26
MARCH 2020
LIGHTING JOURNAL
The ILP’s training programme to support GN22 ATOMS proved popular last year, and is set to continue around the country during 2020. Here are the five most common questions (so far) raised by members, and their answers By Peter Harrison
A
s many ILP members will by now undoubtedly be aware, the ILP launched GN22 Asset Management Toolkit: Minor Structures (ATOMS) at the Professional Lighting Summit in Newcastle upon Tyne in June last year. The guidance note replaced TR22 and was a response to the development and publication by the UK Roads Liaison Group of its Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure code of practice. This was launched in 2016, to be implemented as best practice for the management of highway assets either immediately or within two years. The code is intended to co-ordinate the management of highways and the various assets on and under it in a way that will lead to efficiency gains. Key to this is the management of risk, with an emphasis on the value of allocating resources where most needed. In order to do that, there needs to be a common vocabulary of terms and inspections.
Therefore, in delivering the code, highway authorities need to develop risk management strategies and plans that help them to better understand the condition of their assets and monitor their deterioration. It was to address the management of lighting supports, or minor structures, within this context that ATOMS was written. Since the launch last June, the ILP has been proactive in developing and delivering a programme of training sessions around the country, through the new LDC network. These outline the fundamentals of both GN22 and the code, and more are planned to take place during 2020 (and keep an eye out online, at www.theilp.org.uk/events or in the Diary page at the back of Lighting Journal). The general reaction from members has been that, on the one hand, little has changed from TR22 yet, in a way, everything has changed! So, eight months on, what lessons have been learned from the launch of
GN22 and what have been the key concerns that members have expressed during the ATOMS training sessions? Here are the five most common questions members have asked during or after the training sessions, and their answers.
