Risk and Safety in the Transport Sector (RISIT) - a research programme covering road-, sea-, air- and the railway sector Finn H. Amundsen, Head of programme committee Acting director of road and traffic department Norwegian Public Roads Administration Presented by Rune Elvik Institute of Transport Economics Oslo, Norway

Programme organisation and financing Administered by the Research Council of Norway Funded jointly by the transport sector (10 mill$) Runs from 2002 to 2007

Why a RISIT programme? Increased transport activity Many vulnerable groups High risk of fatalities compared to other activities High risk of very serious accidents Vision Zero covers the whole transport sector Several accidents with many victims in the transport sector (train on fire, speed boat) Need for a more coordinated research effort

Requirements for RISIT support Projects should cover at least two or more sectors Projects should be developed by more than one research organization Should add to the scientific knowledge regarding risk and safety

Three main research areas Visions for transport safety; a critical view of vision zero Understanding transport risk and putting it into a social perspective Organising risk management

State of the art reports Knowledge to improve safety in the transport sector Not all safety measures lead to increased safety The transport sector should not copy the oil industry Has time run out for cost-benefit analysis? Who are the role models in traffic? Reliable traffic control requires interaction between technology and people Deregulation increases the importance of supervisory authorities No one has the overall responsibility for risk management

Ongoing research Drug use and accidents Safety culture; descriptions, comparisons and changes Risk analysis; criteria for risk acceptance and systems for risk management Safety benefits of driver support systems Responsibility and safety impacts of deregulation Risk perception, risk tolerance and demand for risk mitigation A comparative analysis of normative foundations of transport policy

Ongoing research Major accidents; long-term frequency and preventability Comprehension of transport risk and safety in a dynamic society Experience of transport risk and relationship between risk perception and behaviour Safety, security and effectiveness; limits of personal privacy Risk and safety connected with organisational changes Risk and responsibility in transporting dangerous goods

Safety Cultures in Transport Even with vision zero, value- and goal conflicts hamper safety work Missing communication and cooperation between different stakeholders is a challenge for safety work Procedures are understood and practised differently Reporting of incidents is often felt as control and telling on people. This often leads to underreporting

”Risk analysis, risk acceptance and risk management” University of Stavanger, 3 mill. NOK, 2004 – 2007 Major goals: - Develop and test principles, methodologies and techniques for risk analysis in different transport sectors - Reveal prerequisites and assumptions for, and experiences with risk informed decision making - The connections between risk analysis, cost- benefit analysis and risk acceptance are of special interest

”Risk analysis, risk acceptance and risk management” Results so far: - Decision making and the use of risk analyses seem to be ”chaotic” (ill-structured) -Use of risk acceptance criteria as a basis for informed decisions must be rejected -The practical use and understanding of the risk concept in the transport industry is superficial and lacks scientific basis - The research on risk assessment should involve considerations of power, conflicting goals and stakeholder behaviours

”Risk levels and actors in transport of dangerous goods” Joint project involving The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and the University of Stavanger 3.8 mill NOK (NCR 70%, industry 30%) Major goals: - Develop a national quantitative risk model covering all modes of transport - Develop and test risk analysis techniques and methodology applied to transport of dangerous goods - Suggest how regulations can be harmonised across modes of transport

”Risk levels and actors in transport of dangerous goods” Some results so far: - Risk analyses have not been a major partof the safety management of dangerous goods transport - The use of safety information systems varies substantially amongst involved parties - Major controversies exist between theindustry and the authorities within and across transport modes - Regulations are perceived as unjust – industry demands a performance based regulation - The parties have a preconceived notion about levels of risk and how risk should be interpreted

RISIT II? If there is a RISIT II, more focus will be on security aspects More research should also be done on the conflict between the right to privacy and automatic control systems Risk analyses are performed to a greater extent – but do we understand them?