Citation

Swuste PHJJ, Albrechtsen E, Hovden J. Safety Sci. 2012; 50(10): 1939-1940.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2012.01.005

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Five different Norwegian universities and research organisations organised in 2010 a very successful International Working on Safety Conference (WOS2010); SINTEF Technology and Society, Trondheim, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Aalesund University College, the University of Stavanger and the University of Oslo. The conference was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Labour, the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authorities, and sponsoring came from Skanska, DetNorske and Proactima. The congress was held at the beautiful and impressive mountain mining town of Røros, located in the middle part of Norway. This town is one of the oldest wooden towns in Europe, and also one of the few mining towns in the world found worthy of a place on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

The theme of the WOS2010 was: 'on the road to Vision Zero?' This theme was introduced in Sweden in 1997, and was the start of a new way of thinking about safety in road transport. Soon this 'zero vision' spread to other countries, and other domains, like occupational safety. There has been some controversy and confusion as to whether Vision Zero is to be seen as a concrete goal or as a more general ethical imperative, and that is the reason behind the question mark at the end of the theme.