Safety Culture Among Roadside Service Providers

Introduction

Previous research indicates that fatality rates of roadside service providers exceed the national average, with a roadside assistance provider being fatally struck by a passing vehicle approximately every other week. Additional research has documented that the consistent use of safety countermeasures by roadside service providers varies widely. Research on traffic safety culture indicates that organizational values, leadership, and shared behaviors are important for promoting safety. It is critical to ensure that roadside assistance providers follow safety protocols when working, and that their management create an environment that supports them in doing so. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is working with Westat, Inc. to examine the safety culture and climate within the roadside service provider industry, conducting original research to examine work practices, safety or organizational protocols, training, and other factors that support (or disincentivize) safe practices at work in the roadside service industry.

Project Plan & Goal

The purpose of this project is to investigate the safety culture/climate in the towing/roadside service industry with the goal of identifying best practices to support worker safety. First, the project will review existing literature and organizational safety documents to identify evidence-based safety culture benchmarks and locate domain-specific gaps. Then, the research team will collect data about safety culture and climate from roadside service providers and personnel in adjacent fields through surveys and interviews. After analyzing the data, the research team will develop a safety culture toolkit with practical recommendations tailored to the roadside service industry that agencies can use to assess their current safety culture and to implement strategies for improving it, as well as a final report on the research conducted.