1. Work Related Road Safety: Integrating a Risk Management Approach
Presenter Darren Wishart
The national Driver Fatigue Risk Management Conference 2012
CRICOS No J

2. Origins of CARRS-Q
Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) was established in 1996 as joint initiative of:
QUT
Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC)
Based in the School of Psychology & Counselling, Faculty of Health
Primary role is to undertake research and training to improve safety on Queensland roads and in the workplace

3. Research Themes Regulation and Enforcement
School and Community Injury Prevention
Vulnerable Road Users
Occupational Safety
Road Infrastructure Safety
Intelligent Transport Systems

4. Advanced Driving Simulator

5. Work related road safety is a complex puzzle
Crashes
Culture
WRRS promotion
Infringement monitoring
Management commitment
Environment
Employee commitment
Vehicles
Procedures
Risk management
Policy
Reporting

6. How good a driver are you?
How do you rate yourself as a driver?
Poor Average Excellent
How safe are you as a driver?
Unsafe Average Extremely safe

7. Currently in your workplace today are you & your organisation managing the risk associated with vehicles and their use with the same level of diligence as other workplace hazards and equipment?

8. Road Safety Worldwide
World wide estimates since the introduction of combustion engine:
Over 18 Million people have died
Over road related deaths per year
23 million injuries & disablements per year
Estimated that one road fatality and 50 injuries occur each minute, worldwide (Noy, 1997)

9. In Australia, approximately 75% of all locally produced passenger vehicles are purchased as fleet vehicles and more than half of all new vehicle registrations annually consist of fleet vehicles (AFMA, 2008).
Vehicle under many jurisdictions is considered a workplace (Rowland et al., 2006).

10. Work related road safety an issue often ignored despite....
Workers compensation fatality claims demonstrating vehicle crashes are the most likely mechanism of injury, approximately three times higher than chemicals or substance (Australian Safety and Compensation Council, 2006)
Average lost time greater than other workplace claims (Stewart-Bogle, 1999)
Work related road crash injuries twice as likely to result in death or permanent injury (Wheatley, 1997).

11. Organisational deficiencies
Organisations often take “one size fits all” approach
Primarily focus on driver
Fail to address deficiencies in organisational systems to support safe vehicle use (Davey et al., 2008).
Fail to adequately manage risk in comparison to other workplace hazards and risks (Wishart & Davey, 2004; Rowland et al., 2005).

12. Managing Risk
Within organisations risk management strategies to ensure safety in the workplace are undertaken in a proactive manner
In contrast with vehicles often the incident occurs before risk is assessed.

13. What is currently done in your organisation to minimise risks associated with driving for work?

14. Example of a recent CARRS-Q study to demonstrate some of the “risk management” practices within organisational vehicle fleet operations
Wishart, Darren E., Rowland, Bevan D., Freeman, James E., & Davey, Jeremy D. (2011) Driving for work : a series of organisational audit results. In Australasian College of Road Safety National Conference (ACRS 2011), 1-2 Sepember 2011, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, VIC.

15. Overview
Undertook a series of work related road safety audits across a number of organisations to determine deficiencies in each organisation’s safe driving management and practice.

16. Method
Utilised previously developed “Organisational Work Related Road Safety Situational Analysis tool”

17. Results and Discussion
Three areas of deficiency consistent across all participating organisations
a lack of comprehensive policy relating specifically to work related driving;
a lack of consistent and sufficient detail in relation to crash data reporting and recording, and
a lack of communication and promotion strategies associated with promoting safe work related driving.

18. Conclusions
Short comings identified actually don’t require much to rectify in regards to funds, resources or expertise
Vehicle incidents need to considered and managed with the same level of diligence as all other hazards
Organisations need to increase the importance of promoting vehicle safety and risk awareness
Organisations need a WRRS champion (Fleet versus OH&S)

19. What do you do to minimise risks in the workplace?
Identify Hazard- what is it?
Identify Risk- what can happen, how can it happen?
Analyse Risk- determine likelihood, determine consequences, estimate level of risk
Evaluate Risk- Compare against criteria, set risk priorities
Treat Risks- Identify treatment options, evaluate implement plans

20. Work related road safety is a complex puzzle
Crashes
Culture
WRRS promotion
Infringement monitoring
Management commitment
Environment
Employee commitment
Vehicles
Procedures
Risk management
Policy
Reporting

21. What can you do in your organisation to minimise risks associated with driving for work?

22. Thanks for the opportunity to share some ideas about work related road safety Any Questions

23. Multi-disciplinary event
Road & transport safety
Aviation safety
Watercraft safety
Construction safety
Key Dates
Registrations Open 5 March
Early Bird & Presenter Registration closes 14 June

24. Useful Tips for Safer Driving
Accept the challenge to change your own driving behaviour
Commit to driving safer
Keep a safety space
Look left and right when the light turns green
Why are you in a rush?
When reversing- use a colleague, check your rear before getting in vehicle
Use the cruise control to prevent speed creep
Seatbelt on, ignition on
Late for appointment- phone ahead new ETA
Pull over before answering mobile phone
Is it safe to talk?
Allocate time for administrative tasks
If tired stop and revive
Accept that all road users make mistakes and don’t get angry or frustrated at other road users
Maintain 2-4 second gap between your vehicle and the vehicle in front
Monitor your hands on the steering wheel?