New Online Toolkit Helps Employers Improve Seat Belt Usage
To help employers improve seat belt usage among employees and, in turn, reduce the human and financial toll of traffic crashes, the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety has developed a free online toolkit called 2seconds2click.
According to a report released by the NETS, U.S. employers are collectively spending an extra $5 billion per year on traffic crashes involving employees who did not wear a seat belt while driving or riding as a passenger, whether they were on the job or off.
The report, Cost of Motor Vehicle Crashes to Employers—2015, shows that medical costs paid by employers per employee injured in a crash were nearly double in on-the-job crashes in which the employee was not wearing a seat belt, and increased by a third for off-the-job crashes.
Nationwide, the seat belt usage rate is 88%. In states with no seat belt law or a secondary law, the average usage rate falls to 78.6%.
The toolkit includes a communication plan for a six-week worksite seat belt usage campaign and is accompanied by a suite of employee engagement materials.
These include a kick-off presentation with speaker notes, a series of posters, handouts and activities, as well as instructions and materials to assist in conducting direct observation surveys at the start and completion of the campaign to measure results.
The toolkit was developed in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and requires minimal resources to implement.
The materials were piloted by Coca-Cola Refreshments at its Bismarck, North Dakota, site, where observed seat belt usage increased from a baseline 54% to 84% over a six-week period.
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