There were two fatal crashes on our operating assets during FY14. On 23 November 2013, a driver died in a head-on crash on the M5 in Sydney. The crash occurred at 3.35am when the driver’s vehicle, travelling in the wrong direction, crashed into an oncoming vehicle. On May 6 2014 at 3.45pm a driver died after a crash near the entrance to the 495 Express Lanes at Springfield, Virginia. The driver’s vehicle stopped abruptly and the vehicle was hit from behind.
In FY14, there were 127 injury crashes on Transurban’s roads. Most of these crashes occurred on CityLink in Melbourne, and the M5 and Westlink M7 in Sydney, which together represented 87 per cent of all injury crashes recorded. The most frequent injury crashes occurring on these networks involve merging and rear end crashes where drivers have to make a decision or there is an abrupt change in speed. Loss of control resulting in hitting another object or vehicle is the next most common type of injury crash. These types of crashes typically result in an injury because of inappropriate speed.
We have continued our work on building our safety culture among our employees and contractors.
In FY14, we introduced a safety leadership program, designed to equip Transurban leaders, operational and project staff along with our key contracting partners, with the skills and confidence to transform safety in our business. A key focus of the program is developing effective safety leaders at all levels who can encourage and support our people to think, behave and operate in a safe way.
The program covers areas such as:
Regular safety compliance training is already compulsory for our employees, and all new employees are required to attend a full corporate induction program covering safety and other issues. We have maintained our focus on redesigning some activities associated with repetitive movements at work stations and continue to promote exercise and core strength programs to ensure employees remain fit for work.
To further improve our management of contractors, we will focus on building stronger partnerships and work to accurately and consistently measure Health Safety and Environment performance across our contractors.
Our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate has continued to decline among Australian employees while our Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (RIFR), which includes LTIFR and restricted work and medical treatments, rose slightly from last year. In FY14, we embarked on a project to develop a more robust data collection system for safety data. This year the figure for Australia only represents Transurban employees in Australia historic figures included direct contractors. In FY15 we will be able to accurately calculate the RIFR for employees and contractors.