Two interventions for the prevention of work-related road accidents

Aims: The aim of this paper is to describe two interventions supporting the improvement of companies' personnel traffic safety during work hours. Methods: In the first intervention, a social psychological discussion method was used with 172 electricians. Each subject participated in three small group meetings of 7-14 drivers from the teams in which they normally worked. In the second intervention, 179 employees of another electric company participated in a 1-day course of anticipatory driving. Results: In the first discussion round, the 19 teams reported 183 problems in work-related traffic. During the second round, the teams produced 594 suggestions to solve the problems. In the third round, the electricians made decisions on 53 commitments to change their driving behaviour. The number of occupational accidents increased by 15% during the 8-year follow-up period, and the number of traffic-related accidents decreased significantly by 72%. In the second company, the safety audit evaluated the effect of the anticipatory driving course and other measures. In this process an expert group assessed the situation of the company using 39 items at three different points in time. There was a statistically significant improvement in the assessment before and after driver training. The measurement 2 years later showed that the safety situation was even better. However, the number of occupational accidents has increased from 42 over the 3 years before training to 51 over the 3 years after intervention. Conclusion: The discussion method used in Japan and Sweden was also successfully implemented in Finland, and the process raised a great number of problems and suggestions related to traffic during work hours. The electricians in the second company reported being very satisfied with the anticipatory driving course and that they used the knowledge gained even during holidays. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.