Safety Management Systems (2003)

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NAT IONAL COOPERAT IVE H IGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP SYNTHESIS 322 Safety Management Systems A Synthesis of Highway Practice CONSULTANT LEANNA DEPUE, PH.D. Missouri Safety Center Central Missouri State University TOPIC PANEL JOHN N. IVAN, University of Connecticut JOHN MALENICH, New Jersey Department of Transportation RICHARD PAIN, Transportation Research Board JAMES SHANAFELT, Washington Department of Transportation THOMAS WELCH, Iowa Department of Transportation SANY R. ZEIN, Hamilton Associates KENNETH EPSTEIN, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison) MICHAEL S. GRIFFITH, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison) SUBJECT AREAS Highway Operations, Capacity, and Traffic Control and Safety and Human Performance Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2003 www.TRB.org

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway ad- ministrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individu- ally or in cooperation with their state universities and others. How- ever, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway au- thorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full coopera- tion and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council was requested by the Association to administer the re- search program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communication and cooperation with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs iden- tified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Re- search projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. NOTE: The Transportation Research Board of the National Acad- emies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Admini- stration, the American Association of State Highway and Transporta- tion Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report. NCHRP SYNTHESIS 322 Project 20-5 FY 2001 (Topic 33-07) ISSN 0547-5570 ISBN 0-309-06970-X Library of Congress Control No. 2003110360 © 2003 Transportation Research Board Price $14.00 NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Co- operative Highway Research Program conducted by the Transporta- tion Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the Na- tional Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judg- ment that the program concerned is of national importance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this pro- ject and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly com- petence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appro- priate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical committee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the Na- tional Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street Washington, D.C. 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. r. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences. D The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of ngineering. E The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president f the Institute of Medicine. o The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Acad- emy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the ational Research Council. N The Transportation Research Board is a division of the National Research Council, which serves the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. The Board’s mission is to promote innovation and progress in transportation through research. In an objective and interdisciplinary setting, the Board facilitates the sharing of information on transportation practice and policy by researchers and practitioners; stimulates research and offers research management services that promote technical excellence; provides expert advice on transportation policy and programs; and disseminates research results broadly and encourages their implementation. The Board’s varied activities annually engage more than 4,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

FOREWORD By Staff Transportation Research Board PREFACE Highway administrators, engineers, and researchers often face problems for which in- formation already exists, either in documented form or as undocumented experience and practice. This information may be fragmented, scattered, and unevaluated. As a conse- quence, full knowledge of what has been learned about a problem may not be brought to bear on its solution. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and due consideration may not be given to recommended practices for solving or alleviating the problem. There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway administrators and engineers. Much of it derives from research or from the work of practitioners faced with problems in their day-to-day work. To provide a systematic means for assembling and evaluating such useful information and to make it available to the entire highway community, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials— through the mechanism of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program— authorized the Transportation Research Board to undertake a continuing study. This study, NCHRP Project 20-5, “Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems,” searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an NCHRP report series, Synthesis of Highway Practice. The synthesis series reports on current knowledge and practice, in a compact format, without the detailed directions usually found in handbooks or design manuals. Each re- port in the series provides a compendium of the best knowledge available on those measures found to be the most successful in resolving specific problems. This report of the Transportation Research Board will be of interest to local, regional, state, and federal officials, as well as to other transportation professionals that work with them in dealing with safety management systems (SMSs). This report provides an over- view of current transportation agency practices, recent literature findings, and in-depth reviews of two model state SMS initiatives. Overall, findings continue to support that the key benefits derived from the SMS process are increased coordination, cooperation, and communication among state agencies and improvement to data analysis and collection procedures, as well as collaborative strategic plans. This synthesis report contains information culled from survey responses from state transportation agencies. This information is combined with that from interviews with se- lected respondents and reviews of applicable literature, as well as previously collected, but not published, summaries of state reports on program and system elements. A panel of experts in the subject area guided the work of organizing and evaluating the collected data and reviewed the final synthesis report. A consultant was engaged to collect and synthesize the information and to write this report. Both the consultant and the members of the oversight panel are acknowledged on the title page. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand.

CONTENTS 1 SUMMARY 3 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background, 3 Synthesis Objectives, 4 Definitions and Key Components, 4 Organization of Report, 4 5 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW National Studies, 5 National Reports, 7 State and Local Guides, 10 Summary of the Literature Review, 11 12 CHAPTER THREE SURVEY RESULTS Scope and Methodology, 12 Key Findings, 12 Summary of the State of the Practice, 18 19 CHAPTER FOUR MODEL SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INITIATIVES State Safety Management System, 19 Local Safety Management System, 21 23 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS 25 REFERENCES 26 APPENDIX A 1995 SUMMARY OF STATE REPORTS ON PROGRAM ELEMENTS 28 APPENDIX B 2001 SUMMARY OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ELEMENTS

30 APPENDIX C THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS FOR FUNDING ALLOCATION WITH REGARD TO SAFETY INITIATIVES 33 APPENDIX D SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 40 APPENDIX E LIST OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS 41 APPENDIX F SUMMARY OF RESPONSES TO QUESTION 7 OF THE STATE OF THE PRACTICE QUESTIONNAIRE 42 APPENDIX G DRAFT CRITERIA FOR HAZARD ELIMINATION SAFETY BONUS POINTS SELF CERTIFICATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Leanna Depue, Ph.D., Missouri Safety Center, Central Missouri State University, was responsible for collection of the data and prepa- ration of the report. Valuable assistance in the preparation of this synthesis was pro- vided by the Topic Panel, consisting of Kenneth Epstein, Highway Engineer, Office of Safety Programs, Federal Highway Administra- tion; Michael S. Griffith, Technical Director, Office of Safety Re- search and Development, Federal Highway Administration; John N. Ivan, Civil and Environmental Engineering Unit, University of Con- necticut; John Malenich, Project Engineer/New Jersey State Police Coordinator, Bureau of Construction Engineering, New Jersey De- partment of Transportation; Richard Pain, Senior Program Officer, Transportation Research Board; James Shanafelt, Assistant State Traffic Engineer, Traffic Operations, Washington State Department of Transporation; Thomas Welch, State Transportation Safety Engineer, Iowa Department of Transportation; and Sany R. Zein, Hamilton As- sociates, Vancouver, Canada. This study was managed by Stephen Maher, P.E., and Jon Williams, Managers, Synthesis Studies, who worked with the consultant, the Topic Panel, and the Project 20-5 Committee in the development and review of the report. Assistance in project scope development was provided by Donna Vlasak, Senior Program Officer. Don Tippman was responsible for editing and production. Cheryl Keith assisted in meeting logistics and distribution of the questionnaire and draft reports. Crawford F. Jencks, Manager, National Cooperative Highway Re- search Program, assisted the NCHRP 20-5 Committee and the Syn- thesis staff. Information on current practice was provided by many highway and transportation agencies. Their cooperation and assistance are appreciated.