Many state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have adopted the Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) vision as part of their work towards the elimination of fatal and serious injury crashes. These efforts are facilitated when a DOT has a strong, internal safety culture of its own.
The Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) has initiated a research program to grow a strong safety culture among a cohort of DOTs by providing tools and guidance to assess and transform organizational safety culture to support safety programs and achieve the TZD vision. These resources will include:
- A standard measurement tool to assess the safety culture of each participating DOT;
- A set of relevant strategies and a process for transforming identified aspects of the safety culture of the DOT;
- A range of support services to help guide and support implementation; and
- An evaluation of the effectiveness of the implemented transformation process.
CHSC will work with each DOT to develop and implement individualized tools. This project will launch the effort with the North Dakota Department of Transportation, the first DOT to join the cohort study. CHSC will provide research services to NDDOT and administer the NDDOT Safety Culture Training which encourages new resources and novel strategies to work towards the elimination of fatal and serious injury crashes.
As the project progresses, more information will be available on the CHSC website and the WTI project page.