ABSTRACT:The poor safety record of the construction industry raises concerns about the extent to which it is able to integrate workers disabled as a result of a workplace injury back to the workplace. A review of the literature indicates there is little empirical evidence about the status of disability management (DM) in the Canadian construction industry, specifically with respect to injured construction workers returning to the workplace with a disability. To address this limitation, a web-based survey was administered to a sample of Manitoban construction organizations to enquire about workers disabled as a result of a workplace injury in the industry, practices in place to accommodate them, and barriers to their employment. The analysis of the responses of 88 organizations showed that the majority of responding organizations employed few disabled workers. Disabilities due to musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) were the most common, followed by physical mobility and hearing impairments. Respondents saw retaining valued and experienced employees and maintaining employee morale as the main reasons for implementing a DM program. They also found the lack of suitable modified or alternate work to be the most important barrier to DM; however, they identified the provision of such work as the most common practice implemented by them, raising questions about this work's suitability to disabled workers.

Three highway engineering policies directed at improving truck productivity by increasing size and weight limits have been implemented in the Canadian prairie region within the last 35 years: the 1974 Western Canada Highway Strengthening Program, the 1988 Roads and Transportation Association of Canada Memorandum of Understanding on Heavy Vehicle Weights and Dimensions, and special permitting of longer combination vehicles. As policies change, the trucking industry adjusts its fleets to take advantage of available efficiencies. Evidence of these changes and the lessons learned from the adoption of these policies are provided. Ultimately, as a result of these policies, articulated trucks now carry heavier and larger payloads, have different axle configurations, and have higher axle weight limits than they did 35 years ago. The threefold to fivefold increase in articulated truck volumes that occurred during this period would have been more dramatic had these policies not been implemented. Further research is necessary to understand the interactions among policies, vehicles, and infrastructure.

This article helps improve the understanding about the safety performance of longer combination vehicles (LCVs) relative to other articulated trucks operating on rural highways, using evidence from the Canadian portion of the CANAMEX trade corridor. The analysis reveals that from a collision rate perspective, LCVs as a group have better safety performance than other articulated trucks. Turnpike doubles have the lowest collision rate of all articulated truck types (16 collisions per 100 million vehicle-kilometres of travel or VKT), followed by Rocky Mountain doubles (32 collisions per 100 million VKT). The collision rate for triple trailer combinations (62 collisions per 100 million VKT) is higher than the collision rates for tractor semitrailers (42 collisions per 100 million VKT) and legal-length tractor double trailers (44 collisions per 100 million VKT). These results are an important input for civil engineering and transport policy decisions concerning longer combination vehicle operations.

This paper develops a hybrid approach for analyzing vehicle classification data and applies the approach to a fused data set from multiple jurisdictions in the Canadian prairie region. Application of the approach results in a set of regional default truck traffic classification groups for use in the Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide. The hybrid approach is a conglomeration of three components: statistical clustering procedures, expert judgment, and industry intelligence. By applying the hybrid approach, analysts receive the joint benefits of analytical rigor and industry-oriented pragmatism. Application of this approach results in eight truck traffic classification groups for the Canadian prairie region that exhibit distinct differences from the default distributions developed for national use in the United States. The benefits of applying the hybrid approach on fused data sets include (a) the statistical strength gained from use of additional classification data, (b) the development of truck traffic classification groups that better reflect the diversity of patterns in a region, and (c) the potential for improved ability to capture future shifts in truck traffic characteristics because of experience gained in other jurisdictions. The paper also identifies limitations to the hybrid approach that should be considered. These limitations include varying data quality between jurisdictions, the sensitivity of low-volume sites to changes in industry patterns and the ability to track these changes, and potential shortages of continuous classification sites. When its benefits and limitations are well understood, the hybrid approach can be applied to truck traffic data analyses in any jurisdiction.

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