Bevan D. Rowland

Reducing Reversing Vehicle Incidents in Australian Fleet Settings—A Case Study

Reversing vehicle incidents is a significant but often overlooked issues in organisations. Utilising three Australian organisations, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of reversing aids and a behaviour-change program in reducing reversing-related crashes in fleet settings. Reversing-related incidents increased from Time 1 to Time 2 in the organisation that did not implement a specific strategy to reduce their reversing-related crashes and in the organisation that implemented the reversing aids intervention. However, the increase was only statistically significant in the organisation that utilised the reversing aids technology. In this organisation, the odds of its drivers getting involved in a reversing incident has almost doubled from Time 1 and Time 2. In contrast, the frequency of reversing incidents in the organisation implementing the behaviour-change program has significantly decreased, with less than 50 % chance of its drivers being involved in a reversing incident from Time 1 to Time 2. The implications associated with these results will be discussed.

Truckies and Facebook: Using social media for health promotion in a hard-to-reach group (Preprint)

Background Workers in the road transport industry, and particularly truck drivers, are at increased risk of chronic diseases. Innovative health promotion strategies involving technologies such as social media may engage this “hard-to-reach” group. There is a paucity of evidence for the efficacy of social media technologies for health promotion in the Australian transport industry. Objective This study analyzed qualitative data from interviews and focus group discussions to evaluate a social media health promotion intervention, the Truckin’ Healthy Facebook webpage, in selected Australian transport industry workplaces. Methods We engaged 5 workplace managers and 30 truck drivers from 6 transport industry organizations in developing workplace health promotion strategies, including a social media intervention, within a Participatory Action Research approach. Mixed methods, including a pre- and postintervention manager survey, truck driver survey, key informant semistructured interviews, truck driver focus groups, and focused observation, were used to evaluate the social media intervention. We asked questions about workplace managers’ and truck drivers’ opinions, engagement, and satisfaction with the intervention. This paper focuses on qualitative data. Results Of the workplace managers who reported implementing the social media intervention at their workplace, all (3/3, 100%) reported satisfaction with the intervention and expressed a keen interest in learning more about social media and how it may be used for workplace health promotion and other purposes. Truck drivers were poorly engaged with the intervention because (1) many believed they were the “wrong age” and lacked the necessary skills; (2) the cost of smartphone technology was prohibitive; (3) they confined their use of social media to nonwork-related purposes; and (4) many workplaces had “no Facebook” policies. Conclusions The use of social media as a health promotion intervention in transport industry workplaces has potential. Workplace interventions using social media can benefit from a Participatory Action Research approach. Involving managers and workers in the design of social media health promotion interventions and developing strategies to support and deliver the interventions helps to facilitate their success. The workers’ profile, including their age and familiarity with social media, and work, workplace, and family context is important to consider in this process. Much more research needs to be undertaken to better understand the effective use of social media to engage “hard-to-reach” groups.

Truckies and health promotion: using the ANGELO framework to understand the workplace’s role

Purpose Workplaces are challenging environments which place workers at the risk of obesity. This is particularly true for Australian road transport industry workplaces. The Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework is a public health tool which can be used to conceptualise obesogenic environments. It suggests that workplaces have a variety of roles (in the physical, economic, political and sociocultural domains) in responding to obesity in transport industry workplaces. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings which explore this idea. Design/methodology/approach The project used a mixed-methods approach located within a participatory action research framework, to engage workplace managers and truck drivers in the implementation and evaluation of workplace health promotion strategies. The project involved six transport industry workplaces in Queensland, Australia. Findings This study found that transport industry workplaces perceive themselves to have an important role in addressing the physical, economic, political and sociocultural aspects of obesity, as per the ANGELO framework. However, transport industry employees – specifically, truck drivers – do not perceive workplaces to have a major role in health; rather, they consider health to be an area of personal responsibility. Practical implications Balancing the competing perceptions of truck drivers and workplace managers about the workplace’s role in health promotion is an important consideration for future health promotion activities in this hard-to-reach, at-risk population. Originality/value The use of the ANGELO framework allows the conceptualisation of obesity in a novel workplace context.