Managing risks to drivers in road transport

This report presents a number of case studies in managing risks to road transport drivers. The cases feature a variety of initiatives and interventions to protect drivers.In the road transport sector, as with any other, it is important to pay attention to working conditions in order to ensure a skilled and motivated workforce. Certain characteristics of the sector make it more difficult to practice risk management than in other sectors. But by taking account of how the sector operates in practice, and the characteristics of drivers themselves and the way they work, risks can be successfully manage

Bedrijven leren onvoldoende van incidenten

Wanneer incidenten zich voordoen, wil de industrie weten waar de oorzaak ligt. Bedrijven onderzoeken hoe het beter kan, met als doel ervan te kunnen leren en toekomstige geliikaardige incidenten te voorkomen. Maar de praktiik is weerbarstiger zo blijkt uit het promotieonderzoek van Linda Drupsteen van TNO. Waarom leren bedrijven te weinig van incidente

Migrant workers

This article explores Health and Safety aspects related to migrants working in multi-cultural settings (heterogeneous teams, working together on one location). Several assumptions can be made related to cultural differences and safe and healthy behaviour, but research evidence on this matter is very weak. [1] There is a danger of overrating the differences between cultures. When managing cultural diversity in work teams, it is better to increase awareness of its consequences on OSH, and also to provide guidelines that team leaders can use to deal with cultural diversity effectively. Some typical approaches will be presented. To appreciate the consequences of workforce migration on occupational safety and health (OSH), the article begins by presenting a statistical overview of migrants and workforce migration in Europe

What is learning? A review of the safety literature to define learning from incidents, accidents and disasters

Learning from incidents, accidents and disasters contributes to improvement of safety and the prevention of unwanted events. In this review, literature on learning from safety incidents within organizations is studied and compared with the organizational learning theory of Argyris and Schön. Sub-processes, such as learning lessons, sharing, storing and applying lessons, are described, and factors that influence these processes are listed, such as trust, the severity of the consequences of an incident and the people involved in learning. In comparison with the theory of Argyris and Schön, aspects about the information to learn from, i.e., the incident and analysis, are much more specified in the safety literature. However, the organizational learning theory gives more details about the earlier mentioned sub-processes

Exploring effectiveness of safety information for workplace visitors

Providing safety information to visitors is an important task of each employer, but there is little evidence on what instructions are most effective. This study explores the effectiveness of visitor instructions that are currently in use, by identifying what objectives of visitor instruction are considered most important and assessing whether the actual instructions address these objectives.Data for this study was gathered through a survey that was handed out in a workshop in Cyprus and a workshop in the Netherlands. Focus groups were organised during the workshops, instructions from real companies were handed out and their effectiveness was discussed.The findings from this explorative study show that people expect a visitor instruction to provide information on emergency plans, evacuation routes and on the main risks on the worksite. In this study, the actual visitor instructions only partially matched these expectations. The study showed that in the actual instructions a larger variety of topics was addressed. Strengths and weaknesses of the instructions, according to the participants, mainly relate to the information density and to inclusion of clear, specific informatio

Health in the construction industry

Prolonging working careers is a major challenge for industries where physical work demands are high, such as in the construction industry. Compared with other industries, those with high physical work demands show higher ageing and higher shrinking rates of the working population. The early retirement age among construction workers can mainly be explained by the fact that these workers run an increased risk for a lower work ability as well as a lower health status. Insights into health problems at the worksite, and effective measures regarding these problems, are helpful for prolonging the working careers of construction workers

Accident investigation and analysis

Many organisations and companies take extensive proactive measures to identify, evaluate and reduce occupational risks. However, despite these efforts things still go wrong and unintended events occur. After a major incident or accident, conducting an accident investigation is generally the next step. A thorough accident or incident investigation may uncover a wealth of knowledge about safety management practices in the organisation. Previously overlooked weaknesses of safety management or safety culture may be uncovered, as well as underestimated risks, unknown risks or insufficient control over known risks. Government agencies may or may not be involved in the investigation and analysis of events. In many countries inspectorates, accident research boards, or criminal prosecutors may investigate some or all of the serious occupational incidents that occur. In this article we focus only on incident investigation conducted (internally) by companies themselves. This article contains an overview of steps in incident investigation and some methods for analysis

Learning from incidents and accidents

There are many different definitions for what constitutes an incident or an accident, however the focus is always on unintended and often unforeseen events that cause unintended consequences. This article is focused on the process of learning from incidents and accidents. The focus is on making sure that the lessons learned from incident investigations are implemented and lead to an actual improvement in safety. For this article we will use the terms incident for accidents, near misses and other unwanted events