Transportation safety and the driver: safety and training programming

By: Patrick Smith

Date: Friday, 11. July 2008

Patrick Smith, COHS, CSSE, is with the Hamilton-Niagara Chapter of the Transportation Safety Association of Ontario Council of Driver Trainers.

With amendments to the various legislations regulating the transportation industry (such as the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Highway Traffic Act, the National Safety Code pertaining to commercial vehicles), responsibility for safety is being placed directly on the parties involved in the workplace, be it in the cab of a vehicle or on the floor of a maintenance shop. Both employer and employee must share this responsibility in an atmosphere of openness and mutual trust.

We in Canada have been fortunate, so far, in that the phenomenon of burgeoning civil litigation, with all its court and award costs, has not reached the staggering proportions occurring in the United States. However, that day is quickly approaching! We are no longer immune. Canadian employers and employees must act together to devise in-house safety and training strategies. It is important to stress that this in-house, or Internal Responsibility System, must have the active support and participation of both the employer and the employee.

The various provincial Workers' Compensation Boards are based on the fact that accidents and injuries are generally caused by factors under the control of the employer. Therefore the employer is required under the various provincial health and safety acts to provide:

• A reasonable safety environment
• Reasonable tools and equipment
• Reasonable rules
• Reasonable training and instruction

Employees, under the various legislations, are required to follow safe work practices, to work in compliance with legislation, and to use proper protective equipment as required by law. Therefore, the need is for a shared-responsibility approach to devising and implementing an internal safety and training strategy.

We in the industry are all victims in accidents, especially if there's a personal injury involved. Injured persons may sustain traumatic change in their quality of life through pain and suffering, loss of earning power, loss of status, drastic change in health and psychological well-being, and possibly more. Employers may lose an almost irreplaceable human resource of knowledge, experience and dedication.

Accidents also involve the company's profitability. Some of the costs incurred by an accident are:

• Victims' lost wages
• Medical costs
• Workers' Compensation Board costs
• Loss of materials and equipment
• Increase in hourly overhead
• Cost of damage control
• Cost of lost deliveries
• Incurred loss of potential business
• Increased insurance costs
• Fines
• Legal costs

TOTAL: Cost of Accident

The above costs incurred through an accident or harmful event are but a few of potentially many more. Very few, if any, companies would survive if this happened with any degree of frequency. To compound the situation, insurance companies as well as the government are now taking a stronger stance against firms that possess an unstable record of risk. Double jeopardy!

Training

Early in the century, the human factor was largely ignored. The worker was considered a disposable and inexpensive commodity. Towards the latter half of this century, because of enlightened, forward-thinking employers, labour movements, and higher-quality education, that attitude changed dramatically. Over the years, employers have learned that attitude toward jobs, status, and work environment motivates the modern worker as much as the pay cheque. With a sense of worth, achievement, and recognition, workers will become more aware of their work environment and are more receptive to training.

In most companies of today, the workplace, whether it be on the highway or in the repair shop, is a very complex and stressful environment. With the rapid advancement of technology, the complexity of the vehicle, and the potential hazards of cargo, traffic congestion has rendered the act of driving a large, heavy vehicle an extremely complex and dangerous task. This task requires skill and experience from the operator, with little or no margin of error. It is not acceptable in this day and age to just meet the minimum requirements established by the various legislative bodies. It must also be stressed that the theory of learning by trial and error only courts tragic consequences. We as a society refuse to allow partially trained people to operate our airlines, railways, and steamship lines, but on a daily basis, we condone this very same activity on our congested roadways.

The driver of today must receive thorough training in:

• Defensive driving
• Pre-trip inspections
• Limitations and characteristics of the vehicle
• Safe operation of the vehicle
• Hazard recognition and safe operation in adverse conditions
• Transportation of dangerous goods
• Relevant legislation and safety codes...

... to name but a few areas requiring training for safe vehicle operation.

The maintenance workers must receive training in:

• Recognition of hazards in industrial process
• Lockout procedure
• Environmental controls e.g. dust fumes, etc.
• Safety procedures with regards to hazardous materials...

... to name but a few areas requiring training for a safe maintenance operation.

This training program must be evaluated yearly to assure its relevance, and to incorporate new equipment or processes, controls and potential safety hazards. This program should stress the need for a retraining of individuals at least once every three years, or after a serious preventable accident.

A thorough training program would not only enhance safety awareness, but also improve the motivation and efficiency of the workers. Also, in light of the government's commitment to higher penalties for infractions and non-compliance to the health and safety act (fines of up to $25,000 or imprisonment for every person and up to $500,000 for the company), it makes sound business sense to pay a little now rather than potentially pay a lot more later!

Safety Committees

The health and safety committee is quickly becoming a powerful tool in the workplace. Committees' terms of reference and clarification of authority and responsibility are set out in the various provincial or federal health and safety acts. The committee is the basic cornerstone of any training and safety program. The committee is the frontline monitor of the safety issue in the workplace and has the authority by law to identify any existing or potential hazards, and to make recommendations for changes in workplace procedures, maintenance, and control of hazards.

The employer must not consider the safety committee an adversary. Remember, the committee members are the people most familiar with their work. A shrewd employer would use the committee as an efficient informational tool to send and receive safety and training information and concerns. As an added bonus, paying heed to the health and safety committee gives credence to the "Management Cares" attitude.

Safety Programming

The first and basic step of a successful training and safety program is the adoption of a serious commitment to the program by the most senior management. It must be a written, dated document signed by the most senior manager within the organization. It is a document that must be revisited and evaluated yearly.

To implement this policy, the employer must carefully devise an integrated safety program that will include the five basic criteria:

• Hazard recognition
• Hazard evaluation
• Hazard controls
• Training
• Evaluation

From these criteria should come the operational portion of the program, containing elements such as:

• Job hazard analysis
• Lockout procedures
• Equipment guarding
• Housekeeping
• Defensive driving
• First aid and emergency planning
• Safety committees
• Accident investigations
• Material handling procedures
• Workplace inspections
• Preventative maintenance procedures
• Statistical process control

This list of elements is the minimum required for the transportation industry. It could include transportation of dangerous goods, various professional driver improvement courses, and many other items.

This training and safety program that emphasizes the employer's commitment must contain a provision for evaluation, preferably in the form of computerized statistical process control. This control would allow the employer to track hazards, accidents, injuries, and costs, to evaluate how the safety and training program is performing. The statistical process control will provide Transportation Safety Professionals the tools to identify trends and patterns in the performance, thus building on the strengths of the program and allowing modification of its weaknesses.

All of the above criteria are the basis of a well-planned, successful, integrated safety and training program. They will provide protection for the employee, ensure corporate compliance with various legislations, and reduce unnecessary costs. A beneficial environment for all!

Further comments to this article have been disabled.

---

All Comments (8)

Showing 1 - 8 comments

ARJUN-LINFOX SKD U.P,

S.MURUGESAN,

ramchandra yadav,

RAMCHANDRA YADAV,

olusanmi kayode uria,

keshav caprio,

vinod Agarwal,

Bonala Srinivas,

---