14 Sep 2018
Heavy vehicle accidents have the potential to cause great damage and loss of lives. Data from the Traffic Police showed the number of injury accidents involving heavy vehicles rose by 5% in 2015 compared to 2014 from 839 cases to 877 cases.
The Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Institute organised the WSH Institute Solutioning Session – Preventing Work-related Traffic Accidents (WRTAs) involving Heavy Vehicles in collaboration with the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council on 4 August 2016 to invite industry participants to come together to discuss the causes of WRTAs involving heavy vehicles and explored possible solutions to prevent them.
The participants identified the following as probable causes for WRTAs:
a) Fatigue
b) Incentives relating to pay-per-trip payment model, and
c) Inadequate training and lack of awareness among other road users of blind spots due to the design of heavy vehicles.
To improve the safety of heavy vehicles and lower WRTA risks, the following areas were brought up as possible solutions:
a) Use of technology
b) Training
c) Linking training and proficiency to the license to drive heavy vehicles
To read the full report, click here.