What Can We Learn from Occupational Safety

There is a glimmer of hope. The World Health Organisation (WHO) undertook a study of public health issues and forecast that road trauma would rapidly climb to a position of prominence globally as some of the most heavily populated nations motorise. Through the United Nations this has led to a declaration of a Decade of Action, which is being led by the WHO (see Chapter 3 for details). How health worics with transport to give effect to the ambitions of the UN resolution remains to be seen. 

Similarly, there is a lengthy history within industry describing how occupational safety was gradually brought under control, and yet the lessons learned here have not been studied systematically by the transport sector. It is tragic that our thinking continues to be dominated by the traditions within our institutional silos. 

There have been four eras in thinking about industrial safety  

Exploring current thinking provides some fascinating parallels for traffic safety. 

Safety remains driven by the simple principle of the complete elimination of technical breakdowns and human error. have moved closer to this ideal in industry, the focus has shifted to group behaviour (organisational culture). Safety culture is usually defined as a set of safety-related attitudes, values, or assumptions shared between the members of an organisation. It requires commitment and cooperation from all levels. This implies a unity and integration within an organisation that must be led from the highest levels, and when this does not exist, the consequences can be catastrophic. 

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