01637978

Monograph

http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/176006.aspx

This report identifies how state departments of transportation (DOTs) implement policies using highway worker safety and health data to reduce injuries and manage risk. The report is a synthesis of current proactive safety practices that will be useful for DOTs developing new or updating existing policies, programs, or tools to minimize injuries, fatalities, and risk. The study also identifies gaps in knowledge and future research needs. The information in this report was developed through a comprehensive literature review regarding the topics of worker safety and work site safety. Particular emphasis was placed on the prevalence and causality of injury and fatality incidents for highway workers, the availability of highway worker safety data, existing legal standards and policy recommendations related to highway workers, safety risk and human factors, stakeholders in highway worker safety, and safety program evaluation. The information found in the literature was supplemented with a survey of state DOTs. Six publicly available injury and fatality databases were also examined to quantify and compare injury and fatality incidence rates. The survey results reveal that each state DOT experiences its own set of issues and remains committed to improving the safety of its employees in highway work sites. There is not one set of safety programs used by all DOTs; each DOT employs the safety programs it perceives to be important, effective, and feasible to implement given resource limitations. From a nationwide perspective, sharing the research and program methods has the potential to be an economically efficient way to improve safety. Although institutional limitations may prevent some DOTs from implementing successful safety program elements found in other DOTs, understanding fellow state DOT programs can be useful in adapting the broad safety ideas to a new organizational context. Analysis of the survey responses reveals that improvements in data sharing and data availability are helpful in enabling states to make data-driven decisions for their own safety programs.

Project 20-05, Topic 47-16

English

0000-0001-8450-6516

158p

2017

NCHRP Synthesis of Highway Practice

9780309389976

Digital/other

Appendices; Figures; References; Tables

Fatalities; Injuries; Occupational safety; Plan implementation; Road construction workers; Safety programs; State departments of transportation; Work zone safety

Administration and Management; Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jun 15 2017 10:13AM