Worldwide Occupational Road Safety (WORS) review project

Occupational road safety has grown in importance in recent years as the extent of the problem has emerged, and increasing numbers of researchers, practitioners and government agencies have become interested in it. One example is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the USA, which has undertaken a great deal of work to understand and improve the safety of workers. NIOSH has identified that one of the biggest risks that workers face is using the road, and as a result has focused a great deal of attention on occupational road safety. The aims of NIOSH in sponsoring this particular project were two-fold: 1. Contribute to its research program on occupational road safety. 2. Facilitate the enhancement of global workplace safety and health. In meeting these aims a literature review (Chapter 2) was undertaken. Contact was then made with a range of participants from 15 countries around the world, all of whom completed a questionnaire and provided a range of other information (Chapter 3). Two main gaps emerged in the participants group: mainland European and less developed countries. Both should be encouraged to take part in any future follow-on projects. A large number of findings emerged from the project, which are summarised below. • Where data on the extent of the occupational road crashes is available, it accounts for a significant proportion of both road and workplace fatalities and injuries. This suggests that more attention should be given to the issue by both transport and occupational safety and health-based agencies. • Good quality ‘purpose of journey’ information should urgently be included in the road safety data collection processes in many participant countries to allow at-work collisions in smaller vehicles such as cars and vans to be identified, as well as those in larger vehicles. Based on recent experiences in the UK, this requires a detailed briefing and training program for the police officers who collect the data at the front line. • Occupational safety and health ...