Applying the Haddon Matrix in the context of work - related road safety

The Haddon Matrix was developed in the 1960s road safety arena, and has since been used in many public health settings. The literature and two specific case studies are reviewed to describe the background to the Haddon Matrix, identify how it has been critiqued and developed over time and practical applications in the work-related road safety context. Haddon’s original focus on the road, vehicle and driver has been extended and applied to include organisational safety culture, journey management and wider issues in society that affect occupational drivers and the communities in which they work. The paper shows that the Haddon Matrix has been applied in many projects and contexts. Practical work-related road safety applications include providing a comprehensive systems-based safety management framework to inform strategy. It has also been used to structure the review or gap analysis of current programs and processes, identify and develop prevention measures and as a tool for effective post-event investigations. Introduction, background and method There is a body of research from around the world, summarised by Murray el al (2009a), showing that people driving for or to work make up a significant proportion (over 50%) of all road deaths and worker fatalities, at a very high cost to both society and organisations (NHTSA 2003, Davey & Banks 2005). For this reason increasing attention has focused on improving work-related road safety and developing models and frameworks for good practice (for examples see OGP 2011, Monclús 2010, Mooren & Grzebieta 2010, Newnam & Watson, 2011, Mitchell et al 2012). The focus of this paper is on the Haddon Matrix, which is one example of such a framework that has been widely used to guide research, policy and practice in the area of work-related road safety – allowing a systems-based approach to be adopted. Against this background, four main aims are presented: 1. To describe some contextual background to the use of the Haddon Matrix, including research in public health, general road safety and work-related road safety arenas. 2. To set out how the Haddon Matrix has been reviewed, developed over time and critiqued as a systems-based road safety framework. 3. Two case studies are described in which the Haddon framework has been applied by organisations to help manage the safety of their drivers.