<p>Safety Management Task Group Reports May 2012</p><p>AASHTO Subcommittee on Safety Management</p><p>Task Group 4 –Work Force Development</p><p>Chair: Tim Barnett, Alabama DOT Vice Chair: Joe Santos, Florida DOT</p><p>Recent Activities</p><p>Task Group 4 has discussed the nature of the extensive and varied challenges and needs related to safety workforce development, as well as various aspects of implementation of the related SCOHTS Strategic Plan goal. In these discussions, one issue that is frequently mentioned is the organization of state departments of transportations’ safety functions. Since this varies from state to state, it is difficult to assess the best approach for addressing any particular issue, such as recruiting highway safety professionals, continued skills development, retaining qualified personnel, managing employee turnover, and so on. A research problem statement for a research on this topic was submitted to the AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways for funding under the NCHRP 20-7 program but was not funded. This problem statement was revised and submitted to the NCHRP Synthesis program for consideration. </p><p>Task Group members participated in the TRB Road Safety Work Force Development Task Force meeting at the TRB annual meeting in January. To initiate coordination with the TRB Task Force, the AASHTO Task Group provided background on the SCOHTS Strategic Plan and discussed workforce development needs. The TRB Task Force assisted with submitted of the research problem statement for the synthesis mentioned above.</p><p>During the Safety Management review of the first draft of the NCHRP 17-51 framework for the Toward Zero Deaths national strategy on highway safety, the Task Group reviewed the workforce development, education, and training information and provided comments. </p><p>Workplan</p><p>If the synthesis is funded, the Task Group will suggest some of its members to serve on the panel. In the even the synthesis is not funded, the Task Group will consider alternative ways to obtain information on the organization of DOTs’ safety functions.</p><p>The AASHTO Board of Directors approved the creation of a special committee on workforce development. The Task Group will monitor the activities of this special committee once it has been formed.</p><p>The Task Group will work to identify a short list of priority areas (for example, mentoring), to focus its efforts related to developing research problem statements, identifying best practices, and proposing initiatives to Safety Management. Safety Management Task Group Reports May 2012</p><p>Items for SCOHTS Consideration</p><p>Resolutions: no resolutions are under consideration at this time. </p><p>Questions for SCOHTS discussion: </p><p> Which aspects of safety workforce development should the Task Group focus on initially?</p>