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The National Academies

NCHRP Synthesis 20-05/Topic 55-15 [Final (Synthesis)]

Tracking Safety Leading Indicators to Improve DOT Employee Safety Performance
[ NCHRP 20-05 (Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Practices) ]

  Project Data
Funds: $55,000
Authorization to Begin Work: 4/27/2023 -- estimated
Staff Responsibility: Trey Joseph Wadsworth
Research Agency: Blue Hardhat Consulting LLC
Principal Investigator: Dr. Gabriel B. Dadi
Effective Date: 10/25/2023
Completion Date: 1/17/2025
Comments: Published as NCHRP Synthesis Report 637
Fiscal Year: 2023

The objective of this synthesis was to document practices used by state departments of transportation (DOTs) regarding the use of safety leading indicators to track and prevent occupational injuries and other incidents. For the safety and health of state DOT employees, the primary, historic metric used has been the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable incident rate. This incident rate measures how often a state DOT employee sustains an injury that demands more than basic first aid. This metric is important for understanding injury frequency but does not assist with programmatic management of the safety, health, and overall well-being of state DOT personnel. Public and private sector organizations with high-hazard tasks have turned to safety leading indicators as metrics to manage occupational safety and health. These safety leading indicators provide relevant data before an incident occurs and thus can lead to predictive insights that allow state DOTs to take action to avoid incidents altogether.

This synthesis gathered information through a literature review, a survey of DOTs, and follow-up interviews with selected DOTs. Five case examples provide greater insight into current gender equity practices, barriers to implementation, data collection and accountability processes, and assessment findings. Appendix D is a supplemental document that provides DOT safety leading indicator policies and may be found on the National Academies Press website (nap.nationalacademies.org) by searching for NCHRP Synthesis 637: Tracking Safety Leading Indicators to Improve DOT Employee Safety Performance and then looking under RESOURCES.

Gabriel B. Dadi and Roy Sturgill, Jr., of Blue Hardhat Consulting LLC, led a team that collected and synthesized the information and wrote the report. The members of the topic panel are acknowledged on page iv. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand.

NCHRP Synthesis Report 637 is available at https://doi.org/10.17226/28599.

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