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An integrated approach to prevent work related collisions between multiple companies / industries: a Quebec initiative

Author(s): Martin Lavallière, Johanne Trépanier, Bertrand Paquin

Slidedeck Presentation not available (no paper submitted)

Abstract:

CONTEXT
In Quebec, a recent report from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) showed that approximately 2% of all workers who receive compensation were involved in a work-related road collision (WRC). Yet, road collisions account for 25% to 30% of all work-related accidental deaths and are the leading cause of work-related accidental deaths.
Therefore, there is a strong argument for Occupational Safety and Health agencies to undertake more data collection, leadership and enforcement of occupational road safety, which seems to be one of the major at-work risks in many jurisdictions. Even though information exists to monitor work-related road collisions such as police reports or occupational safety and health reports, little has been done to develop a clear understanding of the burden of these collisions in the industry. Since these types of information are often gathered individually and differently based by companies, it is hard to draw connections between them. Moreover, rarely we can see a common effort to gather all this information in a standardized way in order to conduct comparisons across industries.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this work was to get representatives of different companies and government services to put forward a joint effort to tackle the issue of road safety among their employees by merging their practice in terms of reporting work-related road collisions.

TARGET GROUP
For this approach, the targeted groups were representatives from various sectors working as human resources and health and safety specialist who aimed at reducing the burden of work related collision of their employees. A total of twelve companies participated in this collaboration process. Sectors included representatives from Energy Sectors (2), Telecommunications (3), Municipalities (2), Public transportations (2), first responders (1) and Food and drinks retailers (2). Representatives met during several occasions to agree on a merged format to report work-related work collision.

ACTIVITY(IES)
By conducting a series of meetings and discussions, representatives from various sectors were able to come to a consensus on a reporting tool for work related collisions that will enable broader interventions since it will standardize procedures to report occupational accidents.

DELIVERABLES
Pilot extractions are now being conducted to evaluate if every participating agencies is able to collect the information they are interested in a merged report.
This will not only benefit safety among one industry but across all participants in this integrated road safety initiative. Such results will contribute to a better understanding of the problem and enable better future interventions in the workplace.