Road maintenance services: Towards safer behaviour. Design proposals for NSNW AG

At NSNW, awareness of safety-compliant behaviour is increasingly becoming a key focus for management due to the rising number of accidents in recent years. In order to understand which behaviours may have led to these accidents and how safety awareness can be fostered amongst staff, the causes of the accidents must be examined. This study has addressed this issue using qualitative and quantitative methods. Structured interviews were used to identify the reasons for unsafe behaviour, with a focus on personal protective equipment (PPE), across different hierarchical levels; this revealed discrepancies between regulatory requirements, management's expectations and reality. Furthermore, an attempt was made to identify the motivations behind unsafe behaviour and to propose measures to counteract it. The results show that the greatest need for action lies in the enforcement of regulations, the example set by line managers and, more generally, employees' understanding of and awareness regarding safe behaviour.