Occupational light vehicle OLV use

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• Occupational light vehicle (OLV) use
• The Drive To Policy
• Rwth Stuckey
• PhD Candidate
• OHS Adviser Transport Accident Commission
• Victoria, Australia
• Supervisors
• A/P Anthony D. LaMontagne
• A/P Malcolm Sim
• Dr. Deborah Glass
• Statistical Assistance Pam Simpson

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Rationale

• Road crashes are the most common cause of
  traumatic work-related death, injury and absence
  from work.
• Work driving research has related largely to
  heavy vehicles.
• There are no comprehensive descriptions of the
  light vehicles work group.
• Confusion between OHS and road safety policy
  application.
• Complex mix of vehicle-control arrangements with
  varied work patterns of drivers and passengers.
• Occupational light vehicle (OLV) use is large and
  under-recognised issue lacking a clear policy
  framework

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All Compensated Road Related Fatal Occupational
Vehicle Claims By Vehicle Type Group, Australia,
1994-2000
Data Source National Occupational Health and
Safety Commission
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Occupational Light Vehicle Claims as a Percentage
of all Road Vehicle Compensation Claims by
Occupation, Australia, 1994-2000
Data Source National Occupational Health and
Safety Commission On-line Statistical database
URLhttp//NOHSC.info.au.comp/
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Occupation (Based on ASCO Categories) 25 or more
in non-traditional patterns category 45,
lowest skilled rank workers
Collated from Data source ABS Australian Social
Trends 2000 Work - Paid Work Employment
arrangements in the late 1990s, Citing -
Unpublished data, Forms of Employment Survey,
August, 1998.
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The Varied Organisation Of Vehicles And Work
Arrangements Across OLV Users.
Indicates the one sub-group who have been the
focus of previous research.
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Annual Work-Related Business And Private Use Of
Road Vehicles In Australia Of Total Kilometres
Travelled

• Data Sources Australian Bureau of Statistics
  Survey of Motor Vehicle Use. Catalogue No.
  9208.0 ABS
• and Year Book Australia 2003 Transport General
  transport activity - Road transport activity
• (1998, 1999 2002 data 2000 data no data was
  available for 2001.)

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• There are increasing numbers of OLV users due to
  work arrangement changes in many occupations and
  industries including
• permanent workers employed as drivers
• permanent workers using employer owned
  vehicles or driving private vehicles while
  working incidentally to their primary occupation
• contingent workers using vehicles between
  workplaces.
• contingent workers using work specific
  vehicles such as tradesmen using vans as a work
  base
• OLV-user is not a job title, and frequently the
  road-based work activity is irregular and
  incidental to a designated occupation.

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• The Impact Of Burden Shifting
• Across all jurisdictions burden shifting
  leads to subsidisation for many injured OLV users
  by the driving public through registration
  levies.
• Employers levies should be bearing such
  costs.
• The costs of work related incidents are
  subsumed into Motor Accident and Social Security
  systems, and cannot be teased back out.
• With no evidence-base to guide policy and
  practice for intervention, problems are not
  characterised and the OHS system fails.

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• Legislative Position
• Australian occupational health and safety
  statutes define a workplace as a place where an
  employee works.
• Vehicles of employees driving for work or while
  working are considered a workplace.
• Duty of care of employers to employees applies
  regardless of the nature of the workplace.
• Requirement for provision of a safe workplace
  includes training, instruction, protection of
  people other than employees.
• Applies to an employee even occasionally
  driving for work.

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The OLV Use Systems Model
Ref Stuckey, R. LaMontagne A.D. Sim, M. Working
in light vehicles - a review and conceptual model
for Occupational Health Safety in press
Accident Analysis and Prevention.
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Study 1 OLV Population Description Selection
Process

RTA NSW June 2003 Light Vehicle Registrations n
3,529,761 vehicles

Vehicles with seating capacity of 13 or more n
4,276
Vehicles 4.5 tonne GVM or more mobile homes
buses heavy plant cycles trailers, etc.
N27

Vehicles registered for substantively social,
pleasure or domestic use purposes or not likely
to be used on public roads roads n 2,878,205
Vehicles with inconsistent vehicle age, make or
model data n 1,052

Vehicles registered for other non-OLV uses
N437,936
Vehicles registered for Private use N2,440,269
Selected OLV Cohort Vehicles formally declared
as substantially used for business purposes by
registrants n 646,201
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• Users (OLV Population c.f. Private registrants)
• OLV registrant is more likely male than private
  (OR3.4, lt0.000 CI 3.35-3.43).
• 6 of OLV users under 30 years age compared to
  17 private
• 2.3 of OLV registrations to the NSW government
• OLV registrants more likely to register light
  trucks than private registrants,
• (OR7.6, Plt0.000, CI 7.52-7.62).
• OLV fleet more than half load shapes.
• Vehicles less than 5 years old more likely to be
  OLV than privately registered,
• (OR3.5, Plt0.000 CI 3.4-3.5).
• 50 of load-shaped OLV vehicles were more than
  five years old.

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• Vehicles
• Nearly 80 of primary-producer 44 of general
  business OLV light trucks.
• OLV cars 4-wheel-drives newer, while 50 of
  light trucks gt5 years old.
• Light trucks more likely to be heavier (OR58,
  Plt0.000, CI 54-63) but less powerful than cars,
  with engines of four or less cylinder size,
  (OR4.12, Plt0.000, CI 4.1-4.2).
• 4-wheel-drives heavier more powerful than all
  other vehicle types.
• half OLV fleet colored white, but private fleet
  less than third white vehicles
• nearly 80 of OLV load vehicles 30 of cars
  and 4-wheel-drives white
• OLV made up of 149 makes and 1,015 models,
  Toyotas the largest market share of which 23 car
  shapes.

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• Environment
• Sydney city metropolitan region the registered
  location for the majority of all light vehicles
  in New South Wales
• OLV were slightly more likely to be registered
  in the Sydney area than privately registered
  vehicles, (OR1.1, Plt0.000, CI 1.60-1.64).
• Rural or regional NSW registered OLV included
  around 95 of primary producers and half the load
  vehicles.
• More than 80 of taxis, 70 of general business
  and 65
• of government registrations were in the Sydney
  metropolitan region.

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• Work Organization
• OLV registered for work-use either by an
  organization or a private-person/s sole
  traders, unincorporated-organizations
• up to 38 of OLV were registered by a
  sole-trader not an organization.
• organizations more likely than sole-traders to
  register car shapes five or less years old in the
  Sydney area for general business use.
• around half regional vehicles registered by
  sole-traders for primary production.
• vehicles registered for farming or taxi use much
  more likely to belong to a sole trader than an
  organization.
• (OR6.25, Plt0.000, CI6.1-6.4 OR6.7, Plt0.000,
  CI6.3-7.1 respectively)

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• Sole traders more likely to register light
  trucks (OR1.9, Plt0.000, CI1.8-1.9), have
  vehicles gt5 years old than organizations,
  (OR2.2, Plt0.000, CI. 0.45-0.46).
• Most OLV nearly all private vehicles were
  registered in small fleets - 99 of all
  sole-trader OLV in fleets of ten or fewer
  registrations.
• Light trucks more likely to be registered in
  small fleets (five or fewer vehicles) than larger
  fleets, (OR1.6, Plt0.000, CI1.60-1.64).
• Only 2 OLV fleets had more than 5,000
  registrations
• Majority of single-vehicles leases light trucks
  such as those used by couriers, maintenance or
  trades workers eg. plumbers or electricians.

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• OLV Crash Study
• Aim
• Aim to research OLV crash/injury/fatality
  outcomes to assess the relative contributions of
  co-variates at different systems levels.
• Ecological study
• Using the NSW RTA crash data set for 2004
• Linked to the NSW RTA 2004 registration data set
• OLV population characterisation derived from
  NSW RTA 2003 registration dataset
• descriptive tabulations
• - OR and 95CI of covariates at each model level

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Selection of the Study population
RTA NSW crash data 33,003 crash events 424
fatality 14,396 injury 18,183 tow-away events
RTA NSW June 2004 Linked Registration Data
Selected OLV 2004 Crash Cohort Events involving
Vehicles with OLV related usage categories N
13,491
Other motor vehicles and pedestrians involved in
OLV crashes
OLV involved in - 34 Fatal events (36 OLV
killed) - 2,480 Injury events (4,466 injured) -
10,988 non-casualty tow-away events
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Data Source - NSW RTA Traffic Accident Database
Traffic Accident Database System (TADS) data is
entered for all accidents in which a person was
killed or injured or at least one motor vehicle
was towed away. Road Vehicle Accident any
apparently unpremeditated event reported to the
police resulting in death, injury, property
damage, attributable to the movement of the
vehicle on the road. Vehicle of interest the
key vehicle, the vehicle considered to have
played the major role in the crash For the
study Fatal OLV crash crash in which at least
one OLV user was killed Injury OLV crash crash
in which at least one OLV user was injured as a
result of the accident but no OLV user
killed Non-Casualty OLV crash crash in which at
least one OLV was involved and was damaged and
towed from the scene and no OLV user casualties
resulted
(Ref Traffic Accident Database Systems Data
Manual, version 1.6, RTA, NSW, June 2002.)
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Users

• 13 of OLV population female registrants / 18
  of fatalities 37 injuries female OLV users
• 84 of OLV population male registrants / 82 of
  fatalities 61 injuries male OLV users
• OLV user casualty mean age around 10 years
  younger than registrants

• Females 1.8 times more likely to be casualty if
  in crash (Plt0.000, CI 1.67-2.03)
• Males 2.5 times more likely to die if in
  casualty crash than females
• (2.03 Plt0.057, CI 0.15-1.02)
• Key vehicle user 16.4 times more likely to die
  if in casualty crash (Plt0.000, CI 3.9-68.4)

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• (Users continued)
• Tired driver 3 times more likely to be casualty
  if in crash and
• 9.1 times more likely to die if casualty in
  crash (Plt0.000, CI 2.44-3.65 P0.000, CI
  4.48-18.5)
• Tired farmer 6.1 times more likely to be
  casualty if in crash (Plt0.000, CI 2.9-13.1)
• Tired sole-trader 3.8 times more likely to be
  casualty if in crash (Plt0.000, CI 2.65-5.448)
• Speeding drivers 2.4 times more likely to be a
  casualty if in crash, and
• 3.1 more likely to die if casualty (Plt0.000, CI
  1.5-3.9 Plt0.086, CI 0.9-11.4)
• Non-seat belt user 1.6 times more likely to be
  casualty if crash (Plt0.000, CI 1.25-1.97)
• if non-seat belt farmer 11.6 times more likely
  to be casualty (Plt0.002, CI 2.5-53.9)

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Work Environment Vehicles

• Fatal events
• 50 fatal vehicles 1-4 yrs old
• Two third of car shapes half the commercial
  shape fatals were in vehicles 5 or more years
  old.
• 92 of the commercial shapes were not fitted
  with air-bags in 40 seat belt not worn/fitted

• car shapes 1.25 more likely to have a casualty
  if in a crash than light truck (LT) (Plt0.000,
  0.74-0.88)
• LT shapes 3.6 more likely to have a death if in
  a casualty crash (Plt0.001, 1.67-7.75)
• if in a casualty crash vehicle 15 or more
  years old, 3.5 times more likely to die than if
  in vehicle less than 5 years old (Plt0.004, CI
  1.47-8.17)
• If in crash 3.5 times more likely to have a
  casualty if a single vehicle crash, if in a
  single vehicle casualty crash 5.7 times more
  likely to die than be injured.
• (Plt0.000, CI 3.10-3.88 Plt0.000, CI2.78-11.5)

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• Work Environment Vehicles
• OLV Users in Fatal events
• 28 fatalities not wearing seat belt
• 6 ill or asleep at time of crash
• 42 assessed with error factors
• 39 assessed as fatigued
• 30 fatal crashes occurred after 10.00pm
  before 5.00am
• 65 fatalities alone in vehicle

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Road Environment

• 1.2 times more likely to have casualty if crash
  in dark, dawn or dusk compared to daylight,
  (Plt0.000, CI 1.08-1.31)
• 3.1 times more likely to have a casualty if
  crash on unsealed road compared with sealed road
  (Plt0.000, CI 2.45-3.95)

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• Road Environment
• Likelihood of casualty outcome rather than
  non-casualty outcome if crashed in higher
  speed-zones compared to those less than 60kph
  (35mph)
• 3.3 if in 100kph (60 mph) or more (Plt0.000, CI
  2.86-3.84)
• 1.5 if in 60-99kph (35-59mph) (Plt 0.000 CI
  4.44-18.4)
• If casualty crash in speed-zone 100kph (60 mph)
  or more 9.0 times more likely to have death
  outcome than if in lt60kph (35mph) zone.

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Work Arrangements
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Work Arrangements

• If crashed
• Farmers 2.1 times more likely to have a
  casualty outcome than general business (Plt0.000,
  CI 1.60-2.69)
• Farmers 3.9 times more likely to have a death
  outcome if
• casualty crash than general business users
  (Plt0.014, CI 1.30-11.4)

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• 69 of all OLV are in fleets of 2 or less
  vehicles
• Taxis travel up to 189,000km annually
• 57 of casualty taxi events involved self
  employed
• registrations
• 68 of self-employed registered OLV taxi
  casualties wore
• seatbelts compared to 48 of organisation
  registered taxis

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Study Strengths Limitations

• Limitations
• Data reliant on police reporting
• No accurate exposure data available
• No drug or alcohol or other potentially
  criminally related data available
• Conservative estimates
• Strengths
• Census rather than a sample
• Lot of new OLV-use related information
• Strengthened by use of OLV population data to
  give access to work arrangement information

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• To underpin OLV related policy and further
  improve our understanding of OLV users, their
  injury burden and their risk factors we require
  identification of
• the at-risk OLV-user population
• OLV crashes distinct from those of other road
  vehicle users
• OLV road-use activity as work-related at the
  time of the MVC and
• the OLV crash risk factors.
• This could be assisted by
• the use of vehicle registration data as a proxy
  for the OLV-user population
• the addition of vehicle usage purpose
  categories to light vehicle registration
• the addition of questions by investigators of
  OLV crashes about vehicle type, usage purpose
  and users-work arrangements

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