The principles and practice of safety are hinged on the fact that life is precious and therefore has to be secured so that it will be meaningful and worth living.
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**[Image Credit](https://www.google.com/search?q=road+safety&client=firefox-b-ab&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjW4aW4i8vYAhXDkOAKHYduDQ4Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=656#imgrc=QuTX3NjcL5JjdM:)**
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*Man's actions and /or inactions, most times, are fraught with consequences that negate the essence of life. About 80percent of injuries or death brought to man is attributable to some forms of unsafe act(s) or unsafe condition(s); so also is damage to property and the environment. Inherent dangers, hazards and threats to life and even accidents are to a high degree, caused by man as a result of his inventions and his activities within the enviornment where he operates and even beyond.*
# **Unsafe act(s) and/or unsafe condition(s) portend hazards**.
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**[Image Credit](https://www.google.com/search?q=unsafe+act+on+the+road&client=firefox-b-ab&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhjtXNjMvYAhVmluAKHZ9fBVMQ_AUICigB#imgrc=6ihgWXn8rR1fkM:)**
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In the words of Uzamere, E September 14, 2007,
>The things that can cause or contribute to accidents, illnesses, fire and explosions and similar undesired events are called hazards
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# **What is Hazard?**
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Hazard is anything that has the potential to cause harm, injury, ill health, death, damage to property, product, equipment, environment and corporate image of a company. In other words, hazard is an accident waiting to happen. Hazard begets(when released) accident and accident results into injury, and/or death to man or animal, and also damage to property or environment. In fact, the gospel of safety is usually preached whenever and wherever hazard is identified or perceived to be present, be it in a man or machine, material or in an environment.
Road transport is one of the major ares in all of man's activities where hazard exist so much that, on a "per second" count, nationwide, damage/injury is sustained, harm is done to the environment(through air pollution from smoke and noise) and death occurs in most cases. In order that this phenomenon can be reduced to as low as reasonably practicable, Road Safety and/or Journey Management is conceived.
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# **Concept of Road Safety And Journey Management**
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During my training as an HSE personnel (Nigeria Institute of Safety Professionals), I was made to understand the concept between Road safety and journey Management.
*Road Safety and Journey Management are two-in-one concept. Surely, they are two sides of the same coin. The overall aim of both is to encourage and promote safety on the road through the development and application of the standard rules, principles and practice in safe driving techniques. Nevertheless, while road safety deals with common problems associated with road traffic caused by all classes of persons including pedestrians, cyclists, and the drivers, etc, and tries to provide solutions through the prescription and enforcement of safe operating procedures for the average user of the road, journey management complements this by showcasing the actions taken by a person to authorize, plan, monitor and close-out a journey so that any risk to health, safety or the environment is identified, assessed and controlled, and so that recovery measures are made available should the journey not be completed as planned for any reason.*
In Journey Management, just as in most other concepts in Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSE-MS), the 3Ms are ( Man, Machine and Material) plus environment, most inevitably are involved.
*Driving as both an art and act performed by man with machine(vehicle), material(fuel) in an environment, needs to be managed in order that the hazards present or inherent in the elements that make it up (man, machine, material and environment) are reduced to the lowest or eliminated completely if possible.*
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# **Definition of terms**
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**Road Safety** is defined as a condition of being safe while on the road; meaning: free from danger, harm or risk while on the road standing, working, walking or running, riding, driving including being ridden or driven be it on a horse-back, motor-bike or in a motor vehicle.
**According to Longman Dictionary Journey is defined as a trip of some distance usually by land.**
On the one hand, Management, according to **Henry Fayol**, is taken from the expression *to manage: meaning to forecast, and plan, to organize, command, to co-ordinate and control, on a general note, *Management, can be defined as a process which enables organizations to achieve their objectives by planning, organizing and controlling their resource.
*From the foregoing, **Journey Management**, as a two-word concept can be defined as the planning, evaluation, and control of a trip by a manager, and/or a driver such that all the resources; the driver, passenger, load and the vehicle arrive the target destination both in (scheduled) time and in safe condition without any damage or injury to anyone, including the third party( other road users), accident or violation of any driving or traffic rule(s).*
Journey Management as a system, should be so harmonized that all the elements form a complete whole that satisfies the purpose in the end.
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# **The Four Elements Of Journey Management System with their associated Hazard.**
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1.) **Man**: Man as an element in Journey Management is referring to firstly, the manager, officer or supervisor. He plans and schedules the journey, assigns vehicles to be used for the journey including the driver for the journey. The driver, is another *man*(as an element) in the Journey Management. He is in charge of the journey when once the journey takes off.
*However, the nature of man is such that at any point in time, he is under the influence of one factor or the other, which impacts positively or negatively on him. Indeed, a driver/motorist can be at any time under the influence of alcohol or drug. Sometimes it could be emotional, psychological, or even psychiatric influence. If any or all of the forementioned influence a driver, he automatically is a **HAZARD**. This is obvious because at this time, he is either a sub or super human being. His thinking faculty is no longer normal. His sense of judgement is unbalanced. In fact, all his sense organs e.g. for sight, smell, hearing etc. are distorted, such that he cannot see or measure fairly accurately, the speed of an on-coming vehicle or the one coming behind or by the side; including any other object within the environment. He cannot perceive the odour of fuel or burning wire very accurately; neither can he hear even the horn of another vehicle.
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In an effective journey management system, the passenger and the pedestrian form part of this man element too. The passenger can equally constitute a hazard when he distracts the driver through discussions, especially lengthy/emotional type. This can cause quarrel or fight with driver while inside the vehicle.
A cyclist or pedestrian who is drunk or mentally indisposed can be a hazard in the context of this discourse, because his attitude which may entail dancing on the road is full of danger to other road users.
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2.) **Machine**:
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Vehicles are made to fit into different purposes. Some are for loads(goods) only. Others could be for passengers but with limited number such as two, three or more at a time. However, if a vehicle is not used for its original purpose, it can constitute hazard. For example, a car meant for four passengers begin used for more than its capacity is a hazard. So also a tipper lorry meant for carrying sand and gravels being used instead, for carrying human beings, is a hazard at this point in time. Additionally, vehicles without some necessary safety equipment such as seatbelt, headrest, fire extinguisher, etc. can be classifies as hazard.
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3.) **Material**: Materials such as fuel, water,etc used in vehicles can become hazardous when they are not used or measured appropriately. For example, while trying to top up petrol in a tank, diesel is poured, or an adulterated fuel is poured into a vehicle tank instead, the aftermath effect is usually catastrophic.
When there is no enough fuel in a vehicle and the vehicle stops half way, this sudden dry up of the tank can set up a chain of events that can cause accident or incident such as exposing passengers or goods to robbery attack.
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4.) **Environment**: he environment where a driver drives can be a hazard, due to some reasons as weather conditions(rain, fog, etc) bad road conditions, activities of miscreants, robbers, black spots, etc. and time of the day e.g. late night driving, are all hazards in an effective journey management system.
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# Though I am not a Road safety Officer but I was trained as a safety personnel my next post on safety will base on **Road Safety By Journey Management System** Watch out.
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