The business of reducing work-related road crashes

Work-related road crashes account for almost half of all occupational deaths in Australia.

Experts will meet on the Gold Coast to discuss how to reduce that toll at the inaugural International Conference on Occupational Safety in Transport, to be held from 20-21 September.

Professor Barry Watson, director of QUT’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety Qld (CARRS-Q), which is hosting the conference, said it was the first of its type to be staged in Australasia.

“Work-related road crashes cost the Australian community approximately $1.5 billion annually, accounting for 13% of the fatal crashes that occur on our nation’s roads,” he said.

“As the employment sector becomes increasingly motorised, this toll has a very real human face, as well as crucial productivity and bottom line impacts for organisations.

“Improving occupational safety in transport is key to maximising corporate efficiency and profitability.”

The keynote speakers and topics they will discuss are:

• Peter Garske, CEO of Queensland Trucking Association, ‘Safety in road freight transport - the challenge of managing demands in a time regulated industry’;
• David Jenkins, Vice-President of Safety and Security for BHP Billiton, ‘Managing the risks of light vehicle and aviation operations’;
• Professor Mike Regan, Centre for Transport and Road Safety Research at the University of New South Wales, ‘Driver distraction: theory, effects and mitigation’;
• CARRS-Q Professor Narelle Haworth, ‘Historical perspectives in occupational safety in transport’.

The full conference program can be found here.