PSI - Issue 84

Marco Bisti et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 84 (2026) 733–740

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1. Introduction Infrastructure safety is universally recognized as a critical imperative for road operators and regulatory authorities worldwide. The effectiveness with which an organization manages risks arising from operational changes is a direct measure of the maturity of its Safety Management System (SMS) (Kunt et al., 2024). In this context, construction sites on the highway network represent a major focal point, as they introduce extensive and unforeseen alterations to traffic routes and flows, generating complex and dynamic risk scenarios that demand advanced methodologies for change management (Kucińska -Landwójtowicz et al., 2023). An effective SMS, therefore, must move beyond mere regulatory compliance to focus on continuous improvement, shifting the focus from reaction to incidents toward the development of predictive and proactive strategies (Agnusdei et al., 2023). The extensive body of literature on road safety converges on the absolute necessity of adopting a systematic approach to management (Varhelyi, 2016). Strategic Road Safety Management (RSM) is defined as the set of tasks aimed at preparing and implementing road safety policies based on scientific evidence (Alfonsi et al., 2016). To be effective, RSM requires a defined institutional framework, systematic problem identification, setting measurable targets, and adequate funding (Varhelyi, 2016). However, in Europe, analyses of RSM systems have often revealed persistent weaknesses in policy implementation, financing, and a crucial lack of knowledge-based decision-making, especially in the case of regional and local authorities (Alfonsi et al., 2016; Muhlrad et al., 2016). This consensus highlights that dedicated safety research must function as a "controlling instrument" to ensure the continuous appropriateness and efficacy of management efforts (Schulze and Koßmann, 2010). The evolution of RSM is marked by the growing adoption of Systems Thinking, an approach that encourages an integrated and holistic strategy, moving away from the isolated management of individual safety components (Mooren and Shuey, 2024). Aligned with this trend, systematic reviews of strategic RSM methods confirm the imperative for analytical tools and models that incorporate more comprehensive safety indicators for robust performance evaluation (Jiao and Evdorides, 2024; Song et al., 2024). The optimization of SMS through the measurement and analysis of these comprehensive safety indices remains a vibrant topic of active research (Assenova et al., 2024). Within this framework of systemic safety governance, Organizational Maturity Models (OMMs) stand out as essential management tools for systematically measuring and improving organizational capabilities (Kucińska Landwójtowicz et al., 2023). Their application is multi-sectoral and well-established: they are utilized for evaluating Quality Management Systems (QMS) in high-tech industries like aerospace and automotive (Shrayner and Yashchenko, 2019; Zhang and Dong, 2023), and have been specifically developed for Health and Safety Management Systems (H&S MS), offering vital tools for performance assessment and corrective action planning (Franz et al., 2010). In high-risk sectors, maturity analysis is crucial for evaluating the completeness of standard implementation in contexts such as Process Safety Management (PSM) (Kunt et al., 2024; Shanmugam and Abdul Razak, 2021). Furthermore, a systematic review of safety culture maturity models (SCMM) confirms that established models, such as the Hudson model, are widely utilized for their flexibility in promoting safety culture improvement across various industries (Imanudin, 2025). In regulated transportation, OMMs are benchmarks for systemic safety. Civil aviation, for example, uses advanced models like the CASM³ to define structured maturity levels and continuous improvement plans (Qi and Jia, 2022). Similarly, the railway sector has adopted regulatory maturity tools, such as the Safety Risk Management Maturity Model (RM3) used by the Office of Rail and Road in the UK and the Management Maturity Model (MMM) developed by the European Union Agency for Railways, to systematically assess risk management and organizational learning (Appicharla, 2025). This inter-sectoral experience strongly informs the road safety domain, where OMMs are now employed to assess the cultural and organizational readiness for adopting modern paradigms like the Safe System approach (Fosdick et al., 2024). This entire evolution pushes beyond the limitations of traditional SMS, prompting the necessary integration of Organizational Resilience principles to successfully manage complex and unforeseen events, as evidenced during recent crises (Ewertowski et al., 2024). Despite the strength and breadth of these systemic management and maturity frameworks, the literature reveals a significant research gap in the application of a rigorous, integrated maturity evaluation model specifically tailored to the context of change management at construction sites on the Italian motorway network. Current operational