Truck safety report examines heavy truck collisions in B.C.
Additional resources
- Best Practices for Truck Safety (PDF 1.6mb)
- Executive Summary (PDF 95kb)
- Fact sheet (PDF 174 kb)
Richmond, B.C., June 12, 2009 — A new report examines the state of safety in B.C.’s trucking industry and identifies key contributing factors to collisions involving heavy trucks on provincial roads. Best Practices for Truck Safety (PDF 1.6mb) is an evidence-based research report developed by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) with the support of WorkSafeBC, the B.C. Trucking Association, and the Trucking Safety Council of B.C.
“We examined the principal causes of collisions involving heavy trucks in B.C. and used this as the basis for identifying effective prevention programs and policies to help improve safety on highways,” said Brian Jonah, senior research scientist of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation.
The causes and characteristics of fatal and injury collisions in B.C. from 2000 to 2006 involving heavy trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 4,536 kg or greater were examined. Through a comparison with other regions in Canada the report provides information specific to B.C. on fatal and injury collisions, single vs. multiple vehicle collisions, and at-fault analyses for truck drivers vs. other drivers. It also measures the use of alcohol and driver fatigue.
“B.C.’s trucking industry is a critical part of our economy and increasing the health and safety of its workers gives employers a more stable and productive workforce,” said Diana Miles, WorkSafeBC vice-president of Worker and Employer Services. “Identifying key risk factors and implementing prevention programs that work can only help to reduce the human and financial costs to the industry.”
In 2008, WorkSafeBC accepted 1,458 injury claims in the general trucking and moving and storage sectors of the industry. Of these, eight workers died and 645were seriously injured. This resulted in 93,768 days lost and over $31 million paid to compensate and rehabilitate injured workers.
For the five-year period from 2003 to 2007, there were 8,400 injury claims in these sectors — of these 60 workers died and 3,584 were seriously injured. Overexertion was the top accident type in both sectors of the industry during the five year period.
“Our organization was established last year to help strengthen safety performance in B.C.’s trucking industry and one of our first projects was to fund this study into the principal causes of collisions involving heavy trucks,” said Rob Weston executive director of the Trucking Safety Council of B.C. “The information gathered in this report will be very useful in developing programs to help improve truck safety in our province.”
The report outlines some of the best safety practices currently being used in B.C. and identifies leading programs in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. Safety programs in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand are identified as prominent in research, legislation, regulation, fleet safety management, and education. Based on cause of collision data in B.C. and on current practices in Canada and other countries, best practices models for government, the motor carrier industry and police services are outlined. An executive summary (PDF 95kb) of the report is also available. The full report can be viewed at www.worksafebc.com or www.bctrucking.com.
WorkSafeBC is an independent provincial statutory agency governed by a Board of Directors that serves about two million workers and more than 200,000 employers. WorkSafeBC was born from the historic compromise between B.C.’s workers and employers in 1917 where workers gave up the right to sue their employers and fellow workers for injuries on the job in return for a no-fault insurance program fully paid for by employers. WorkSafeBC is committed to safe and healthy workplaces and to providing return-to-work rehabilitation and legislated compensation benefits.
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For more information, contact: |
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| Gladys Johnsen |
Sara Oglestone |
| Rob Weston |
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