Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions

Conference Track:  Engineering & Public Service

Keywords:         Highway Safety, Transportation Workforce, Training

Contact Title::    Dr.

Contact First name: Didier

Contact Last name:  Valdes

University:       University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

Position:         Associate Professor

Country:          USA

Email:            dvaldes@uprm.edu

Fax:              (787) 265-3390

Paper Title: 

HIGHWAY SAFETY TRAINING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

Abstract: 

Safety on highways has been one of the major issues around the country.  Statistics demonstrate that thousands of lives are lost every year as a result of highway safety deficiencies.  The main purpose of this paper is to present the results of an FHWA effort to improve training and workforce planning related to highway safety.  An important task was to organize a database containing all the available information in terms of seminars, workshops, curriculums and training courses associated to highway safety.  This database is available to all highway safety professionals such that any person responsible for designing, building, constructing or supervising highway systems, has at hand the available information to improve its skills associated to safety and security in this type of systems.  In addition, an organizational framework was developed to provide consistency between the information found and the types of training required.  Finally, various ideal safety competency, roles and proficiency levels are presented along with a Field Safety Competency framework that is proposed as a generic tool for an Agency or Firm involved in the making of safer transportation systems.  The final product of the work presented here will assist on highway safety related issues, being safety one of the vital few as defined by FHWA. The tools presented will also facilitate professionals’ achievement of excellence in their duties by identifying opportunities for improvement and therefore planning its participation in highway safety trainings, courses, and programs.

Mailing Address: 

University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying

P.O. Box 9041

Mayaguez, PR 00681 

Phone: 

(787)265-3815 ext 2179 

Authors: 

Didier M. Valdes-Diaz (P)

dvaldes@uprm.edu

Associate Professor Civil Engineering

Benjamin Colucci

bcolucci@ce.uprm.edu

Professor Civil Engineering

Jennifer Velez-Miranda

jvelez@ce.uprm.edu

R. Benjamin Gribbon

benjamin.gribbon@fhwa.dot.gov

Federal Highway Administration