Data Gives Insights into Crash Problem

Part I: When risk control pro David Natalizia surveyed colleagues via his blog to assess their perceptions about vehicle-into-building crashes, he got responses from 20 readers — and made some interesting discoveries:

• First off, 90 percent of the respondents had a pretty high level of awareness that these accidents happen frequently — and 75 percent recognized that the magnitude of the problem would not be picked up by NHTSA data.
• They held a strong impression about who’s typically not at the wheel during these crashes, with 85 percent indicating that most such crashes do not involve teen drivers.
• Respondents showed less consensus about the statement, ‘Positioning parking spaces perpendicular to a building may increase risks,’ with 65 percent agreeing, 20 percent neutral, and 15 percent disagreeing.
• Awareness about the ineffectiveness of wheel stops and curbs as crash barriers appeared to be high, with only 10 percent agreeing with the statement that ‘Wheel stops and curbs effectively prevent vehicles from crashing forward into buildings.’
• There was significant disagreement around the survey question that stated, ‘No standard practices exist for controlling this hazard,’ with 70 percent disagreeing, 20 percent agreeing, and 10 percent neutral.

I’ll be asking David to weigh in with his interpretation of those findings, but for now let me simply say ‘Thanks!’ to him here for posting the survey on his blog and being willing to engage his readers on this issue. Risk control professionals have a huge role to play in moving the vehicle-into-building crash conversation forward with other key audiences.

Part II: Another set of interesting numbers came out this morning in the form of charts from Rob Reiter, showing several findings based on his stats from 2013. A couple of them surprised me, but for now I’ll leave you with Rob’s work:

Source: Rob Reiter

Source: Rob Reiter

Source: Rob Reiter

If you prefer pie charts, you'll find 'em here.

Calling All Safety & Risk Control Pros

David Natalizia

Getting the word out to audiences that are in a position to take tangible storefront safety actions just took a big leap forward this morning when safety and operations professional David Natalizia put the issue — and a survey — on his blog, Risk Confidence (Storefront Safety: Is It On Your Radar?).

David's 25 years in the safety and risk control industry have provided him with broad experience and deep knowledge about effective safety programs for a diverse array of businesses and environments, including theme parks, hotels, restaurants, manufacturing, transportation and retail operations.

His blog is an important resource not only for fellow safety and risk control professionals, but also for businesses and design teams that seek to enhance safety for employees and customers.

Putting this topic in front of his colleagues is extremely helpful. In particular, the brief survey (on which Rob Reiter and I collaborated with David) will provide much-needed insight into the awareness and perspectives of his readers regarding vehicle-into-building crashes.

I especially liked what he wrote about 'control measures': "Building placement, parking space design, bollards, structural rails, and crash-worthy architectural features are all potential avenues of control for storefront crash prevention."

You Can Help
1. If you are a safety/risk control pro yourself, please be sure to answer the survey. It will take just a minute or two of your time — but will be really helpful. Here's the link: http://davidnat.polldaddy.com/s/storefront-vehicle-safety-survey.

2. If you have friends or colleagues who are safety/risk control specialists, please let them know about the survey and forward the link to David's post.

3. Join in the conversation via the Storefront Safety Council LinkedIn group. Your thoughts and insights are always valued and will enrich the dialogue.

More About David

• Services: Nuent Consulting
• Blog: Risk Confidence