Authors: A. Sorlini, J. L. Borrel and H. Guirimand, B. Galla, M. G. Pregnolato, P. Picco & G. Porcellana G. Cianfrani e C. Saletta 

The railway project between Lyon and Turin was developed to unite and standardise design choices, overcoming the technical differences between the countries in light of the strategic importance of this work for the EU, and adopting the best practices of both countries.

In the early 2000s, when French exploratory tunnels were started, this demand for standardisation created an opportunity to draw up a shared bi-national document between France and Italy, which established the “Common Operating Rules” for protecting the health and safety of workers.

This positive collaboration gave rise to the first version of the document, which was updated periodically until the treaty of January 2012, which referred to it as an integral part of the contractual documents.

In 2016, the Rules were updated after some meetings between the labour inspectorates and the project sponsor, under the coordination of the French Ministry of Labour and Italian Labour National Inspectorate. The document was submitted to the Intergovernmental Conference and, in spring 2017, was validated by both countries.