Why the government should be blamed for road safety

The hybrid systems method integrating STAMP and HFACS for the causal analysis of the road traffic accident

The role of traditional analysis methods in improving complex socio-technical system safety has reached a ceiling, and thus systems theory has been utilised to support the investigations and countermeasures for road traffic accidents. As two widely applied systems accident analysis models, STAMP (systems theoretic accident model and process) and HFACS (human factors analysis and classification system) have their own advantages in accident analysis and safety improvement. Therefore, this study develops a new hybrid systems method integrating STAMP and HFACS for road traffic accident (SH-RTA), which can adopt HFACS to enhance the identification and analysis ability of STAMP for human factors and employ control concepts and elements of STAMP to cement the characteristic of HFACS. To illustrate the applicability of the hybrid method, a case study of '9·22' major road traffic accident in China is thoroughly analysed. Finally, preventive countermeasures and suggestions are presented.Practitioner Summary: This paper proposes a new hybrid systems method integrating STAMP and HFACS for road traffic accident. The new method reveals dysfunctional interactions within the parallel level and across levels, and identifies additional human and organisational factors. The recommendations for preventing road traffic accident are provided from higher levels of system.

Understanding of Development Emergency Medical Services in Laos Emergency Medicine Residents

BACKGROUND: Rising death tolls from traffic accidents are quickly becoming an inescapable problem in almost all countries around the world. That being said, the World Health Organization has launched an ambitious campaign aimed at reducing the death rate from traffic accidents by 50% in the next 10 years. Development of emergency medical services (EMSs) was the tool to success the goals, especially in low- to middle-income countries including Laos. However, no studies regard perspective of training EMS in Laos emergency medicine residents. AIM: The aim of our work is to demonstrate the effect of EMS training for Laos emergency medicine residents to the development of the national policy in Lao’s EMS. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two countries (Laos and Thailand) from January 2020. The project activities were establishment of a command-and-control center, development of EMS support system, and training for emergency care professionals. RESULTS: The eight Laos emergency medicine residents were enrolled between January and March 2020. After practicing as a dispatcher and emergency medical consultant in Thailand at Khon Kaen University, the participants from Laos found that all personnel gained experience and improved their knowledge of technology in EMS and organization management. This had a direct impact on improving confidence in their return to practice in Laos. CONCLUSIONS: The human resource development through international collaboration between Thailand and Laos is contributing the effective knowledge and expertise learning in Laos. Moreover, the result of this training may provide the most effective care system resulting in the much-needed drop in the mortality rate of traffic accidents in Laos.