Jelle de Vries wins prize: Safety doesn’t happen by accident

Safety doesn’t happen by accident

Logistics companies invest large amounts of money in improving the safety of their work processes. Yet it remains hard to estimate the effects of those investments beforehand.

Studying warehouses, <link people jelle-de-vries>Jelle de Vries came to the surprising conclusion that it is the manager who plays a crucial role in creating a safe environment, not physical safety measures like markings and fences. In particular, he found that a warehouse manager's specific leadership style and a prevention-oriented personality are important predictors for safety. He also showed that a focus on safety doesn’t necessarily lead to a decrease in productivity. His conclusions are based on questionnaires filled in by 75 warehouses managers and 1075 warehouse employees.

For this research, De Vries won the first “Dutch Master Thesis Prize in Logistics” (Nederlandse Masterscriptieprijs Logistiek), sponsored by DPD Pakketservice and organised by VLM and Jong Logistiek Nederland. The prize consists of a four-day logistics trip to Paris.

De Vries, who is now a PhD candidate at ERIM, conducted the prize-winning research while he was a Research Master student under the supervision of <link people rene-de-koster>Professor René de Koster, who works in close cooperation with partners from the logistics industry.

The findings have already been applied to the online tool LoRIET, which is used by warehouse managers to make risk analyses. Through the tool, companies get a benchmark with information on how they perform relative to other companies and where safety improvements are necessary.