body.

What is a DeBo (Designated Body)?

A DeBo is an independent body (normally a private company) that is authorized to carry out the procedure for verification of subsystems in the case of national implementation standards. In the case of Spain, it would be, for example, the independent evaluator of the ADIF railway product validation processes.

What is an AsBo (Risk Assessment Body)?

AsBo is an independent body (normally a private company) authorized to carry out the analysis -the valuation and the evaluation- of the risk according to Implementing Regulation 402/2013 concerning the adoption of a common method of safety and the evaluation and the valuation of risk and Regulation 2015/1136 according to ISO 17020.

What is an ISA (Independent Safety Assessor)?

An ISA is an independent body (normally a private company) authorized to carry out the independent analysis of safety (and secondly of reliability, availability and maintainability, RAMS) of a railway application or product and in accordance with CENELEC standards: UNE-EN50126 and UNE-EN50129.

What is a NoBo (Notified Body)?

A NoBo is an independent body (normally a private company) that is authorized to carry out EC verification process of interoperability of railway systems and equipment, as well as to assess the conformity or suitability for using such systems or equipment.

From Leedeo Engineering we help our clients in their approval, accreditation, CE marking and interoperability processes as well as RAM and Security analysis to obtain a positive assessment of each of these processes. Contact us for any additional information >>

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