Administration of Highway and Transportation Agencies. Understanding and Developing a Behavior-Based Safety Program for State DOT Employees

State departments of transportation (DOTs) are significantly affected by employee incidents that result in time away from work, limited work capability, and other negative outcomes due to poor employee decision-making. DOTs invest substantial resources in training, safety systems, and compliance, yet still encounter incidents caused by poor employee decisions. Workplace incidents can lead to injuries, financial loss, reputational damage, and legal implications. Despite having policies and procedures in place, the root cause of employee incidents often lies in the human factor—specifically, in employee decision-making and behavior under real- world conditions. This issue is typically the #1 concern raised at the annual North American Association of Transportation Safety & Health Officials (NAATSHO) conference. The recent partnership between the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and NAATSHO provides a good opportunity to bring heightened focus to DOT employee behavioral contributions to safety outcomes through this research. Research is necessary due to rising incident rates despite controls, gaps in human behavior, the impact on performance and culture, and cost implications.  OBJECTIVE: The objective of this project is to document state DOT programs and practices that promote safer workplace behavior and better safety decision making by DOT employees. Information to be gathered includes (but is not limited to): Cognitive, emotional, and situational factors that lead to poor decisions in the DOT workplace, as well as common decision-making errors; Interventions shown to improve workplace safety behavior and decision making (e.g., behavioral nudges, scenario-based training, redesign of work environments, decision support tools); The role of DOT leadership, incentives, communication, and peer behavior in having a positive influence on employee behavior and decision making.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=6010

Language

• English

Project

• Funding: $250,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  20-24(154)

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Retting, Richard

• Start Date: 20260323
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Human factors; Personnel; Safety culture; State departments of transportation
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01979237
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: 20-24(154)
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Feb 9 2026 8:11PM