The safety ladder: developing an evidence-based safety management strategy for small road transport companies

Abstract

Traffic accidents account for between 20% and 40% of work-related accidents in industrial countries, and research indicates that road transport companies often have little focus on organisational safety management (OSM). There is thus a huge and largely untapped road safety potential in improving the safety of people who drive in their work, by focusing on OSM. Road transport companies in European countries are often small, however, with limited resources in terms of time, financial resources and competence on road safety. The main aim of the present article is therefore to develop an OSM strategy for small road transport companies. Based on a systematic literature review, taking Norwegian research as its point of departure, the article concludes that four measures seem to be most realistic for small goodstransport businesses, and that these measures seem to have the greatest safety potential. These four measures can be arranged on a ladder, where businesses start at the lowest and most basic level, before proceeding to the next step. While our stepwise safety-ladder approach has not been validated, it is expected that further research would confirm the value of the strategy proposed.

The effect of a safety crisis on safety culture and safety climate: The resilience of a flight training organization during COVID-19

“…However, a review of the literature also reveals that definitions and measures of safety culture and safety climate vary greatly from study to study ( Casey et al, 2017 ). Many studies define and use safety culture and climate as interchangeable constructs (e.g., Nævestad et al, 2018 ) which muddies the results and our understanding of these constructs and their impact on safety related performance and incidences. In addition, high-risk industries generally adhere to strict safety policies and procedures and safety incidences are rarely observed.…”

Work-Related Accident Prevention in Norwegian Road and Maritime Transport: Examining the Influence of Different Sector Rules

“…This seems to be a fruitful approach, given the barriers to implementation. Naevestad et al [42] provides such an alternative, which is called the Safety Ladder for safety management. Based on a systematic literature review, taking Norwegian research as its point of departure, Naevestad et al [42] concludes that four measures seem to be most realistic for small goods-transport businesses, and that these measures seem to have the greatest safety potential.…”

“…Naevestad et al [42] provides such an alternative, which is called the Safety Ladder for safety management. Based on a systematic literature review, taking Norwegian research as its point of departure, Naevestad et al [42] concludes that four measures seem to be most realistic for small goods-transport businesses, and that these measures seem to have the greatest safety potential. These four measures can be arranged on a ladder, where businesses start at the lowest and most basic level, before proceeding to the next step.…”

Education in the Transit

“…To reverse this situation it is necessary a revision of the current model of urban transport in the Brazilian cities, providing better mobility options, along with higher overall system efficiency. In order to achieve such results, public policies should be adopted to ensure: (1) better standard of living for all sections of the population, translated into decent transport, traffic safety and accessibility for carrying out the essential activities of modern life (Naevestad, Elvebakk, Phillips, 2017); (2) availability of an integrated transport network, working with social and operational efficiency, with effective priority to collective means; 3high standard of environmental management, controlling the level of air pollution and noise (Schein, 2003).…”