The project commenced with a literature review that was published in the Journal of Safety Science (Mooren, L., Grzebieta, R., Williamson, A., Olivier, J., Friswell, R., 2014. Safety management for heavy vehicle transport: A review of the literature. Safety Science 62, 79-89.) The operational and management characteristics that were associated with reduced crash and injury risk included: safety training, management commitment, scheduling or journey planning, size of organisation or freight type, worker participation, incentives and safety or return to work policies. Other characteristics that might be associated with lower incident and injury rates were risk analysis/corrective actions, prior safety violations, crashes or incidents, vehicle conditions or physical work environment, vehicle technologies, recruitment and retention, pay and remuneration systems, communications/support, safety or quality management accreditation, financial performance, and worker characteristics and attitudes.

These characteristics were then used to formulate survey questions. This survey was administered to 50 companies to determine the differences in organizational and management features between companies with low insurance claim rates and higher insurance claim rates.

The results of this survey are reported in a paper published in the Journal of Safety Science (Mooren, L., Williamson, A., Friswell, R., Olivier, J., Grzebieta, R., Magableh, F., 2014. What are the differences in management characteristics of heavy vehicle operators with high insurance claims versus low insurance claims?. Safety Science 70, 327-338.)

In order to confirm findings from the first survey as well as to gain a fuller understanding of safety management in these companies, a sample of companies were visited for a more in-depth investigation, that included interviews with managers and drivers, site observations and collection of documents. This data is now being analysed.
The findings will inform the development of a model safety management system suitable for heavy vehicle transport operators.