First Line of Defense
National Workers’ Memorial Day on April 28 is a time to remember those lost or injured on the job and to advocate for safer workplaces. Safety leaders play a critical role in protecting employees – not just in the workplace but also on the road. Seat belt safety is a simple yet effective way to reduce injuries and fatalities in crashes, including those caused by impaired driving, distracted driving and speeding.
Click It or Ticket: Buckle Up for Safety
While the national seat belt use rate for drivers and front-seat passengers has remained steady in the U.S., ranging from a low of about 88% to a high of about 92%, evidence suggests a slight decline occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic due to factors like reduced traffic enforcement and changes in driving habits. Ohio’s seat belt use rate followed similar trends, but remains much lower than the national average, at just 85.2% in 2024.
Let’s work to get back on track. One way: Support the national Click It or Ticket campaign May 12 to June 1. The campaign is led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ensure drivers and passengers always buckle up.
- Why it matters: Unbelted drivers and passengers accounted for 62% of crash fatalities in Ohio since 2020, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
- Saved By the Belt: The Ohio Department of Public Safety works with more than 400 law enforcement agencies to recognize those who have benefited by making the decision to wear safety belts.13 people joined the “Saved By the Belt” club during a pregame ceremony prior to the Toledo Mud Hens vs. Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRaiders game at Fifth Third Field last year, including John and Judity Maxey of Bowling Green. The two survived a December crash on Route 25 at Sugar Ridge Road in Center Township, Wood County.
- Law enforcement involvement: Law enforcement continues to issue citations for seat belt violations.
- Targeted messaging: Young adults ages 18 to 34 and men are less likely to wear seat belts. While the Click it or Ticket campaign includes important seat belt messages for all drivers, many are targeted to this key demographic. Visit: Click It or Ticket Seat Belt Safety.
The Power of Seat Belts in Preventing Tragedies
Drivers who don’t consistently wear seat belts are three times more likely to drive impaired, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- In Ohio, drivers operating a vehicle while impaired by alcohol or other drugs have been involved in more than 3,220 fatal crashes since 2020, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol
Seat Belt Effectiveness
Get free resources from NHTSA to share and work to ensure everyone you know is buckled up properly. Here are three main points to emphasize:
- Seat belts reduce front-seat car occupant deaths by about 45% and light-truck occupant deaths by about 60%
- Seat belts prevent ejection from vehicle – a leading cause of fatal injuries
- Seat belts work with airbags to provide maximum protection
Influence Beyond the Workplace
Encouraging seat belt use doesn’t just impact employees – it trickles down into homes and communities. By promoting seat belt safety at work, employers can help instill safe driving habits that protect employees, their family members, friends and loved ones.
This Workers’ Memorial Day, let’s honor workers by reinforcing a culture of safety – on and off the job. Buckle up. Every seat. Every time.
Be the Difference
Please join us on National Heatstroke Prevention Day May 1 and work to prevent child hot-car tragedies by raising awareness of safety risks. What does workplace safety have to do with child hot-car incidents? Well, more than you might think.
Nearly one-quarter of hot car deaths involving children occur in workplace parking lots — at daycare centers, big-box stores and corporate offices. Often, a change in a morning drop-off routine or driver distraction leads to a sleeping infant being left behind in a vehicle. In fact, more than 50% of pediatric vehicular heatstroke cases involve a forgotten child, according to data tracked by Jan Null, a certified consulting meteorologist and adjunct professor at San Jose State University.
Null publishes his research on noheatstroke.org. His data shows Ohio ranks 21st in per capita pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths by state.
Free Training: Children in Hot Cars
The National Safety Council offers a free online course, Children in Hot Cars, available in both English and Spanish. This 15-minute training is ideal for:
- Parents and caregivers
- Organizations transporting children
- Healthcare providers and first responders
- Safety advocates involved in car seat distribution programs
- Individuals training to become child passenger safety technicians
- Drivers ticketed for child passenger safety violations who enter court diversionary programs
For group delivery, you can enroll your entire team and monitor progress. To set up a group, complete this Group Delivery of Courses Request Form.
Get Free Resources
Make plans now to participate in this annual safety observance. Use these free resources:
Take Action and Save Lives
Download more free resources from the National Safety Council and its partner agencies to support heatstroke prevention efforts. Two key points to remember:
- Children are more vulnerable to heatstroke
- Hot car deaths are preventable
Your leadership and willingness to share this information will elevate you as a safety ambassador in your community and, more importantly, could save a child’s life.
420 Safety Alarm
An employee’s personal life is greatly impacted after an impaired driving crash resulting in injuries. However, the implications do not fall solely on the individual. Employers also are affected when off-the-job incidents result in lost work time and create legal or insurance ramifications.
As April 20 draws near, a date associated with marijuana use also known as 420, take a moment to set the record straight. Driving while impaired is both dangerous and illegal. Unlike alcohol, the effects of marijuana (legally called cannabis) are not yet fully understood. However, research shows cannabis use:
- Decreases motor skills
- Slows reaction time
- Impairs judgment
These are all key ingredients to operating equipment and driving safely. In November 2023, Ohio became the 24th state to legalize adult-use cannabis. Dispensary sales to recreational consumers began in August 2024.
The thing to know: As marijuana legalization expands across the country, so do misconceptions. One pervasive myth is that legalization equates to safety. On the contrary, the increased availability of high-potency cannabis products amplifies the potential for impairment.
Cannabis Detection vs. Impairment
One unique challenge with cannabis is its detectability in the body. While alcohol is metabolized predictably and correlates directly to impairment, cannabis is stored in fat cells and can be detected for up to 30 days after use. Impairment depends on various factors, including frequency of use, method of intake and product potency. This disconnect between detection and impairment creates challenges for both employees and employers:
- For employees: Cannabis use days or weeks prior could result in failed drug tests, even if the employee is not impaired
- For employers: Removing THC from drug panels may increase workplace incidents and drug positivity rates post-incident
Education and Awareness
Keeping your employees safe is the ultimate goal, whether they commute to work or drive on the job. More than half of drivers (56%) involved in serious injury or fatal crashes across the U.S. test positive for at least one drug, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Here are two ways you can work to raise awareness of impairment safety risks:
Get free resources from NHTSA related to 420 and drug-impaired driving, including social media graphics, facts and talking points for use in your next safety meeting.
Get free Workplace Impairment Training from our team and get answers to all your questions, including:
- What factors and situations can cause impairment?
- What are common signs and symptoms of impairment?
Contact us to schedule an in-person session at your location.
By increasing awareness and promoting responsible choices, we can work together to prevent drug-impaired driving and create safer workplaces, safer roads and safer communities.
Welcome, Cody!
Please join us in welcoming Cody Stewart! He is the new director of the Our Driving Concern employer traffic safety programs at the National Safety Council. Cody joins NSC after spending more than 14 years in risk management, environmental health and safety and traffic safety at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
Stewart was selected as a subject matter expert to provide testimony for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2022 State of Texas Impaired Driving Program Assessment, thanks to his extensive work on alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures. Additionally, his research on prescription drug-impaired driving in Texas was published in the Texas Public Health Journal.
As a principal investigator, Stewart has led traffic safety grant projects on topics such as cannabis, ignition interlocks, and motorcycle training and licensing. His past research also includes a feasibility study for an all-offender DWI tracking system in Texas, comprehensive motorcycle crash analyses, blood alcohol concentration reporting, and offering training and technical assistance for Texas’ Crash Reporting and Analysis for Safer Highways system.