In recent years, there has been increasing demand for emergency services due to a range of climate, health, and social factors. This results in greater exposure to emergency vehicle driving, and under conditions that may not have been seen previously. The purpose of this workshop is to share experiences and innovations for improving driver training for emergency and incident response workers. This will include the concepts of vulnerability and emotional regulation in emergency service driving. At the workshop, we will hear some examples of current research, and some recent practice ‘wins’. We will also discuss where the evidence gaps are, and explore new ways of working together. This workshop will provide a unique opportunity to identify opportunities for collaboration – both interagency and building research-practice networks.
| Time | Presenter(s) | Title/key messages |
| 3.00pm | A/Prof Carlyn Muir (MUARC) | Introduction – Purpose of workshop – Housekeeping |
| 3.05pm | A/Prof Carlyn Muir Dr Jason Kearney (MUARC) | Driver training in emergency service organisations: Where are we now? – Emergency vehicle safety as a systems problem – Approaches to driver training – Tailoring training to risk context – Emerging technologies |
| 3.25pm | Group discussion | Group experiences & current challenges – Group discussion on current challenges – Innovations & practice wins |
| 3.40pm | Christine Mulvihill (MUARC) | Tailoring training to the risk context: Examining paramedic driver safety – Systematic review & systems analysis of ambulance crashes – Using evidence to identify training needs |
| 3.55pm | BREAK | STRETCH BREAK |
| 4.00pm | S/Sergeant Chris Hayes (Victoria Police) | The relationship between risk, vulnerability & training – Reflections from Churchill Fellowship on the role of vulnerability in roadway safety for police and other emergency service workers, and the relationship with safety outcomes – The importance of including vulnerability awareness, moving beyond traditional lower-order skill-based training |
| 4.15pm | Dr Amanda Stephens A/Prof Carlyn Muir (MUARC) | Seeing RED: Regulating Emotional Driving for emergency service workers – The relationship between workload, emotions, and error in emergency vehicle driving – Development of behaviour change program on emotional regulation |
| 4.30pm | Inspector Peter McKennie Dr Rachael Mason (NZ Police) | Driving risk management approaches for NZ Police – Application of a dynamic risk assessment tool to influence decision-making of police drivers – Mechanisms to monitor driving behaviours and inform early intervention opportunities – Nationally consistent decision-making on resolutions for serious driving incidents |
| 4.45pm | A/Prof Carlyn Muir (MUARC) | Where to next? – Group reflections – New collaborations & research needs |
| 5.00pm | CLOSE |