NIOSH Occupational Health and Safety Research Around Moving Vehicles

1
NIOSH Occupational Health and Safety Research
Around Moving Vehicles
Roger Rosa National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health December 8, 2004
2
NIOSH MissionProvide leadership in research to
prevent work-related illness, injury, disability,
and death.
3
Strategic Goals
Conduct research to reduce work-related illnesses
and injuries.Promote safe and healthy
workplaces through interventions, recommendations
and capacity building.Enhance global workplace
safety and health through international
collaborations
4
NIOSH Locations
NIOSH Staff 14, 000Annual Budget 280 million
5
NIOSH Programs

• Surveillance and Tracking
• Research
• Prevention Intervention
• Information Dissemination
• Training

6
Scope of the Problem

• Transportation Incidents
• Account for 43 of work-related deaths.
• Highest number and rate of all causes.
• These incidents are not declining at the rate of
  other work-related injuries.

7
(No Transcript)
8
Occupational Fatalities
9
Occupational Fatalities
10
Occupational Fatalities
11
Fatal and Nonfatal Injury Focus Areas

• Aviation (Alaska)
• Small Aircraft
• Helicopter Logging
• Commercial Fishing
• Alaska and Maine

12
Fatal and Nonfatal Injury Focus Areas

• Motor Vehicles On- and Off-Road
• Roadway
• Farming
• Mining
• Construction
• Forklifts

13
Health and Chronic DisorderFocus Areas

• Roadway Dust Exposures
• Diesel Fume and Particle Exposures
• Low-Back and Cumulative Trauma Disorders
• Reproductive Disorders

14
Related Areas

• Working Hours, Stress, Fatigue
• Noise and Hearing Loss
• Technical Assistance
• Health Hazard Evaluations
• Specialized Injury and Health Surveillance and
  Tracking
• Fatality Investigations (FACE)
• Firefighter Fatality Investigations
• Emergency Dept. Follow-up

15
Occupational Fatalities in Alaska
16
Commuter and Small Carrier Aviation in Alaska

• Occupational fatality rate of 380/100,000/year
  during 1990-2003
• Unique geography and conditions
• But worse than the Nordic Countries

17
Commuter and Small Carrier Aviation in Alaska
Partners Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),
Department of Transportation (DOT), Civil
Aeromedical Institute (CAMI), the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the
National Weather Service (NWS), the Alaska Air
Carriers Association, and the Alaska Airmen's
Association
18
Commuter and Small Carrier Aviation in Alaska

• Epidemiologic Risk Survey and Analysis
• Develop and Evaluate Interventions
• Pilot and passenger training programs
• Promote safety culture
• Improve weather information
• Time management
• Avionics Equipment

19
Commuter and Small Carrier Aviation in Alaska

• Current and near-future plans are to evaluate
  intervention and safety communication efforts
• Use systematic surveillance to track progress

20
Commercial Fishing

• Occupational fatality rate of 140/100,000/year in
  Alaska
• Drowning, presumed drowned, or hypothermia,
  caught in machinery
• Result of vessel capsizing or sinking or falling
  overboard, unstable platforms, fatigue, weather,
  equipment layout

21
Commercial Fishing

• Recommendations
• Vessel stability and integrity
• Skipper licensing and training
• Crew training
• Diver training
• Watch and staffing requirements
• Management culture and engagement
• PFD for overboard protection

22
Commercial Fishing

• Near-Future Plans
• Analyze deck injuries
• Develop and evaluate recommendations for deck
  safety

23
RoadwayNIOSH Hazard Review

• Crash data
• Regulations
• Special topics distracted driving, age, fatigue
• Safety recommendations
• Internet and print resources

www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2003-119/pdfs/2003-119.pdf
24
Partnership Activities

• ANSI Z-15 Committee, Safe Practices for Motor
  Vehicle Operations
• Voluntary best practices standard geared to
  non-CMV drivers
• Network of Employers for Traffic Safety
• Public-private partnership delivering traffic
  safety information through employers
• TRB Truck and Bus Safety Committee
• Preparing a Circular on truck and bus safety
  research

25
Roadway Research Projects

• Trucking focus
• Work Organization Influence on Fatigue in Truck
  Drivers
• Examining organizational factors associated with
  driver fatigue and crashes
• Mortality among Independent Owner-Operator Truck
  Drivers
• Assessing whether truck drivers are at risk of
  premature mortality from specific diseases

26
Roadway Research Projects (cont.)

• Focus on other worker populations
• Ambulance Crash Survivability Improvement
• Developing engineering interventions to improve
  occupant restraint systems and structural
  integrity of ambulance patient compartment
• Risk Factors for Vehicle Crashes among Public
  Employees
• Analyzing nonfatal crash data for state DOT
  employees and assessing vehicle safety programs
  collaborating with U.S. Department of Defense to
  develop research project

27
Future Considerations

• Workplace driving by drivers of smaller company
  vehicles and personal vehicles
• Behavioral aspects of workplace driving
• Impact of in-vehicle technologies
• The role of commuting in workplace crashes
• Frequency and intensity of workplace driving by
  non-CMV drivers

28
Future Considerations (cont.)

• Workplace driving by priority populations such as
  Hispanic workers
• Matching of CFOI and FARS data sets
• Occupational road safety policies and practices
  outside the U.S.
• Motor vehicle safety initiative with OSHA

29
Evaluating Roadway Construction Workzone
Interventions

• Prevent workers from being struck by construction
  trucks and equipment.

30

• Limit exposure of workers-on-foot to construction
  traffic.
• Focus on blind areas around construction vehicles
  and equipment.
• Develop exposure monitoring system(s)
• Evaluate injury prevention measures

31
Proximity Warning Systems
Radar
Sonar detection zone
Camera
32
INTERNAL TRAFFIC CONTROL PLANS
Paving Model Plan
33
Work Zone Analysis System
GPS Video Observer
WZAS Trailer
34
Surface MiningProximity Warning Systems

• Evaluating a combination of radar and cameras on
  off-highway dump trucks.

35
Proximity Sensor and Warning Systems for Forklifts

• Ultrasonic and laser sensors
• Pulsed versus broadband warning signals

36
Long range ultrasonic sensor
Laser sensor
Laser sensor
37
Safety in Agriculture

• Rollover Protection Systems (ROPS) for Tractors
• Auto-ROPS deploys on tilt

38
Safety in Agriculture

• Alerts to Prevent Deaths and Injuries to Youth
• ATVs and Tractors

39
Ergonomic Evaluation and Improvement of Mobile
Equipment
40
Ergonomic Evaluation and Improvement of Mobile
Equipment

• Objective Reduce musculoskeletal injuries by
  evaluating and improving the design of mobile
  equipment used in mining, construction, and
  agriculture industries.

41
Ergonomic Evaluation and Improvement of Mobile
Equipment

• Evaluate Cab Design.
• Characterize whole-body vibration exposure to the
  operators.
• Collect health work history questionnaire data
  from operators to better understand exposure and
  health outcome.
• Evaluate available controls effectiveness in
  reducing back discomfort associated with static
  sitting.
• Evaluate landing forces as operators exit the
  equipment and postural stability after exposure
  to whole-body vibration.

42
(No Transcript)
43
(No Transcript)
44
(No Transcript)
45
Diesel Exposure Study
46
Diesel Exposure Study

• Evaluate mortality, particularly from lung
  cancer, with regard to diesel exhaust exposure.
• Determine whether lung cancer mortality increases
  in relation to level of exposure to diesel
  exhaust taking into account smoking and other
  potential confounders

47
Diesel Exposure Study

• Cohort mortality study
• Nested case-control study of lung cancer
• Current exposure assessment component
• Historical exposure component
• Biomarker component

48
Hydrogen as a Viable Vehicle Fuel at an
Underground Metal Mine

• Reduce miners exposure to diesel particulate
  matter by using alternative fuel.
• Developed a vehicle that is powered by an
  internal combustion engine modified to burn
  hydrogen.
• Zero Emissions Utility Solution, or ZEUS, vehicle
  has completed initial underground testing at the
  Stillwater Mine in Nye, Montana.

49
ZEUS CO Emissions Comparison
50
Other NIOSH Health Studies

• Reproductive Health Study of Female Flight
  Attendants
• A Cytogenetic Study of Markers of Cosmic
  Radiation Exposure and Effects Among Pilots
• Control of Disease Transmission in Commercial
  Aircraft Cabins

51
Current Extramural Grants

• Violence Against Truckers
• Truckers Access to Health Care
• Medical Residents Working Hours and Crash History

52
Recent Extramural Grants

• Auditory Motion and Pedestrial-Motor Vehicle
  Collisions
• Trucking Firm Characteristics, Driver Injury, and
  Outcome
• Work-Related Motor Vehicle Crashes Reducing the
  Burden