Data.gov - Empowering People

Welcome to Safety.Data.Gov, a one-stop-shop for government safety data, bringing unprecedented value and transparency to this important topic.

Safety.Data.Gov will provide valuable resources on government, business, and citizen safety services. Currently, safety information is domain-specific, which makes developing models using data from all around government difficult and less readily accessible. For example, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) publishes incident reports on pipeline accidents, but the ability to find and study this information in conjunction with workplace incidents, crime, and other data to develop a predictive model currently requires digging across many separate federal organizations and compiling the data. With Safety.Data.Gov, we will create a safety community, establish new connections and foster greater collaboration to lower the barriers between federal agencies for more comprehensive access to safety information and best practices.  This community has the potential to enhance public safety as the data is much more widely available to a global safety community.

Vision

Safety is of crucial importance because it affects public health and sustainable practices. Safety.Data.Gov will facilitate the creation of a cross-sector, collaborative safety portal that better fulfills the needs of the public, private, and civil sectors. From a federal perspective, we will continue bringing data into this community from Justice, Labor (including OSHA), Health, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and others.  Externally, we will encourage participation from traditional safety stakeholders, universities, and researchers.   States also have interesting and valuable data to add to this project.

Process & Functionality

The data we are currently focused on includes: incident data, enforcement actions, product safety, and exposure data. At a basic level, data usage will be measured in terms of downloads. Collaborators will also have room for feedback and follow-up, as well as sharing success stories and best practices. This platform will have the capabilities of core social functionality provided by data.gov (forums, blogs, wikis, and a rating system).

We are also creating a one-stop shop for analytical software and decision support tools that agencies make publically available. For example, the site links to the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT) from walkinginfo.org. This tool is designed to assist state and local pedestrian/bicycle coordinators, planners and engineers with improving walking and bicycling safety through a comprehensive database of crashes between motor vehicles and pedestrians or bicycles. Another tool linked through Safety.Data.Gov is the FRA Web Accident Prediction System (WBAPS), which provides access to railroad safety information, including accidents and incidents and highway-rail crossing data. From this site users can run dynamic queries and view current statistical information on railroad safety.

Challenges and featured apps will help identify a wider range of ideas and solutions to spur innovation through the new Safety.Data.Gov site. Examples of potential future challenges could be:

• Finding a way to visually inspect satellite imagery for roadway characteristics at fatal crash sites.
• Calculating economic costs of transportation safety issues, especially in terms of system safety.
• Looking at ways to build on the American Public Health Association (APHA) study about tuberculosis on the bus.
• Enhancing bike safety reporting with a crowdsourcing tool to self-report bike crashes or dangerous conditions to make the underlying data open and available in DC.

Outcomes

Our approach will allow  Data.Gov to move outside limited Federal resources and better address cross-sector issues. We also hope to bring a diverse range of ideas to the forefront, identify new solutions for our cross-sector problems, and stimulate private sector involvement. This is an excellent opportunity to leverage open government with community involvement—if you have any ideas for ways to improve the site, or know of a data set you would like to see included, please visit the forums at (www.____) and join the conversation!