Prevention of injuries and accidents in lorry drivers A preparation for a coming intervention study in goods transport Lotte Gubba¹, Ole Carstensen¹, Hitomi Shibuya², Bryan Cleal², and Regine Grytnes¹ ¹Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Hospital, Denmark ²National Institute of Occupational Health, Denmark

Objective The present study aimed at uncovering risk factors and safety climate in goods transport lorry drivers as a preparation for a coming intervention study “Safety climate refers to shared perceptions among members of an organization with regard to its fundamental properties, i.e. polices, procedures, and practices according to safety” (Zohar D, 2003)

Accidents per employees in four branches in Denmark Source: Danish Working Environment Authority, 2006

Distribution of accidents compared to work activity in transport Source: Danish Working Environment Authority, 2006

Literature in risk and prevention of work accidents in lorry drivers Studies focused on: –Risk factors related to physical work environment (e.g. working hours, time tables) –Risk factors related to personal conditions in lorry driver (e.g. fatigue, stress) Outcomes of studies: –Fatigue →accidents –Work irregular hours→ perceived fatigue –Sickness absence→ being rested

Methods  Contact to goods transport companies (21)  Driving with lorry drivers (16)  Semi structured interviews with drivers and managers in a Danish dairy company

Interviewing the management and the lorry drivers in a Danish dairy company with 129 lorry drivers

Interviews Interviews based on an interview guide focusing on: 1.Communication about safety issues 2.Learning regarding safety 3.Co-operation and commitment to safety issues 4.The social climate

Results from interview: Communication about safety issues  Absence of communication about safety between drivers and managers  Rare communication between drivers  Only the work environment representative took an active part in safety issues

Results from interview: Learning regarding safety  No tradition for discussing safety or intervening in safety behaviour  Primarily registration of accidents with sickness absence  Poor or no registration of accidents without sickness absence and near miss accidents  “Learning by doing”  Training in safety heterogeneous and oriented toward productivity

Results from interview: Co-operation and commitment to safety issues  Lorry drivers worked alone a lot of the time  Ramps and loading entrances often in bad condition  Lorry drivers felt supported by their managers  In adequate loading of lorries  Lorry drivers felt controlled by computers

Results from interview: social climate  Low sense of responsibility among drivers  Little social interaction between drivers  Mobile phones as a social promoter  High turnover among drivers

Frame of a coming intervention study

Thank you!