Safety review of a dangerous goods transport company: a case study

A twelve-element fleet safety management model system was used to conduct a gap analysis of fleet safety management practices of transport and depot operations of a dangerous goods transport company. This formed part of a holistic and systematic review, leading to the preparation of a safety management improvement plan. The review took a systems approach to identify and analyse elements of the company's management system to assess if there were any deficiencies. The review method included a fleet safety 'maturity' survey of drivers, managers and executives of the company, in-depth interviews with a selection of staff, driver and manager focus groups, and specialist inspections of truck fleet purchasing and maintenance practices and fatigue risk management practices. The results and recommendations were fully embraced by the company. The 67 recommendations were adopted and programmed for implementation. Achievements after two years since the review are reported. While the study has methodological limitations, important lessons about how to use data gathering for organisation improvement, have been gained.

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