SPR 19-568: Development, Implementation, and Tracking of Preventative Safety Metrics

This Research Program for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020 is submitted in compliance with the provisions of Section 307 of Title 23, United States Code, and describes programs and operations for planning activities in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and the Kentucky Cooperative Transportation Research Program (KCTRP). This program modifies and updates such programs and is specifically intended to reflect the needs of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. It is fully expected that products from this program will also have national applications. The University of Kentucky Transportation Center is the main research group for the the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The SPR grant is the funding the is supplied each year for the many topics the Center is asked to research for KYTC The KCTRP is concerned with the development and conduct of a comprehensive research program in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). In addition to research developed in cooperation with FHWA, the KCTRP may perform other services for the KYTC on a nonparticipating basis. The scope of these services could include activities such as research studies and special investigations of various engineering and operation activities. The Research Program and Implementation Advisory Committee (RPIAC), headed by the State Highway Engineer and coordinated through the Research Coordinator, will give direction to the research program. What gets measured, gets improved. In the example of the safety and health for KYTC employees, the primary measure has been the OSHA recordable incident rate. This is a measure of how often a KYTC employee is harmed beyond basic first aid. While this metric is important to understand the frequency of injuries, it does not assist in managing the safety, health, and overall wellbeing of KYTC personnel. Metrics that assist in indicating a higher likelihood of an injury occurring would be more beneficial to improving safety and health. For example, safety leading indicators answer questions such as "what percentage of employees participate in Near Miss/ Good Catch programs?", "how frequently are job safety analyses performed?", or "what percentage of new to the site or new to the trade workers are paired with experienced workers?". Such leading indicators of safety are prevalent in the industrial and commercial sectors of constmction and maintenance, however, few exist for KYTC personnel. In addition, the few that are available are not well implemented and tracked.