Tor-Olav Nævestad

Transportøkonomisk institutt, TØI

Measures to influence traffic safety culture in designated areas (e.g. schools) exist in several different countries across the world. The Norwegian traffic safety scheme Heart Zone is a measure that aims to influence the traffic culture within a specific geographical area. The study examines whether four Norwegian schools have managed to establish...

This study examines the relationships between traffic safety innovations, innovation culture, and safety culture in four Norwegian county authorities three years after a comprehensive structural reform. Following the reform, the county authorities had to establish new organisations, routines, and systems. The study is based on qualitative interview...

Transport accounts for nearly 25% of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, and goods transport by road accounts for 45% of the total energy consumption in transport. Measures within goods transport will therefore be a good starting point for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Existing research shows that trucking companies’ measures to facilitate...

Abstract Purpose This paper offers an empirical overview of European emergency managers' institutional arrangements and guidelines for using social media in risk and crisis communication. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected and analysed material including publicly accessible relevant legal acts, policy documents, official guidelines,...

The study examines whether information security behaviour (ISB) in an organisation providing critical infrastructure improved after systematic efforts to improve information security culture (ISC) through the implementation of an information security management system (ISMS). The data are based on quantitative surveys before ( N = 323) and after (...

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Safe System approach to road safety management, as implemented in Norway. The paper proposes simple operational definitions of key elements of the Safe System approach to road safety management. The relationship between these elements and changes over time in the number of killed o...

Vision Zero was adopted as the long-term ideal for transport safety in Norway in 2001. Starting in 2002, national road safety action plans covering a period of four years have been developed. This paper identifies innovative elements in these plans and explores the statistical relationship between innovation and the number of killed or seriously in...

Homeless and materially disadvantaged people are considered particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. So far, there is no systematic knowledge about how the homeless and materially disadvantaged people perceive the risks of COVID-19 and what factors influence the development of sceptical views and underestimation of dangers posed by the virus....

This article aims to examine the socioeconomic outcomes of COVID-19 for socially marginalised people who are clients of social care organisations (e.g. people experiencing homelessness), and the factors influencing these outcomes. We tested the role of individual and socio-structural variables in determining socioeconomic outcomes based on a cross-...

There is little knowledge about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people who are socially marginalised, including individuals who face barriers when attempting to access services such as social safety nets, the labour market, or housing. There is even less understanding about women living under these circumstances. The aims of this study are t...

This study examines the consequences of being approved as a Traffic Safe Municipality for municipal traffic safety culture, based on surveys (n = 2255) and interviews (n = 17) in 24 municipalities. Traffic Safe Municipality is an approval scheme for Norwegian municipalities, which defines criteria for systematic traffic safety work. Development of...

The Swedish Transport Agency defined contributing to a high safety culture in transport companies as a key element in its regulatory strategy. This study examines how the safety culture strategy was received and enacted by regulators and companies within each transport sector, and factors influencing this. We discuss what a regulatory agency can ac...

There has been a large decline in the number of police reported injury accidents on public roads in Norway after 2007. The decline has been particularly large for accidents involving heavy goods vehicles. From 2007 to 2020, the number of heavy goods vehicles involved in injury accidents declined by 68%. The total number of injury accidents declined...

Social service providers work to alleviate social disadvantages, which may particularly loom during crises. These organisations have a close understanding of the needs of their clients. However, this knowledge is rarely taken into account in tailoring crisis measures, which may lead to increased vulnerability and create additional suffering. In thi...

While social vulnerability assessments should play a crucial part in disaster management, there is a lack of assessment tools that retain sensitivity to the situation‐specific dynamics of vulnerabilities emerging in particular hazard scenarios. We developed a novel scenario‐based vulnerability assessment framework together with practitioners in cri...

This study reports the results of a natural before and after study of economic driving and use of fleet management system recording driving style as a road safety measure. The study includes three companies studied on three occasions, in: 1) 2013, 2) 2018 and 3) 2020. Surveys in all the companies were conducted in 2013 and 2018, and interviews were...

Informal volunteering is increasingly important in disaster management, but authorities remain cautious about collaborating with informal volunteers. Relatively little is known about the extent to which informal volunteers are integrated into European disaster management systems. We try to remedy this gap by examining Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hunga...

Although self-imposed social isolation is an important way of reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection, previous research indicates that this behaviour varies substantially between different groups and individuals. Socially marginalized people are generally less involved in protective health behaviours, but there are few studies of their COVID-19 pr...

Focus on paternalistic values versus individual freedom is a fundamental theme, which defines the status of road safety in different settings. The present study examines the role of values related to freedom to take risk in traffic in road safety culture based on survey data from car drivers (n = 882) and motorcycle riders (n = 330) from two countr...

The main objective of the study is to evaluate direct and indirect traffic safety consequences of the requirements that Norway’s largest transit authority (Ruter) sets in the contracts with bus companies. To assess the representativity of Ruter’s requirements and its consequences, the data focuses both on Ruter and transit authorities from other ar...

During the period from 2007 to 2019, the number of drivers of heavy goods vehicles checked by the traffic police in Norway varied substantially. It declined during the first years of the period, then increased. This paper studies where there is an association between these variations and annual changes in the number of accidents involving heavy goo...

The present study investigated possible consequences for the number of killed and seriously injured (KSI) in traffic if trucking companies in Norway introduced the organisational safety management (OSM) measures in the stepwise approach called the “Safety Ladder” for road goods transport. The aim of the paper was to estimate the potential of OSM to...

National focus on individual freedom versus paternalistic values is a fundamental theme, which defines the status of traffic safety in different countries. The present study examines the role of such values in road safety culture based on survey data from car and bus drivers from three countries with distinctly different road safety records: Norway...

The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the resilience of care organisations (and those dependent on them), especially when services are stopped or restricted. This study focuses on the experiences of care organisations that offer services to individuals in highly precarious situations in 10 European countries. It is based on 32 qualitative interviews...

The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the resilience of care organisations (and those dependent on them), especially when services are stopped or restricted. This study focuses on the experiences of care organisations that offer services to individuals in highly precarious situations in 10 European countries. It is based on 32 qualitative interviews...

Regulators have increasingly started to focus on safety culture. The causal link between regulatory initiatives to improve safety culture and a potential decline in accidents may, however, appear like a “black box”, involving social processes that seem hard to foresee and influence. We need a better conceptual understanding of this. The aims of our...

While there is still a vast body of scholarly research in crisis and disaster management that considers social capital an asset for lessening negative impacts from crises, this paper investigates an underexplored aspect of social capital—its microlevel positive and negative instances in the crisis response—a quite neglected phase of the crisis mana...

The Covid-19 pandemic challenges the sustainability of the social care organisations (and those dependent on their services) when services are stopped or restricted to mitigate the spread of the virus. The aim of the study is to examine the outcomes for the social care organisations and their users in the early months (March to July 2020) of the pa...

Since its first use in the wake of the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the safety culture concept has become an established part of safety research. It has especially been applied in what is considered high-risk settings like the nuclear industry and in aviation. It has, however, also been applied to other transport sectors, including road. This paper...

About 36% of fatal road accidents in Norway involve at least one driver who is “at work”. It has been argued that the implementation of rules clearly defining the responsibility of road transport companies to prevent work related accidents, by implementing safety management systems (SMS), could lead to increased safety. In the present study we test...

Light inland helicopter has for several years been the most accident-prone sector within commercial aviation, with a more than 10 times higher accident risk than offshore helicopters. The main aims of this article are to: 1) Examine why accidents with light inland helicopters occur, focusing especially on the situation in Norway, but also internati...

There seems to be a widespread view that foreign lorry drivers’ lack of competence on Norwegian roads, especially related to winter driving, is a significant safety problem. It has, however, been suggested that foreign heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers perform better than expected on Norwegian winter roads, as they feel less safe than Norwegian dri...

In general, the identification and protection of vulnerable groups in the case of hazards or when a crisis unfolds is an issue that any crisis and disaster risk management should address, since people have different levels of exposure to hazards and crises. In this article, we promote the application of the intersectionality perspective in the stud...

In general, the identification and protection of vulnerable groups in the case of hazards or when a crisis unfolds is an issue that any crisis and disaster risk management should address, since people have different levels of exposure to hazards and crises. In this article, we promote the application of the intersectionality perspective in the stud...

The Safety ladder for goods transport describes an approach with an increasing prevalence of safety structural measures at four Safety ladder levels in trucking companies. This paper validates the Safety ladder approach in empirical research by comparing safety structure, safety culture and accident risk for trucking companies. The study has four a...

The aims of the study are to (1) compare the road safety behaviors among car drivers and motorcyclists in five different regions in Norway and Greece, (2) examine the factors influencing the road safety behaviors in these groups, and (3) examine the relationship between road safety behaviors and accident involvement. The study is based on survey an...

The relationship between safety culture and safety outcomes is well documented across industries and countries, and regulators in different industries have increasingly included safety culture in their repertory. Safety culture is, however, a fairly new regulatory concept, and it seems that knowledge is lacking on pros and cons and expected outcome...

The aims of the present paper are to: (1) Examine the influence of national safety culture, sector safety focus and organizational safety culture on the safety behaviours of professional drivers, compared with other explanatory variables (e.g. age, type of transport, working conditions), and to (2) Examine the influence of safety behaviours and oth...

While Norway had the lowest road mortality rate in Europe in 2017, Greece had one of the worst road safety records of all EU-27 countries. The present study investigates road safety culture (RSC) as an explanation for this discrepancy by: (1) Comparing the road safety behaviours among professional and private drivers in Norway and Greece, (2) Exami...

Highlights: • The study compares crew members on Norwegian and Greek cargo vessels and passenger vessels. • The study examines the influence of national safety culture, sector safety focus and organizational safety culture on (three types of) safety behaviours, compared with other variables. • The study examines the influence of safety behaviour...

Seafaring is among the most hazardous occupations, and more knowledge is needed to inform preventive measures. One way of developing such knowledge is to compare different sub-sectors, to shed light on factors influencing occupational safety. Previous research has indicated a higher risk of serious occupational injuries in coastal cargo transport c...

Previous studies from the coastal cargo sector report of a considerable gap between formal and informal aspects of safety. Several maritime accident investigations point to this gap as an important contributory cause, indicating that risk increases when informal practices ignore or violate formal procedures. The main aims of this paper are therefor...

The main objectives of the present study are to (a) map interventions that can be used to develop good safety culture in transport companies within road, sea, air and rail transport, (b) assess expected effects of interventions on safety culture and safety outcomes and (c) identify factors influencing safety culture change. By systematically review...

The aim of the study is to examine the influence of safety culture and working conditions on personal injuries and risk perception on vessels sailing along the coast of Norway (mostly bulk, well and general cargo). The study employs three methods: small-scale survey (N = 180) to crewmembers, reference group meeting and qualitative interviews with s...

The European Union (EU) promotes a gradual lifting of restrictions on foreign hauliers involved in domestic road transport of goods (cabotage), and liberalization of the current road cabotage rules may further increase the proportion of foreign heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on Norwegian roads. The aims of the present study are to: (1) Examine the saf...

Traffic accidents account for between 20% and 40% of work-related accidents in industrial countries, and research indicates that road transport companies often have little focus on organisational safety management (OSM). There is thus a huge and largely untapped road safety potential in improving the safety of people who drive in their work, by foc...

This report outlines the results of a study of severe road traffic accidents in Norway, triggered by drivers at work. The aim has been to examine whether and to what extent risk factors of these triggering drivers and their vehicles can be traced back to work-related factors. The study is based on data from the Accident Analysis Groups (AAG) of the...

This paper reports results from a study of traffic safety culture (TSC) among bicyclists (N = 231) in Oslo, Norway. The aims of the study are to examine whether respondents’ TSC in relation to bicycling is related to the TSC of their peers, and whether respondents’ TSC influences their bicycle accident risk. The study measures TSC among bicyclists...

The European Union (EU) promotes gradual lifting of restrictions on foreign hauliers involved in domestic road transport of goods (cabotage), and a major deregulation was scheduled in 2014. Due to complaints from several member states facing competition from new EU-countries with lower labour costs, this process was postponed until 2015. An importa...

Norway is one of the countries that constructs most road tunnels, and there are well over 1000 in the country today. The aim of this study is to map the prevalence and describe the characteristics of vehicle fires in Norwegian road tunnels 2008–2011. The average number of fires in Norwegian road tunnels is 21.25 per year per 1000 tunnels, and the a...

This paper reports an analysis of factors influencing safety in a sample of marked pedestrian crossings in the city of Oslo, Norway. The sample consists of 159 marked pedestrian crossings where a total of 316 accidents were recorded during a period of five years. The crossings were selected for inspection because of they were, for various reasons,...

Although it is widely recognized that motorcyclists have a particularly high accident risk, our knowledge of the mechanisms producing this accident risk is incomplete. The aims of the present paper are to identify subgroups of motorcyclists with a particularly high accident risk and to identify the relevant risk factors at work. The study presented...

Recent research suggests that the concept of safety culture, specified as traffic safety culture, may have great potential for improving traffic safety. However, as the safety culture concept has been traditionally applied to an organization and its members, the main aim of this paper is to examine how the concept can be applied to road traffic. Th...

The focus of the present study is on the implementation and some of the results of an evaluation of a safety culture campaign that partly was aimed at increasing workmate interventions (care). I focus on three groups either working on or with a Norwegian offshore platform: onshore managers, crane operators and process operators. The research questi...

In many industries it has become common to implement safety programmes aimed at improving safety behaviour and culture; however, in general little research has been conducted to understand the dynamics and causality of such programmes. This study sought to explore the effects of a large‐scale safety programme implemented by a Norwegian petroleum co...

In this paper, I suggest that a major challenge of much safety culture research is that it runs the risk of neglecting the organizational, meso level. Consequentially, it often seems to lack a proper conceptualization of the relationship between culture, technology and structure in high-risk organizations. High-reliability organizations (HRO) resea...

The research on organizational accidents shows that both safety culture and complex technology make members of high-risk organizations blind to hazards and signals of danger. I discuss how these forms of ignorance can be reduced by means of cultural redundancy, which I understand as the organizational promotion of several co-existing frames of refe...

This paper gives an account of two typical ways of thinking drawn on by process operators and crane operators on a Norwegian offshore platform in the North Sea as they interpret, negotiate and define situations as hazardous. The discretion required for definitions of situations as dangerous is also discussed. The data presented are a result of 14 f...