Roadway Crashes

By Jan Johnson, Publications Team Leader, SCF Arizona
AZ@Work, Summer 2006

Consider this brutal fact: workers are more likely to die in an automobile crash WHILE on the job than they are to be killed fighting a fire, working on industrial machinery or at a construction site.

This has been the case since 1992, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Roadway vehicle crashes killed 13,337 workers between 1992 and 2001, which accounts for 22 percent of all injury-related deaths.

Even worse, driving fatalities continued to increase during the last decade, while occupational deaths from all other work-related causes dropped. Roadway deaths averaged around one fatality per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers between 1992 and 2001.

As the number of crashes rose, so did the cost of workers’ compensation. The National Safety Council reports that in 2001 and 2002, injuries resulting from roadway crashes averaged $27,500 per claim, making them the single most costly workers’ compensation injury claim category. Crashes also caused workers to lose more days from work than any other type of injury.

SCF Arizona receives its fair share of claims as a result of car accidents. In 2005 alone, 2,077 workers’ compensation claims were filed as a result of injuries to Arizona workers involved in vehicle crashes. That was a big jump from 2004, when the company received 1,453 claims.

“Work-related vehicular travel is a major exposure,” says SCF Arizona Risk Manager Harold Gribow. “Most business owners don’t realize how great the risk is. If you mess up, you’re at a high risk for severe injury or even death.

“If someone crashes your company pickup, the public often looks for the ‘deepest pocket’ in the form of law suits,” he continues. “Your auto insurance and general liability insurance are impacted even more than your workers’ comp.”

Gribow adds, “If the newspaper or local TV focuses on your accident, your business suffers from bad publicity. And worst of all, no monetary amount can address the loss that families, friends and co-workers feel when someone dies in a driving accident.

“Employers continue to pay well beyond the costs of the accident itself in terms of lower employee morale, lost productivity and increased costs,” he says.

WHO’S MOST AT RISK?
Male drivers are six times more likely to die on the job than female drivers, NIOSH statistics show; 89 percent of victims are male. Twenty-five percent of them were between 35 and 44 years old. Twenty-two percent were 45 to 54 year olds.

Crash-related fatality rates increased substantially with age. Workers aged 75 years and up had the highest fatality rate of all age groups (6.4 deaths per 100,000 FTEs).

“Everyone drives,” Gribow says. “Younger workers have limited driving experience and older workers have slower reaction times. No safety program is complete if you are not aggressively addressing traffic safety.”

Preventing work-related crashes poses a great challenge in occupational safety. “You may be able to supervise a person more carefully when he’s in the office or at your work site, but you have no idea once the individual gets behind the wheel if he is speeding, weaving in and out of traffic or even if he’s wearing a seat belt,” Gribow says.

FROM THE BEGINNING
Companies that require their personnel to drive should begin indoctrinating them in safe driving behavior the day they are hired.

Let your workers know there are consequences for not driving carefully, Gribow says. He adds that the company has to pay attention to the drivers’ habits. If workers are continually ‘dinging’ the company vehicle, they are showing disregard for the business’ property. A constant string of little incidents may be a red flag that indicates a bigger crash could be coming.

Many experts recommend that companies perform a Motor Vehicle Division background check on any worker who will be asked to drive. A poor driving record or a previously suspended license could mean the person has had some serious driving infractions or convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

“It’s a good idea for companies to designate a person to be responsible for driver evaluations and training and for the required inspection of vehicles,” Gribow says.

That’s good advice, considering 46 percent of workers hurt or killed in driving accidents were not wearing seat belts, according to a Fatality Analysis Reporting System report in 2003.

“You always want to motivate workers to wear seat belts because it’s important for their safety,” Gribow says. “If you have to, put it in writing that workers will be summarily terminated if they are involved in an accident and weren’t using a seat belt. Many companies establish this rule as a ‘no-defense’ policy with grounds for automatic dismissal.”

PRESSURE FROM ABOVE
Workers are not always to blame. Pressure from a supervisor can prompt employees to take risks. Often supervisors demand that workers make one more delivery or one more sales call, even though they lack the time to do it safely.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speed is a major contributing factor in 30 percent of all fatal collisions. The likelihood of a collision increases with the speed of the vehicle.

Speed also affects the severity of accidents. Speeding drivers have less time to react. High speeds extend the distance required to stop. Speeding drivers’ field of vision and peripheral vision decrease as their risk of losing control of their vehicles increases.

“In Phoenix, if you go with the flow, you’re speeding,” Gribow says. “You have all of those little cars racing around – jetting in and out of traffic. Throw one cement truck in the mix and you could have the making of a disaster. That cement mixer can’t stop on a dime.”

The sheer volume of vehicles on the roads in Phoenix or Tucson can also lead to a disaster, as can driving through major intersections. In 2000, more than 2.8 million intersection-related crashes occurred nationally, representing 44 percent of all reported crashes, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. About 8,500 fatalities (23 percent of total fatalities) and almost 1 million crashes with injuries occurred at or within an intersection. The cost of these incidents is approximately $40 billion annually.

IN THE ZONE
The risk of incidents increases in roadway construction zones. Work zone accidents claim more than 1,000 lives per year, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Four out of five work zone fatalities are drivers and passengers.

“It can be exasperating,” Gribow says. “Detours, state and interstate highway signs...all the more reason you have to be more on guard about what’s down the road, especially while you’re driving through work zones.”

Gribow offers these construction zone safety tips:

• Maintain the posted speed limit
• Turn your headlights on to make your vehicle more visible
• Be prepared for a sudden slowing in traffic
• Be alert and watch out for workers
• Be patient while driving through a construction zone
• Be attentive and prepared for a sudden slowing in traffic
• Do not change lanes or pass when driving through road construction
• Plan ahead for road construction by giving yourself enough time to arrive safely

TOO, TOO TIRED
Regardless of when or where one drives, NIOSH says driver fatigue is a leading contributor to roadway crashes. Fatigue affects driving performance by impairing information processing, attention and reaction times. It may also cause a driver to fall asleep. Time of day, duration of wakefulness, inadequate sleep, sleep disorders and prolonged work hours are all major causes of fatigue.

Employers should tell workers that if they are driving and get tired to pull over and stop, Gribow says. “Find a Circle K or a roadway stop and take a 15-minute nap,” he advises. “Or just get out of the vehicle and walk around.”

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations address fatigue in the motor carrier industry by specifying a maximum number of hours drivers are permitted for driving and duty time and a minimum number of hours of required off-duty time. But drivers in other industries are not bound by these protections.

“We find many of our policyholders follow DOT rules, but those who aren’t required to, often don’t. Some don’t police at all,” Gribow says. “Companies should model what professional drivers do. They follow established rules for a reason, because there’s a risk – and the rules work.”

Elements of a safe driving policy
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Set and enforce a comprehensive driver safety policy.
• Require use of seat belts. Select vehicles that provide occupant protection.
• Maintain accurate records of drivers’ performance.
• Set policies that include cell phone call prohibitions.
• Give drivers time to meet their tasks without violation of traffic rules.
• Ensure that workers are licensed and trained properly to operate any vehicles they will operate.
• Implement a vehicle maintenance program that requires pre-trip inspections.