The international event will take place at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC

The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) will hold the International Conference on Road Safety at Work on February 16 to 18, 2009.

The international event will take place at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC.

NIOSH is the federal agency in the US that conducts research and makes recommendations to prevent work-related injuries and death.

In the US, road traffic injuries account for over 35 % of all occupational fatalities. Worldwide, road traffic accident deaths from all causes are projected to increase from 1.2m in 2002 to 2.1m in 2030, primarily due to increased motor vehicle fatalities associated with economic growth in low- and middle-income countries.

If effective interventions are not implemented, the World Health Organization estimated that by the year 2030, road traffic injuries from all causes will become the eighth leading cause of mortality worldwide.

NIOSH said: ‘The International Conference on Road Safety at Work will provide a forum for business, labor, policy makers, and the research community to discuss strategies to prevent road traffic crashes in the workplace.’

Conference sessions will address topics such as crash analysis and benchmarking, strategies to protect drivers in emerging markets, labor perspectives on occupational road safety, corporate social responsibility, and the role of technology in monitoring driver performance and efficacy.