Development of a specialist investigation standard for heavy vehicle fatal collisions in Victoria

The Work Related Liaison Service (WRLS)1 of the Victorian Coronial Services Centre
was established in July 2005 to enhance injury prevention and control. The primary
role of the WRLS is to assist the Coroner by reviewing work-related deaths,
developing evidence-based information on injury risk factors and countermeasures
and facilitatating effective inter-agency collaboration.
In the 2005-2006 financial year, the WRLS noted that 29% of the deaths meeting
their inclusion criteria involved a heavy vehicle collision, and that 33% of the total
number of unintentional work-related deaths were of heavy vehicle drivers
undertaking their core work activities.
It was also recognised that the investigation of fatal heavy transport collisions needed
to be improved in order to assist in the systematic identification of causal risk factors
and the subsequent development of countermeasures. The development of a
comprehensive investigation standard for the WRLS for work-related heavy vehicle
collision is the focus of this paper. The standard benefited from the input of a number
of experts from different areas of heavy vehicle safety. The standard will be validated
by applying it to a series of fifty completed Victorian death investigations of heavy
vehicle drivers for the period 2000 to 2005. It is envisaged that a prospective field
trial of the standard be conducted by expert Victoria Police crash investigators in the
near future.