Blog
Safety Focus of the Week: Working Around Traffic (revisited)
Construction in roadways pose a hazard to the travelling public and the traffic poses a hazard to the construction worker. Both concerns need to be addressed in a work plan for any operations along or within an active roadway. Our work within a roadway might range from the unloading of a truck where proper temporary signage, cones, PPE, and qualified worker might be necessary, to a full construction zone traffic control package designed and submitted to the appropriate highway jurisdiction for review. We can anticipate an increased focus on Traffic Control procedures from VOSHA due to the unfortunate death of a traffic flagger in Rutland earlier this winter.
Our specific traffic control responsibilities include:
- Preparing a work plan to address the safety of all parties.
- Working with the local, county (in NY), or state highway department in coordinating, scheduling, and implementing their standard traffic control requirements.
- Implementing all necessary PPE to make the workers visible for the work conditions.
- Providing qualified flag persons or uniformed traffic officers.
- Providing standard warning devices like stop/slow paddles, cones, barrels, and appropriate signage.
- Proper maintenance of the warning devices, including resetting of knocked over cones/barrels, removal of a flag person sign when the flag person is not present, and moving of the warning devices as the project moves.
The procedures for any activity on a roadway work zone are specifically detailed in various documents from the state/county/municipal highway authorities, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), and OSHA.
http://www.aot.state.vt.us/caddhelp/DownLoad/Standards/Standards.htm (E-series drawings deal with traffic control)
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/hurricane/work-zone.html#index
