International Tunnelling Association

Committee on Operational Safety of Underground Facilities

Centre of Excellence for world-wide exchange of information and know-how regarding operational safety and security of underground facilities

Exchange Knowledge

We develop & maintain a network to exchange knowledge

Facilitate Cooperation

We facilitate cooperation worldwide through network activities

Fostering Innovation

We foster innovation & bring new knowledge into the industry

Raising Awareness

We support the development of improved regulations & standards

About

ITA COSUF create an ecosystem for learning, which benefits both clients and suppliers in the entire underground industry.

We invite all actors and stakeholders (authorities, consultants, academia, research, industry suppliers, contractors, safety officers) to be members.

We serve both road-, rail- and metro infrastructure industry, but also all underground structures and tunnel projects in general, including mining, underground industri, caverns and city services developments.

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Activity Groups

EUROPEAN & INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Keeping an oversight of activities worldwide and keep contact with organizations, networks and projects in order to exchange relevant information, to cooperate and exchange information.

Ben Van Den Horn

Activity Group 1

REGULATIONS

&

BEST PRACTICE

Follow up regulations and the state-of-the-art and best-practices internationally.

This includes discussion and comparison of regulations, norms, standards and procedures.

Severin Wächli & Marco Bettelini

Activity Group 2

RESEARCH

&

NEW FINDINGS

Provide a platform for exchange of knowledge by bringing together key stakeholders from academia, authorities and industry.

Götz Vollmann

Activity Group 3

ROAD TUNNEL

SAFETY OFFICERS

Aims to be the platform for European tunnel safety officers for exchange of experiences through its biannual Tunnel Safety Forum and development of best practices.

Bianca Janssen & John Aldrige

Activity Group 4

Upcoming Activities

World Tunnel Congress 2023 in Athens

The Greek Tunnelling Society, organizes between 12 – 18 May 2023 the World Tunnel Congress (WTC2023) in the city of Athens. The WTC is the premier annual event of the International Tunnelling Association (ITA-AITES), with the participation of more than 2000 professionals. ITA COSUF will host a session and bring operational issues on the agenda.

ITA COSUF Workshop on BIM - 5th and 6th December 2023

Tunnels represents the most challenging part of a road infrastructure when it comes to the complexity of construction, technical infrastructure and technical facilities. But how should the road owner design, build, operate and manage the infrastructure to make sure that vulnerable parts of the road network remain reliable, available at all time, maintenance friendly for the operators and safe for the road users. Issues concerning Building Information Models (BIM) and the latest developments, will be on the agenda on this workshop.

Tunnel Safety Officer Forum 2024 (TSO7)

Every biannual year, ITA COSUF gather the entire Tunnel Safety Officer (TSO) community to a joint workshop, supported by EU and the World Roads Association (PIARC). Bringing relevant issues to the table, discussing them with experts from all over the world.

Supporting initiatives

An important part of the work in ITA COSUF, is to support other initiatives and bring in underground safety experts, highlighting relevant issues for today.