This approach will work in industrial workplaces as well! In fact, I would bet that DOT stole this approach from the industrial safety movement. Regardless of who gets credit, it is refreshing to see the transportation community embrace the Safe System Approach as an effective way to address and mitigate the risks inherent in our enormous and complex transportation system. It works by BUILDING AND REINFORCING MULTIPLE LAYERS OF PROTECTION to both PREVENT crashes from happening in the first place and MINIMIZE THE HARM caused to those involved when crashes do occur.
It is a holistic and comprehensive approach that provides a guiding framework to make places safer for people.
This is a shift from a conventional safety approach because it focuses on BOTH human mistakes AND human vulnerability and designs a system with MANY REDUNDANCIES in place to protect everyone.
A Safe System Approach incorporates the following principles:
