Development of a safety management system for transport operations

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a research project with the objective of developing and testing a safety management system (SMS) suitable for heavy vehicle transport operations. This project is led by the IRMRC at UNSW in collaboration with Government and industry partners. The aim of this paper is to argue the need for the development of a new Safety Management System (SMS) which generates a paradigm shift in road safety thinking, moving beyond the compartmentalised and static epidemiological Haddon model of identifying separate road, vehicle and human risk factors that has underpinned road safety in many countries since the 1970's. Through a research process a SMS will be specifically tailored to heavy vehicle transport operations to validate the methodology. If successful it will be adapted to road safety in a general context where impetus to use the method will be driven by major corporations and regulators and thereafter the general community. There is increasing belief that a SMS may be key to good safety outcomes as it has been introduced in a number of high hazard industries such as mining and aviation. The research currently underway pulls together the science of road safety and occupational safety. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E220164.